Remote Working During COVID-19 Is Positively Impacting Physical And Mental Wellness

Published on April 15, 2020 - By Cecilia Amador de San José

• While businesses grapple with major disruption due to COVID-19, working from home can be a blessing in disguise.
• The flexibility that comes with remote work is empowering employees, and it’s generating some positive, and surprising, outcomes.
• From better diets to improvements in mental health, here’s how remote work is positively impacting physical and mental wellness.

As governments extend lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home continues to be the norm for most people. 

While much has been written about how to make remote work easier for people, how to cope with the challenges and struggles associated with it, and how to remain productive in times of uncertainty, we feel it’s about time we share some good news about working from home in COVID-19 times. 

ZenBusiness recently surveyed remote workers about their experiences to identify the positives of working from home. Other than helping prevent the spread of the virus, working from home has had a positive impact in some areas of wellness in plenty of people’s lives; even among those who  work in their pajamas (65% of survey respondents answered that they have worked in their pajamas from time to time). 

The Positive Side to Working from Home: Key Facts & Figures

ZenBusiness found that 99% of remote workers report that remote working has had at least 1 positive impact on their life. 

• Improved mental health. The survey found that 60% of respondents felt that their mental health had improved by being out of the office. 
• Improved diet. Two in five survey respondents said they have improved their diet as a result of working remotely. 
• More active lifestyle. 44% of remote workers say they exercise more regularly than when they worked in an office.
• More quality time with family. Over 50% of survey respondents reported having the opportunity to spend more time with their family. 
• Improved productivity. Even though many of those working from home have watched Netflix here and there or taken a nap during business hours, the majority of them report being more productive at home than the office. 

Interestingly, the survey found that “the size of the company someone works for has a direct impact on how positive their remote working experience is going to be.”

According to the findings, “remote workers at small businesses reported the least number of positive outcomes (43%), with it rising marginally for those in medium sized businesses (46%) and peaking much higher for those in large businesses (55%).”

Working Remotely Can Be Rewarding

Even during uncertain times, like now, working from home can be extremely rewarding. This is due to the flexibility and freedom that comes hand in hand with working from home, something that is not accessible for the average employee when working from the office. 

Some of these flexibilities and freedoms come from the fact that workers have more time on their hands. Rather than enduring a long commute on a daily basis, they find that they can wake up later, take more time to eat breakfast, take a longer lunch break — which allows time to cook their favorite meals — and have more time to workout. 

Others come from the fact that people are able to work during their most productive hours — in the wee hours of the morning or later at night. 

Despite the fact that there is no such thing as a regular working week at the moment, people are starting to realize that working from home can be a positive and advantageous experience, even among those who prefer the office. 

A Long Way to Go

We still have a long way to go working from home. It’s unlikely that offices will be back to normal anytime soon. Even as governments lift lockdowns, it is possible that companies won’t want their offices to be at capacity every day. Therefore some companies may split workers into groups to reduce workplace density on any given day.

As a result, it’s important that employees start to find their own work from home routines and methodologies. Something that works for them, no matter how out of this world it may seem. 

If your work from home routine includes two episodes of your favorite show and working in pajamas, or taking a regular nap after lunch, it doesn’t really matter — so long as you’re feeling your best and working your best. 

That’s the beauty of remote working and working from home; even as we follow company guidelines, each one of us is able to make his or her own rules about what works and what does not.