Blog Series: Wellbeing at East Sussex County Council during Covid-19: Healthy Working from Home (2)

Jessica Easterbrook, Lead HR Consultant at East Sussex County Council,  shares how her council adapted to the changes brought about by Covid-19 in this blog series. In this blog, she shares some tips East Sussex County Council gave their staff for keeping healthy working from home.

On March 25 2020 we published an article about keeping physically and mentally healthy whilst working from home – here are some of our top tips:

Remote locations – it is important that we try to maintain a sense of community and continuity – a weekly team Skype can be great way to do this and/or a regular Skype ‘tea break’ where staff can opt in to continue collaboration with colleagues; lets embrace the technologies we have and keep in touch

Routine – try to start and end your day at a similar time (e.g. get up at the normal time, get showered, prioritise your workload etc.- try and keep ‘pyjama bathing’ for your days off!)

Workstation – have a space set up to work from, check out the guidance available to make sure you are working safely. Make sure you have some fresh air coming into your home.

Regular breaks – every 30 minutes or so get up, stretch, grab a breath of fresh air or a drink, or just move around for a couple of minutes. There are also some great suggestions of desk based exercises/stretches you can do to help

Exercise – at lunch time or after a day of sitting, if you can, go for a walk and get some vitamin D you will feel better for it (following any social distancing rules, of course). There are some great exercise videos on the NHS Fitness Studio, OneYou and YouTube that you can try at home

Socialisation and communication – these are massive to help avoid isolation and a dip in your mental wellbeing. A simple skype message or email to check in with your colleagues and manager can make a real difference. Start all conversations by asking how someone is and be interested in their answer. It’s a difficult time right now so embrace this and be kind. Some teams have set up a (purely voluntary) WhatsApp group and found this to be good way to stay in touch.