Social interaction: no more catching up over coffee when working from home

Lots of people are having to work from home for the second time while others have been doing so for a year now. Covid-19 has forced many of us to grapple with the advantages and disadvantages of working from home. While initially, most of us found this to be pleasant experience; it is increasingly becoming more of a burden. Working from home permanently can be stressful, lead to loneliness and harm our bodies and minds. In the long run, we miss the regularity, clear work and break times, a varied day and most importantly social contact with our colleagues.

There are many positives to be gained from flexible working hours, but there are dangers too. There is a great temptation, or more precisely pressure, to quickly reply to e-mails in the evening or eat your lunch while sat at your desk. This may result in you feeling stressed, uneasy or even burning out. So it’s important that you give your body and mind the breaks it needs when you’re at home too. Very short breaks during the working day, also known as micro breaks, taken at any time and on your own initiative, have a positive impact on the pressure of work (Sooyeol et al., 2016). This is especially true if you have jam-packed and exhausting days.

The best and most efficient forms of micro breaks are relaxing breaks (physical and mental relaxation) or social breaks (a brief chat with your colleagues). But it’s harder take social breaks when you’re working from home, you can't share a coffee break in the same way or chat across the office.

But you can take an online coffee break too. More and more companies and employers are specifying a quarter of an hour window for staff to meet up on social media for a cup of coffee or tea. If you’re not lucky enough to have this opportunity, we recommend agreeing with someone else on a time to meet up for a 5-15-minute coffee break. Ideally, you should make this a fixed event and repeat it; say every week. The people you meet with should preferably also come from different elements of your life (work, family, sport, hobbies).

Keep the breaks short; after all you plan to be in touch again next week. And be sure to treat yourself to a cup of good-quality coffee or tea. And don't feel bad about taking this time out: these social micro breaks will enable you to work better and more efficiently!