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Check out the sections below for a few tips on what you can do to take some of the stress out of working remotely:

Take some me time

• Do take regular breaks and take a lunch break away from your screen – blocking this out in your diary each day could help
• Do try and get some exercise, a walk, yoga, desk exercise or even breathing exercises – do respect your local social distancing restrictions though
• Do inject some fun into your day, e.g. watch a YouTube video, have a read of your favourite book or look up a recipe to cook later
• Do plan little tasks away from your laptop at least once a day, e.g. clearing out and organising one drawer, reading a certain amount of pages in a book, or just having a break

Talk to others

• Do talk to your colleagues
• Do talk to your family and friends or buddy up with a VB/VE colleague

Be respectful and thoughtful

• Do maintain a respectful way to communicate even when things go wrong or are stressful – you never know what the other person is going through
• Do be kind and thoughtful of others
• Do keep any COVID-19 related updates short, concise and factual and to once a day where possible to avoid increased anxiety within your teams
• Do remember to share relevant information with others – feeling informed can help reduce uncertainty
• Do remember to be empathetic – your colleagues may also be caring for children, family or friends during this time

Think about work/life balance and avoid undue pressure on colleagues

• Do provide reasonable deadlines
• Be considerate when asking for things by a deadline to avoid undue stress
• Be mindful of people’s working hours and not ask for work to be completed outside of these
• Remember that responses cannot always be immediate, especially late in the day
• Do think about other people’s workloads – just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not busy!
• Do make sure people are not in another meeting before calling them
• Do respect people’s work/life balance, and not expect people to be online outside of their allotted hours
• Do ask invitees before booking meetings between 12-2, to allow everyone to have an hour lunch break
• Do encourage staff to still take holidays/take some time off yourself. You might not be able to go anywhere but having a few days completely switched off from work will help. If you have booked leave, don’t necessarily cancel it because you can’t travel
• Do actively listen in meetings. This is more important than ever while we get used to video/phone meetings.
• Do consider who needs to be part of any meeting you set up. Don’t just invite them because they normally are/have been part of this task. Consider:
  * Are you able to update on their behalf?
  * Have you already heard that piece of info and you can relay?
  *Perhaps speak to them if you aren’t sure before inviting them
• Do trust your staff – micromanagement is unnecessary pressure for all

And most importantly
Do speak out if you’re struggling. It is ok not to be ok, and with us all working remotely it is more important than ever to communicate. Everyone is feeling the pressure in different ways, but keep talking