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Mental Health

Is Working From Home Affecting Your Mental Health?

By October 30, 2020 No Comments

Working from home requires balance

Earlier this year, millions of people across the United States started working from home for the first time in their careers, joining millions of others who had been doing so for quite some time. If you were one of these people making this transition, did you initially think it was going to be a positive development? Did you envision getting all of your household chores done easily, sleeping later, avoiding office chitchat and basically enjoying a degree of independence that you always silently wanted? If so, have those thoughts turned out to be accurate now that you’ve been working from home for several months?

If not, then you’re definitely far from alone. Many people are finding that working from home is much more difficult than they imagined. In fact, according to some recently released surveys, the vast majority of people in this position even believe that this new working norm is affecting their mental health. There are likely several different reasons for this, but the bottom line is that remote working is inflicting harm on the workforce, and it’s a level of harm that may require some help before it’s put in the past or at least managed.

Majority: Working From Home Is Here To Stay

The first bit of perspective comes from a survey of more than 1,100 US workers that was administered by Conference Board. Overall, most of the respondents feel as though they’ll be working from home for the foreseeable future. Specifically:

  • 28 percent of workers expect to return to their workspaces by the end of 2020.
  • 38 percent of workers expect to return at some point during 2021 or beyond.
  • 7 percent expect to return to work after a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available.
  • More than 30 percent of workers are not comfortable returning to work at all.

This should tell you that even though the pandemic may have been the impetus for working from home for most people, the respondents do not feel that it’s going to be the governing variable with regards to a return to work. It should also tell you that most people do not expect this return to happen anytime soon anyway.

Working From Home and Mental Health Survey

Along those lines, Oracle and Workplace Intelligence worked together on a survey of more than 12,000 workers across 11 countries. The purpose of the survey was to begin to determine, what if any effect working from home had on people’s self-perceived mental health along with finding out more about people’s opinions on AI and mental health resources. The results were troubling to say the least. For instance, 78 percent of respondents believe that working from home has negatively affected their mental health. In addition, 85 percent of respondents believe that these work-related mental health issues negatively affect their home life. Finally, 70 percent of respondents stated that 2020 has been the most stressful year of their working lives.

In terms of specific mental health challenges, the following percentages of respondents stated that working from home has led to these difficulties:

  • Isolation from friends – 28 percent
  • Suffering family relationships – 30 percent
  • Reduced happiness at home – 33 percent
  • Poor physical health – 35 percent
  • Sleep deprivation – 40 percent

The respondents were between 22 and 74 years old, which represents a cross-section of people in terms of their relative positions with their employers as well as their overall levels of professional working experience.

Waiting It Out May Not Be an Option

There are several things we should glean from these surveys. First, simply “waiting out the pandemic” on the assumption that everything will return to normal once it’s behind us may not be sound logic. Several surveys, including one done by the Institute of Directors in the United Kingdom found that nearly three-quarters of the company directors surveyed believed that they would continue with more working from home arrangements after the pandemic. The reason? It reduces costs.

Therefore, if you’re suffering from mental health difficulties that may have come about while working from home, outside influences are not likely to change your situation. Instead, people in this position should deal with their mental health problems so that they can effectively learn to manage them going forward, regardless of what happens with their working situations in the future.

Secondly, it seems clear from the surveys that working from home is, if not creating mental health problems that specifically deal with familial relationships and the like, certainly bringing them to the forefront if they already existed. Whether these challenges were already in place or not, they still need to be met head-on in order for someone to have his or her mental health restored.

Finally, as we’ve noted recently, mental health challenges are a disease. They are not something that simply come and go and they are not “phases” or “temporary ruts” as so many have believed in the past. They require treatment, care and a foundation of knowledge so that the person suffering and his or her support network can help manage them.

How Swift Recovery Solutions Can Help

We are all in this pandemic together, and millions of us are either just realizing or are being reminded that we have mental health difficulties. Fortunately, you do have options available to you. Swift Recovery Solutions is a team of mental health professionals who understand what it takes to identify, treat and manage these conditions.

You need to contact us as soon as possible if you’re suffering. We work directly with your health insurance carrier, which means that if we collectively decide that you need help, we will get your coverage questions answered before you commit to anything. For now, we encourage you to reach out to us. Click the link below to give us a call. We’re here to listen and to help. We can also help you by way of additional information. If you haven’t already, go to our Members’ site and register – it takes less than a minute – and look through our library of resources for more help.

It’s time to take this on, and we’re ready to help you in whatever way we can.

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