This is a living post – we will update it with further information as we get it – please check back regularly! Last updated: 12th January 2022.
As always, new material is marked with NEW!
Stay safe, be kind, and look after yourself.
New research from Microsoft shows how brainwaves reveal remote meeting fatigue is real. The article also looks at how our attitudes to remote work have changed, and what Microsoft are doing in response. They recommend “taking regular breaks every two hours to let your brain re-charge, limiting meetings to 30 minutes, or punctuating long meetings with small breaks when possible.” Good advice, but easier said than done.
Money Saving Expert – claim tax relief on working from home
If you have been required to work from home during the pandemic, you can use the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) ‘microservice’ to claim for increased costs. Even if you only needed to work from home for a day, you will be allowed to claim for the WHOLE year’s tax relief.
BBC Headroom is a comprehensive source of help, advice and even an escape to nature from the BBC. There are guides, documentaries, uplifting content and music mixes to help boost our mood.
The health and wellbeing smartphone app provides an enhanced set of wellbeing tools and engaging features. The features are designed to improve the user’s mental and physical health by using personal metrics to set goals and achievements.
Health Assured – My Healthy Advantage Mobile app Information
Health Assured – My Healthy Advantage Mobile App download instructions
Having good mental health helps us relax more, achieve more and enjoy our lives more. The NHS has expert advice and practical tips to help you look after your mental health and wellbeing. See here.
Office workers often sit at their desks for long periods of time without ever taking a break. This can be detrimental to good posture and leads to pain, tightness and tension in your neck, shoulders and back. Simple desk stretches can help you get through your workday, making you feel energised and more alert.
Here are some simple movements, advised by London Doctors Clinic designed to move joints and stretch the muscles and nerves ultimately stimulating circulation and relieving tightness.
In June, the Mind Enews has a new look, which you can view here: Mind@work. Topics covered this month include LGBTQI+ inclusivity in the workplace, and how to support a team member with an eating disorder.
Thank you to everyone who took time to fill out the survey. This is a summary of the results. The comments and feedback will be gone into in much more detail in the coming days, but we thought you would like to see the initial results.
The government has announced childcare support for families affected by Covid-19.
For more financial guidance, tips, and advice, don’t forget Martin Lewis’s MoneySavingExpert. Unlike many financial advice sites, they do not take advertising and the advice is entirely unbiased.
Also, don’t forget you can watch video recordings of staff meetings on Stream if you missed the live sessions first time around. You will need to log-in with your FSC Microsoft account to access the site.
We have a library of guidance, documentation, FAQs and other information for staff on the intranet.
Anyone coming back to work should speak to a manager and fill in a return to work conversation form. This is to help us make sure we put in any support you may need, and that we are not putting you or your family at risk by asking you to come back. On Mondays we have a “Welcome back! Informal catch up”. Any staff are welcome to come along and ask questions directly to members of the C-19 OPT. It’s not easy for us to understand what the last few months have been like for those who have been in work or those who have been on furlough. A lot has changed and we are finding the more conversations we have the better. It’s not unusual to find your first few times in work are a whirlwind of new systems and ways of working, within and across locations. Questions you thought you confidently knew the answers to, you are now not sure about and need to track down the person who has the right answer. For more information on how to attend please contact your line manager or Hostel Team Leader.
In order to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff and in addition to the welcome back meetings, all staff returning to work will have a recorded conversation with their line manager, Hostel Team Leader or HOG (which ever is appropriate for your location). If you have any issues or concerns this will be the time to discuss it so appropriate measures can be put into place prior to your return to work (whether at home or at your learning location).
Please don’t forget to use time to upskill and complete free training that is available. If there is a particular course that you have done which we can promote to all staff please contact HR to provide your testimonial. See the following post here on Staff News for details:
Westfield Health Services has returned to normal. Claims can now be processed in the normal way, however for anyone experiencing issues with claims please contact Westfield directly on 0114 250 2000. Please see westfieldhealth.com.
Don’t forget to have look at the benefits of Westfield Rewards as it offers discounts with many retailers. You can see how it works via this 3-minute video.
Coronavirus has brought about significant changes to the way we live and work, and the rapidly changing situation can make it hard to keep up with the latest news and advice.
