Work from home has become the default once again in Singapore. For those living with their families, working from home can prove challenging; trying to find a quiet space to focus and get into the zone can be almost impossible, and interruptions to your ZOOM calls may be a daily occurrence. Furthermore, working from home can mean family time and working life may become homogenous as working parents may have to take care of their children’s home-based learning while sharing a working space.
When you work from home, the home becomes your office- your bedroom becomes your working space and your dining table has become a cluttered desk. The line between work and personal time can become easily blurred, leading to more stress and burn-outs due to poor work-life balance.
Factors affecting remote working environment in Singapore
In a remote working survey conducted in 2020 on Singaporean respondents by Robert Walters database, while most professionals in Singapore are satisfied with working from home, with around 7 out of 10 respondents sharing that they have experienced increased productivity while at home, they are also more distracted, less socially engaged and lack proper office furniture or set-up.
Around 67% of the respondents experienced a drop in productivity due to less ability to focus caused by their distracting surroundings and 50% of them struggle because of a lack of proper office furniture or set-up.
Recent surveys around the world show that most employers will continue to adopt a hybrid working model post-pandemic so employees will still be allowed to work from home for a few days of the week.
Since this will be the case in the long run, it would be wise to look into ways to improve work-life balance while working from home.
Thriving in the Remote Working Environment
To increase productivity, you can consider optimising your home environment by setting boundaries physically and mentally, such as creating a dedicated work space for work. It is about creating a “psychological work mode” where you can have a physically gated workplace to step into, such as a separate room just for work, away from the places where you relax, such as your sofa or television.
However, in cases where space is a constraint, you can consider investing in Office Pods, which are also called meeting pods, meeting booth pods, office phone booths or privacy booths. They allow for a personal and comfortable office space for your work from home needs.
Dedicated Work Spaces to Separate Work Life from Home
Office pods are portable units that are normally fitted with basic amenities such as a table top, lamp and power sockets. They can be moved around and placed indoors or outdoors for a more conducive work or study environment.
With more than half of the surveyed respondents struggling with working with distractions at home, office pods are great if you need a private space to answer phone calls or to attend to meetings without interruptions. In an enclosed space with low to zero noise from the surroundings, you can expect yourself to have reduced online meeting fatigue from having to repeat yourself or from struggling to hear your colleagues.
Mental Spaces to Separate Work Life from Home
Aside from setting physical boundaries, mental boundaries too, should not be undermined. Be sure to make mental and physical exercises a part of your routine while setting clear boundaries with working hours and personal time.
Setting boundaries to separate work from personal life is not just great for work productivity but for reduced stress levels too.
Feel free to contact us if you would like to buy or rent an office phone booth or office pod in your office or home.
