Are you cracking under the stress of remote working? At the beginning of lockdown many were left in a state of shock. As much as it is hard to admit, humans take time to adapt to different situations and take even longer to change behaviors or expectations. Going from an everyday routine to the office to suddenly stopping made an impact. I think this should be acknowledged.
Maybe at the beginning it was fun and exciting to test out working from home. Afterall, many of us can roll out of bed and be in our pajamas all day! Yet, with the lockdown rules changing and creating plenty of uncertainty, many businesses who have staff that can work from home have been advised to continue having them work from home. These restrictions have gone on for months. With that, the excitement of a ‘snow day’ like back when we were kids is all but gone. Instead, the reality is we must change our thoughts and behaviors to cope with this new routine we have been thrown into via remote working.
I watched an interesting documentary on how children learn how to taste food. It takes up to 17 tries before a child begins to like the taste of an unfamiliar food. I think this scenario goes to show how human behavior is, that we must keep trying and trying to encourage adaptation. This is not something that can change in one day.
I think what we are beginning to see is a lot more stress from remote working. On one hand people find it way easier to work from home, at the other, companies need a productive staff. Going into this, it seems like expectations were high and exciting, but with the big reality hit, many of us have come to find how hard it really is to work remotely on a long-term basis.
Microsoft has conducted research throughout lockdown and has come to find that stress levels are going up in remote staff. My point here is: if you are feeling stressed you are certainly not alone! The stress of remote working is real, and I do not think we should try to cover this up or push it aside.
One thing I have come to find is the importance of automating tasks. Through automation of redundant work, you can reduce your workload, and by default reduce your stress.
If you need help getting started with figuring out what you can automate, ask yourself these questions:
- Is what I am doing manual and repetitive?
- Can this process be switched over to ‘software robots?’
Microsoft is constantly growing and changing to demand. Luckily, they even offer ways to automate business processes! Microsoft goes to say
“free yourself and your team from the time you spend on recurring manual team and organizational processes. Use the simple, visual designer in Power Automate to lay out the steps. You can do everything in Power Automate from configuring alerts and approvals to modeling complex, multistage processes” (Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/business/business-process-automation)
If you aren’t a techy, you would be truly surprised at what the power of software, the cloud, and integration can do to help you automate tasks! Likewise, you even have the power to build apps that improve your business!
Microsoft shares that specifically, business process automation can be used to streamline a variety of processes, including:
- Document management
- Workflow automation
- Task alerts via email
- Email marketing campaigns
- Thank you letters
- Payment reminders
- Document review and approval
- Management of employee requests
Doesn’t that sound easy and incredible? There really are tools and solutions out there for everyone, sometimes it requires thinking outside the box or asking for some help.
I really encourage you to analyze your current workload to help reduce your stress. If you ever need assistance, please give us an email at info@businesssoftwarecentre.com