A range of webinars from Health Assured ready to view at leisure.
In addition are a number of useful articles related to work life support such as managing change, retirement, redundancy to bereavement and loss.
Health Assured (username: Zurich / Password: Assurance)
Martin Lewis’s MoneySavingExpert is crammed with unbiased, easy-to-understand advice to help with your finances. It details what help is available, how you can make savings on your bills, and much more. The weekly email contains timely updates and need-to-know information on the current situation.
Home education charity Education Otherwise have put together a list of special resources in light of the school closures, as has the government’s Department of Education:
Home Education UK has set up a Facebook group offering Q&A, support and resources from experienced home educators for families dealing with school closure and lockdown.
With increased internet use for the whole family at home, it is more important than ever know how to stay safe online – kids and grown-ups alike. This guide from the BBC offers some solid guidance.
Working from home and parenting and educating at the same time brings its own set of unique challenges. This article from Trello provides some tips to bring order to the chaos. Look out in particular for the Dolly Parton bit – so true!
Finally, if you need a little inspiration for teaching your little ones about these troubling times, look no further than Coronavirus: a book for children, wonderfully illustrated by Axel Scheffler of The Gruffalo fame. It’s a completely free PDF for you to download and share.
Be sure to join our Slack channel dedicated to #wellbeing and #homeworkingtips. Drop in, have a chat, and share your own links and tips!
We also have some other fun Slack channels you might be interested in joining:
If you know of any other fun channels, or any other helpful resources, articles or videos, let us know in the comments, drop a message in #common-room, or send an email to [email protected]. Thanks!
NEW! There are many handy apps for your smartphone to help you keep well in mind and body. We have a small selection for you to try below. Please share your own suggestions on the #wellbeing Slack channel and we’ll add them here.
Mush is the friendliest app for mums. Created by Katie and Sarah after they met on maternity leave in a drizzly playground, it has now spawned over 2 million friendships and is the number one social app for mums. Mums who use Mush can find friends who live nearby with kids the same age, arrange meetups, get advice from parenting experts and fellow mums on the topics keeping them awake at night and join chat groups based on everything from their due date to their love of reality TV.
There are thousands of studies that have shown mindfulness meditation can positively impact mental and physical health. Whether it’s by reducing stress, improving sleep, increasing focus, or improving relationships, research shows mindfulness works. This app offers a nice, gentle introduction anyone can try.
With 45,000 free guided meditations you can meditate on Insight Timer for as long as you want without ever paying a thing. Most meditation apps say they’re free but the reality is quite different; once the starter pack finishes they quickly lock you out. InsightTimer offers the largest free library of guided meditations on earth and the world’s most loved meditation timer, for free.
If you ever feel overwhelmed, worried or anxious then Zenpower is designed to help you. These are all normal feelings that affect most of us, but they don’t have to take over your day. Zenpower is available at your fingertips and it empowers you to take positive control of how you feel, wherever you are and at any time of the day.
There are dozens of fitness apps available for varying tastes and needs. This article from Wired covers the best for use in lockdown.
We know that staying at home for a prolonged period can be difficult, frustrating and lonely for some people and that you or other household members may feel low. It can be particularly challenging if you don’t have much space or access to a garden.
It’s important to remember to take care of your mind as well as your body and to get support if you need it. Stay in touch with family and friends over the phone or on social media. There are also sources of support and information that can help, such as the Every Mind Matters website.
Think about things you can do during your time at home. People who have not minded staying at home for a week have kept themselves busy with activities such as cooking, reading, online learning and watching films. If you feel well enough you can take part in light exercise within your home or garden.
Many people find it helpful to remind themselves why what they are doing is so important. Hopefully, none of your family will suffer more than flu-like symptoms. But some people are badly affected by coronavirus, and particularly the elderly and those with certain medical conditions. By staying home, you are protecting the lives of others, as well as making sure the NHS does not get overwhelmed.
Working from home might sound like it’s a bit of a breeze. No need to commute, no need to sit in that stuffy office, nothing to work on but the computer, no distractions, home comforts all around you. What’s not to like? Well in truth home working isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and trying to be ‘work productive’ in a home environment can take a bit of getting used to, especially when children are off school.
