Conflicting interests make working at home tough for most Brits

Working at home during lockdown brings a different kind of stress to being in an office.

Home schooling, feeding the family or fending off an attention-seeking pet are not duties that normally go hand in hand with a working day.

Researchers surveyed nearly 2,000 Brits working at home, asking them how they were coping with lockdown after ten weeks and what steps they were taking to de-stress.

Stressed out

Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed (72%) said they felt more stressed working at home than they did after a day in the office.

The reasons why included that communication amongst colleagues wasn’t the same (33%), there are too many distractions at home to concentrate properly (24%) and many felt it was unfair some colleagues were furloughed while they were left to pick up extra work (15%).

Some 32% confessed that they end up working longer hours when working from home as there isn’t a clear start and end to the working day.

Soothing tactics

The following were found to be most common ways Brits de-stress after long day or week working from home:

Eat comfort food – 62%

Drink alcohol – 47%

Watch films, TV series – 41%

Long walks – 24%

Light scented candles – 22%

Keely Parsons, founder of www.SassyShopWax.com, who commissioned the research, said: “The uncertainty of this pandemic has left a lot of us at a loss with our emotions; some days are good; some days aren’t so good and some days are just downright bad.

“It is great that people are taking a proactive approach to help themselves de-stress. Hopefully now we are allowed to sit in groups of six in private spaces this might help people even more with their work from home stresses as they can unload and see some friendly faces again.”

(photo: Shutterstock).