How to improve your team's wellbeing when working from home

Prevent homeworking employees from feeling excluded or out of the loop by establishing effective communication channels to help them connect with each other and with their supervisors.  

Use tools such as email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and project management software to facilitate collaboration and information sharing. 

Schedule regular check-ins with homeworkers and create the space to talk about how they are feeling, any issues that may be affecting them at home, or frustrations they are experiencing with a remote set-up.  

Keep an ear out for any bias creeping into your team’s discussions that pit homeworkers against those working from your company’s premises and challenge it constructively. It can be subtle, so listen for anything around productivity, attendance, promotion prospects and engagement. This may go in either direction – for example, a homeworker may comment that they are ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and their achievements are not recognised. Or an on-site colleague may dismiss a homeworker as ‘never here’.  

Don't let anything fester. It’s important that everyone feels able to express themselves constructively and the focus should be on finding solutions, rather than dragging down your culture. This will promote an environment where your employees feel psychologically safe and ward off stress and other mental health conditions. 

Assess and provide the necessary equipment, software, and tools to enable remote work. This may include laptops, internet connectivity, VPN access, project management software, and communication tools.  

Offer remote-enabled technical support to address any issues employees may encounter. We all know how stressful it can be when technology is going wrong, so don’t leave your remote employees floundering. 

Remember to include your homeworkers in your regular maintenance and compliance schedules for equipment, such as portable appliance tests (PAT).  

Check that your employee knows how to set their workspace up and ask them to complete a desk assessment regularly to ensure they are comfortable and avoiding potential injuries.  

You may not provide all equipment as standard, but it’s worth checking in with employees about how they are working and asking if they are comfortable. For example, homes are usually not lit to the same standard as workplaces – so would they benefit from some additional task lighting?  

In addition to monitoring any negative attitudes, foster a positive remote work culture by encouraging regular breaks, exercise, and work-life balance for home-based workers as much as you do for on-site employees.  

Provide opportunities for social interaction and team building through virtual meetings or online collaboration platforms and use them creatively to be inclusive. 

As an employer, it is a challenge to include your homeworkers in some of your wellbeing and social engagement initiatives that are geared more to in-person interaction. From lunchtime yoga sessions to coffee mornings, it’s easy to overlook adapting your formats to include participation in alternative ways.  

While most homeworkers will be understanding of this, they will also appreciate it when you make an effort to include them. Think back to adapting to homeworking during the pandemic – this can help you surface ideas for how to include remote workers.  

For example, can they dial into a yoga session or wellbeing talk from home? Can they make their own cake and share a picture of it, and have a category in your bake sale for best-looking cake? Can they join the coffee morning remotely?