While some employees may return to office working post-pandemic, but most of them will be remote working employees. We need to understand now how we can maintain, health and safety of our employees when most of our working remotely.
Setup a Dedicated Home Office
Working remotely can be an ergonomic and injury prevention challenge both for remote workers and employers with a remote workforce. A Dedicated Home Office setting is the easiest to make ergonomically correct. In the long run it provides for the health and safety of the remote working employees.
Facilitate Good Ergonomics
It is best to use a dedicated room with a desk, adjustable chair, a desktop computer or a laptop with a separate keyboard, mouse and/or monitor. Peripherals added to laptops will correct ergonomics and save your body with improved posture. A standing desk is ideal to change postures during the day.
Health of the Spine
Any and all messages between the body and the brain travel through the spine. And, as you might know from your own experience, the spine can become stiff and blocked by things like too much time spent sitting at a computer. Over time, blockages in the spine lead to imbalances and potential illnesses, with symptoms too numerous to list. Research indicates awkward postures are a big factor leading to back pain when seated too long.
Health of the Eye
Protection from screen glare is one step to avoid eye strain. Place any screen at 90 degrees to the light source. Ask employees to use a room with windows that provide enough bright light. If not use a good LED lighting to avoid any flickering and reduce heat.
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Also, focus on the indoor air quality of the rooms they use. Ask them to ventilate the room or grow indoor plants for better air quality as well. Remind them to check for unsanitary surfaces and clean them regularly.
Encourage Practicing Self-Care
Set a goal of establishing self-care practices, which forces remote workers to maintain good habits of having good health and hygiene as though they would attend an office. Self-care is not just about pampering oneself; it’s about sticking to routines that keep you grounded and healthy.
Motivate to Meditate and Mindfulness
To better prepare for challenges, daily practices like meditation and mindfulness can help you have a more balanced response. Soon they will find that meditating and finding that space for their thoughts and emotions to surface on a regular basis has allowed them to respond in a calmer state and from a neutral, balanced perspective.
Assessing Mental Health through Feedback
Mental health is also a potential health hazard. Remote workers might feel isolated from their coworkers and risk burning out if they do not adequately separate their work life from other responsibilities.
Feedback most often happens one on one. Feedback is not to be seen as right or wrong, but rather emphasizes “what is most effective with me”. Moreover, feedback is given and received in a safe environment, with the focus on “I” statements. The culture that results from feedback being treated in this manner is often constructive, open to change, innovative. Importance to the remote worker’s emotions, ideas, efforts and passions should be given serious consideration by leadership.
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This culture assures that leaderships know how their remote working employees want to be motivated and influenced. When difficult challenges or security threats appear, the leaders are aware of what will help with the health and safety of the remote employees.
Strengthen Virtual Connections
Set up a daily 5-10-minute virtual check-in. Make it something, all remote employees look forward to that time to see one other and laugh together. Choose a weekend, to hosting a virtual party or game night to strengthen on their virtual connections. This plays a huge role in Managing Health and Safety for Remote Working Employees.
Provide Extra Benefits Like Gym Memberships
Small businesses that are just now hiring their first remote employees are unlikely to incur all of these expenses right out of the gate, but it’s important to understand that they are all included under the umbrella of compensation. Eventually, your small business might be ready to handle the financial compensation responsibility of the employees.
Many of these remote employees maintain compensation expectations that include benefits like health insurance and life insurance, but more frivolous extras like gym memberships can wait until your budget can realistically handle the added burden.
Offset Gender Differences in Remote Working
Whether or not you attribute it to upbringing or biological imperatives, men and women exhibit gender differences in remote working. Women still hold a tiny percentage of leadership positions in companies, they are getting paid less and are being discriminated against during and after pregnancy. We all know that this needs to change and we know that there are many benefits to having more women in leadership roles.
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Being a remote employee is especially difficult for women because they have disproportionate responsibility for care giving. Remote work allows mothers the flexibility they need to raise a family and pursue their career at the same time.
To combat stereotypes, educate staff to respect gender differences while working remotely. Offset the effects of gender differences in work life balance by reducing the gender pay gap and promoting more people who can manage efficiently into leadership positions.
Upgrade Cyber Safety
Data and Cyber security is very important for remote workers and the business. Employers need to make sure their employees have secure connections and require anyone who must use public Wi-Fi to use a virtual private network (VPN). Remote workers must comply with the same data security, encryption, and privacy issues as onsite workers. Thus, this ensures the health and safety of the remote working employees virtually as well.
Do You Know Any Ways to Manage Health and Safety for Remote Working Employees? Share them on Trdinoo for others to learn and please share us with your friends and network.
