Question: 5 Things To Do To Make Sure You Leave The Office When You Work From Home

Now that most of us are working from home, we’ve noticed that it’s become increasingly difficult to leave the office at home. Working from home during a pandemic can feel like the hours are running into each other and that there’s no natural division between work time versus personal time. According to Sarah Goff-Dupont of Atlassian, people who are able to integrate their work lives within their daily personal tasks are “work-life integrators.” Still, some people need to feel like they’ve left work for the day before they can truly unwind. Those employees are known as “work-segmentors.” Goff-Dupont notes that “Understanding where you are on the integrator-segmenter spectrum is a major step forward in your quest for work-life balance because it helps you set boundaries accordingly. Here’s how to tell.”

Work-life integrators:

  • Transition fluidly from work to personal life and back again

  • Dress like they’re chillin’ at home when they’re working from home

  • Like to “talk shop” at the dinner table

  • Don’t mind answering emails and chats after hours (within reason, of course) because they popped out for that CrossFit class in the middle of the afternoon

Work-life segmentors:

  • Have well-defined times when they are working–once they’re done for the day, they’re done.

  • Wear office-appropriate attire (at least from the waist up!) when they’re working from home

  • Tend to personal needs like errands and fitness outside of working hours

  • In extreme cases, don’t keep photos of their family and friends on their desks.

For those who identify with work-segmentation, being able to shut down and disconnect from work at the end of the day is essential for our mental health and well-being. Both integrators and those who practice segmentation find curating a ritual helpful to achieve work-life balance and recharge. Developing a ritual doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as honoring a personal boundary and shutting down your laptop right at 5:30 pm. 

Intention and identity setting. 

As much as we’ve made it an effort to be radically transparent at Glassdoor, 2020 proves itself as being the year of revealing more of our full selves even at work. Set your intention for the day; try not to switch identities at work and after...