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How to create a healthy work environment when working remotely

Picture of Vanessa Patricia Oh
Vanessa Patricia Oh
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Work-life balance
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We Life Sizers enjoy working at home or wherever we like with just our laptop as our office. It allows us to be flexible, enjoy more free time and organise our day as we see fit.

While remote work certainly has its advantages, it also comes with some challenges. It is more difficult to separate work from our private lives and stay connected to our colleagues. Plus, we tend to move too little and spend extended hours in front of the screen – which our eyes and back don’t like in the long run. 

Luckily, there are some tweaks we can make so that our remote setting is more comfortable. Here’s what we do to create a healthy work environment while working from home. 

We invest in high-quality office equipment

A healthy work environment begins with our office equipment. It makes a difference if we look down at our laptop or if it’s slightly elevated on a laptop stand. Our back will feel more comfortable on a proper office chair. And, as we spend a lot of time sitting in front of our screen, standing from time to time is crucial. A simple standing or adjustable desk can be everything you need to achieve that. 

Our Life Size wellness policy makes it easy for all employees to order new office equipment whenever it’s needed. We have a list with suggestions, but depending on the Life Sizer’s individual needs, they can order other items that suit their style of working. 

We work outside our home

Working remotely doesn’t necessarily mean working from home. While it is comfortable to spend much of our time within our own four walls, why not take advantage of being able to work from anywhere? How about working in a café and enjoying a coffee while ticking off your to-dos? For a quieter and more focused atmosphere, a library or co-working space is perfect. Some Life Sizers even choose to work outside for fresh air and sunshine during warmer temperatures. 

Leaving our known surroundings exposes us to new stimuli and encourages us to adapt to new situations. That’s why Life Size has a monthly budget allowing us to visit public workspaces of our choice. Any expenses related to that, like coffee or lemonade, are covered by the company. 

We avoid constant stimulation

In a remote setting, everything reaches us through our laptop – emails, Slack messages, and calendar notifications. Especially when we are working on several projects in parallel, it can feel like everything is coming at us at once. 

In order to avoid constant stimulation, setting focus times and balancing incoming messages is key. At Life Size, we have a company-wide focus time on Monday and Wednesday mornings where we schedule no calls, and we’re free to set personal focus times when needed too. These times are used to fully concentrate on our tasks and switch off from distracting notifications. Similarly, we can disconnect from our wifi if needed, always making sure that we keep the team and clients informed and avoiding clashes with previously scheduled meetings. 

To protect our eyes and back, we switch off our cameras during team meetings from time to time or take a walk outside and join meetings by phone. 

We embrace individual differences

We are all individuals with individual preferences, different needs, peak times of concentration and methods of working. Improving unique strengths and working on individual challenges is one of Life Size’s core values. 

We’re curious to learn more about how you create your working environment. Drop us a message if you’d like to share your insights! And follow us on LinkedIn to learn more about our other company values. 

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