Wondering How to Ease Your Way Back into the Office? Here's All You Need to Know About Returning to Office After Working from Home!

Regardless of how you’re feeling on a mental health band, it is crucial for you to take care of yourself and stay well. If you feel down, depressed, anxious, or are finding it incredibly hard to cope, it is vital to talk to someone about this. If your workplace has an employee healthcare program, opt for it. You can also start with a checklist to gain a better idea of how you are feeling.

This also pertains to taking care of yourself before you reach a stressful state. Leaving workspace during lunch will allow you to stay fresh during the afternoon. By exercising during lunchtime you can boost both your physical and mental health.

If you are going through a tough time then consider professional help. Adding professional counseling to a medical treatment is much more efficient that merely going for the latter. This is because a psychologist, psychiatric therapist, or psychoanalysts have much more specialized training to aid us in learning new coping mechanisms. The first step to improving your help is to acknowledge that you need it!

Strict deadlines or extensive durations of work activities mean that we can’t stay limited to the standard hours of work. This is when extensive periods of work become normal instead of a mere exception. Such prolonged periods to stress can have adverse effects on our health. Try to restrict the sum of overtime you go for. If these extensive hours are becoming normal, discuss your roles with your manager. This also means that try to refrain from taking your work home. This way you’ll also have a healthy work-life balance.

Take a day or two to breathe and recalibrate before hustling back to the office. Here are a few things you can do to make the most out of your time.

Another thing that you will need to do at the end of your break and before you get back into your office is to make a list of all the new costs that you will be incurring. These costs may include your commuting expenses, lunch costs, costs of the resources you’ll need in the office etc.

It is also important to find any alternatives to your previous routine expenses. Since you’re on a break, you have time to plan contingencies to cut down on your current expenses as well the ones you might face in the future. Planning ahead of yourself will only make things easier for you.

You should also be prepared to start working tirelessly as soon as you get back because if you are not well-prepared you might get overwhelmed, resulting in deterioration in your health and work quality. You should ask your employer for the resources you might need beforehand, visit the office before you get back, and take inventory of all essentials you will need. This way, you be able to start working productively right away.

Going for a trial run to calculate the time to get to your office and back will also help you in reaching office quick in the upcoming days. It’s important to reevaluate all your needs so as to reach the office with a relaxed state of mind.

The best way to come back into work is with ease. Make a 'things to do' list with the priorities and the fewer essentials, the later will be the things you can suffice without. You should do this at least two days before returning to work.

Once you get back, start off with the uncompleted tasks from before your break. This will help you re-familiarize yourself with your office tasks. Also, begin with the short tasks because if you start with the big, arduous, and new projects right away, you will be completely overwhelmed by the end of the very first day. Starting with older and shorter tasks will also help you regain confidence and believe that you are good at what you do.

We also suggest you carry little souvenirs from every place you’ve been to and bring it along to work after your vacations. Various researchers have found out that reminiscing about your happy trips help you relax during hard times. These souvenirs can be whatever you like about the place, such as diffusers with oils whose smells you enjoy the most, pottery, books or whatever you like.

If you’re coming back from home, such as from the lockdown, bring a piece of your home along with you. Items such as a photo frame with your family can help you transform the happy memories into energy for work. These will also motivate you to work harder!

Bear in mind that it is important that you talk to your colleagues about your break, or theirs. You can also talk about your families, health, newly found passions etc. You might not want to interact with them simply because not a lot of things happened in the break. However, everyone wants to listen to stories about how you fell off hideously during a walk, locked yourself inside a room by mistake, or simply anything funny.

Small conversations such as these will help strengthen your bond with your colleagues. They’ll also help you ease back into work for these people are, in a way, your family. Connect with your work family and help them in case they’re feeling out of place!

One of the benefits of working from home is that you have whatever you will need throughout the day. However, all these things will not be available at the office. For this reason, make a list of the things you will need at the office, and buy them. You can take these with you on the first day of work or place them there beforehand.

This gets you comfortable at office which in turn would help improve your attitude, health and, therefore, work quality. You will also not have to leave the office while working to get something you need. Your work focus will also increase. These are some of the essentials: headphones, water bottle, some snacks, phone charger, and an umbrella.

There might be many different tasks that you couldn't solve before you went on the break. If yes, try to look at them with a different perspective before you go back to your office and continue this practice throughout. Heading back to the office after a break is a great opportunity to view the same things with a new, fresh and different perspective.

This may also help you impress your employers with different viewpoints. This is your moment to think out of the box and get ahead of others by being unique. Researching your projects to bring more perspectives on the table is also a great tip. Utilize your break to get a jump start on things.

If you don't take breaks, you will be overwhelmed or even exhausted by the end of your workday. Having breaks of 10-15 minute every three hours, on the other hand, will help to freshen up your mind and relax your body. Your health will also improve. This way, you will also be able to work for more hours without burning out.

You may think that this break is a waste of time but in the longer run, it will help increase your focus levels, positive attitude, and creativity. One way to take regular breaks is to set reminders through an app. Todoist is a remarkable app that facilitates you with reminders. It has a beautiful interface that also allows you to view your daily and weekly accomplishments.

It is difficult for most people to move from vacations/break to office life since they tend to focus on only the negatives that get them frustrated fast, having a bad effect on their work. Keep an open mind when going back to your office and stay on the positive side of things. Think of the upsides of all activities at the office.

Remember that there are many advantages to working from the office instead of home. These include having a good reason to wake up early, having a larger space to work in, no disturbances from family members, and a set routine. This tip will help ease your transition to the office.

Commuting from home to office consumes a large part of an individual’s time. On average, Indians spend 7% of their entire day in travelling to the office. An excellent way to enhance your productivity is to wake up earlier to avoid the hassle of traffic. You won’t be one of the employees who get shouted at for starting late either. Instead, you’ll reach office before your colleagues and gain the reputation of an efficient employee.

Mentioned below are a few apps to help you wake up earlier.

It is well known that when you keep doing the same thing for long periods of time, you lose interest over time. So, if you continue doing your project for many hours without breaks, you will lose interest, reducing your concentration levels, and ultimately alleviating your productivity levels. Also, performing the same tasks over and over again exhausts the mind. For these reasons, try taking short breaks of about 10 to 15 minutes every two to three hours. You will be able to relax your mind, eyes and physically as well.

You can create other opportunities for physical activities in your office. Tasks such as placing your phone on the other end of your workspace or standing up for a glass of water develop reasons to stand and move. You need to remember that productivity is not proportional to the time spent on a task.

Researches have also shown that if you confine your work area to a particular region you will be able to increase your productivity levels further.

Here are a few tips to enhance your workspace.