How to Handle Burnout from Working at Home

Updated: March 13, 2022 – How to handle burnout from working at home

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Wearing comfortable clothes all day. No commute. No traffic to worry about. Freedom to do house chores while at a conference.

Ahhh, the joys of working from home. So much flexibility!

However, over the past year, our lives have seen extensive changes since the pandemic. This leads to many of us feeling a sense of exhaustion and burnout. More than half of the employees are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home. This influx is affecting both business productivity and the overall health of the workforce. We’ve experienced nothing like this in modern times.

We now spend our days looking at a screen, with much of our communication taking place via video calls. This has led to what we have termed “Zoom fatigue”, where our brains are exhausted from overstimulation.

Aside from the eyestrain of looking at a screen all day (if we are not looking at a computer, we’re often looking at our phone), video meetings disrupt our sense of space. Suddenly, everyone is much closer than they would be in a pre-pandemic forum.

The pandemic is sending our brain conflicting messages. With video calls, faces are within 50 centimetres of us. This tells our brain that these are close or intimate friends when instead they are colleagues or strangers. Similarly, social distancing rules have forced our loved ones into a much more distant field that is usually reserved for people we may meet or know socially.

While our rational brain understands social distancing, the physical inability to touch and hold our close friends and family. This can confuse us by thinking the distance is a rejection. The cognitive effort of managing these conflicting messages is tiring.

Video calls also force us to look at ourselves more than we are used to doing. This can feel uncomfortable and make us worry excessively about how others perceive us.

But turning the video off while on a call can increase burnout in other ways—people may use the opportunity to check emails or catch up on other work while listening in. This multitasking is mentally draining.

We are much more efficient when we work on one task at a time. So our brains respond to the end of one activity and the onset of recent activity from pre-learned cues. Often, these cues involve physical movement.

These have primarily disappeared—the daily commute is the most apparent absence for those working from home. However, walking to and from meetings also allows the brain and body time to prepare for the next task. Outside of work, doing the school run, going to the gym, and regular appointments add structure and separation of space to our lives.

The blurring of home and work is because of bringing our work into our homes and the longer hours people report working. Being unable or unmotivated to take part in our usual activities means that the weeks and weekends have morphed into boundaries.

How to get through

There are three leading causes of burnout and exhaustion on how to handle burnout from working at home that we need to address.

1. A supportive environment is missing
2. Lacking workplace inspiration
3. Inability to disconnect

A supportive environment is missing

Make time for these conversations, maybe arrange an online meal because the various uses of technology will help to break the monotony and association of screens with burnout. Sharing the space with colleagues you are friendlier with in real life and who fall into our personal space allowance makes the online encounter less stressful.

The charity Fight for Sight suggests a 20-20-20 rule where, for every 20 minutes looking at a screen, you look away at a distance of 20 metres for 20 seconds to limit eye strain. Where possible, during video meetings, keep the camera off or switch to phone calls, and consider whether arrangements need to be a full hour.

Lacking workplace inspiration

Pre and post-meeting, try to get up from your desk and move around to mimic walking to and from appointments. Try to build one no-meeting day into your working week.

Having distinct spaces helps our brains to psychologically switch off from work. Separate the working table and the dining table.

To limit multitasking and increase focus, close additional tabs and browsers, turn your phone to silent, and check and respond to emails at set times.

Inability to disconnect

Sticking to a routine of starting and stopping work simultaneously every day by adding a fake commute—where you get ready and leave the house before circling back and starting work—can help create a mental division of space.

Take a stroll or a walk outdoors and get ourselves to exercise, which is a natural mood elevator.

Being outdoors helps us to feel more connected with others. Even with maintaining social distance, we can exchange pleasantries or even just smiles, increasing well-being.

There is a strong link between social support in the workplace and reduced levels of burnout among employees. The most critical factor in workplace happiness is positive social relationships with co-workers.

Just because you are no longer in the office doesn’t mean you can’t maintain friendships remotely. Consider putting together a fun group call, or if Zoom fatigue is intense, set up a socially distanced meet up in a park. 

You are working independently, which means you are far more responsible for your career and health than before. Build a level of self-awareness around these warning signs of burnout and take preventative measures to stop burnout in its tracks.  

I hope that the above gives you some idea of how to handle burnout from working at home.

You control your career; don’t let it control you.

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