There is no set approach to how a person should work from home. What works for one person may not work for another. Gradually we each work out what’s best for us, and what’s best for you might not be best for me.
This fits with the one above, just because you are online beavering away and your colleague isn’t, it does not mean they are not working or being productive. Perhaps they are reading some material in another room away from their desk, or perhaps they are having a break or hanging the washing out. Perhaps later when you are sitting down eating your evening meal, they are online beavering away, or maybe later still once their kids have gone to bed. Peoples periods of productivity can vary throughout the day.
The transition from bed to keyboard (when there is no ‘getting ready for work’ ritual or commute in between) can be a bit of a trial. For some people making a routine of putting on some work clothes, perhaps walking around the garden for 10 minutes, grabbing a coffee from the kitchen, and then sitting down to work helps them distinguish between what is work and what is home.
Some people like to wake up and fall right into work for a bit. They wake early and as there is no commute, they dive into work straight away, far earlier than they would have had they been going to the office. It might be drafting a report, pulling together the work plan for the week, catching up on emails, whatever the task there’s nothing wrong with kicking off your day early in your PJs before anyone else is online, and then breaking for breakfast after the first task is done.
In the office you usually have a dedicated space to work in and it’s handy to do that at home too. It might be a room or a space or a surface that you dedicate to work from during the working day, even its temporary. This will help draw a line between the place where you work in the day and the spaces where you spend your leisure time.
You are your own personal manager when you are working from home so create a schedule that suits you. Without meetings and person to person interactions breaking up the working day you can lose focus quickly, or even burn yourself out a bit despite how contradictory that may seem. Segment your day, add personal events like a walk around the house and garden, and try to stick to the timings as you would when you were in the office environment.
Putting the washing on, taking the dog for a walk, taking a food delivery, these are all things that you can do whilst you are working from home, and there is nothing to feel guilty about as long as you are honest with yourself. Putting the washing on and then hanging it out during your work day on a sunny Wednesday rather than leaving it until the wet weekend when you then have to tumble dry it, or have it hanging around the house drying for days is perfectly acceptable (and more environmentally friendly). If you make up the time later in the day what’s to feel guilty about, in fact you should be feeling super productive!
Your motivation will naturally peak and trough throughout the day, consequently so will your productivity. When in the office your productivity “ebbs and flows” probably don’t stand out as others around you will also be ebbing and flowing. However, when you are working from home on your own it’s important to know when these ebbs and flows are so you can plan your work accordingly. For some post lunch is lull in productivity, for others it could be mid-morning, wherever they may be, try and capitalise by saving the harder tasks for the times when you are at your most productive and are in the right headspace. Use the less productive time for more logical routine tasks.
“A body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external opposing force” – well the same applies to you, if you have momentum in your work at home then you will keep going. If you are at rest, in a lull, lacking momentum then you stay that way. So the takeaway here is try to keep busy and if you don’t have enough to do to keep busy, call it out to your team.
Working for home in the long term can result in you feeling cut off from the bigger picture so make use of the technologies available that enable you to interact with others in the organisation. This might be through a conference call over a particular piece of work, or it might be a social hang out on Slack or Teams at elevenses time.
In the office there are often noises and rhythms around you whereas at home the place can be quiet. Put some music on to fill the void and adjust your musical choice according to the task in hand. There’s a reason why video games have the soundtracks they do, it’s because they promote focus in the player, the same might work for you.
We use timers all the time, you set about a task and set a time by which you want to have in completed. Do the same when you are working from home, assign a piece of work you are doing a time period by which you want it completed, and stick to it.
You may not be the only person at home, some may also be working, some may not, but discuss the ground rules (or set them if your “companions” are children or the dog). Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you are home.
It’s very easy to get engrossed in what you are doing when there are none of the usual office distractions around you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take 5 every now and then. Break away from your desk, walk around, step outside, stretch, it will all help sharpen your mind and relax you at the same time.
Pick the point when you are going to finish work for the day and stick to it. Your work-life balance can very easily be disrupted when you start working from home, and before you know it your 8 hour day stretches out and you end up working into the evening and a blur between work time and home time appears. Instead, pick your time, finish as soon as possible after, then do the reverse of tip 3, take a walk, get changed out of your work clobber, whatever it is that you do to divide between working and living life.