Regardless of whether you’re in-person or online, well-being and self-care are extremely important. In virtual and hybrid spaces where there is often a greater risk of social isolation, a lack of work-life boundaries, and lower engagement, organizations need to make sure that their team members feel supported. Leaning into what remote and hybrid environments do well—including offering greater flexibility, more autonomy, and greater motivation, happiness, and commitment—is a great first step, but well-being is incredibly individual. It depends on the person and what works best for them. Having a supportive culture that prioritizes well-being and self-care and responds to the unique needs of your team members, is essential for making sure that your team is performing at its best. 

This is the final part of a three-part blog series on supportive remote and hybrid work environments. Throughout my time as a student, and especially in the final year of my undergraduate degree, prioritizing my mental health and well-being has been one of the most important aspects. This became a little more complicated when juggling course work, thesis-writing, grad school applications, part-time jobs, and the big social events of my final year. Finding, establishing, and respecting a healthy balance between school, work, and a social life was critical to my mental health and therefore my ability to successfully complete everything I set out to do. With the long-term nature of the working world, this balance between personal and professional priorities is even more important to prevent overwork and burnout. Prioritizing well-being and self-care is an essential aspect of any position and needs to be fostered and encouraged throughout work environments to ensure team members have the resources and priorities to succeed. 

In the turbulence of the pandemic and large-scale changes to organizations, the importance of well-being and self-care is at an all-time high. Team member well-being has a direct impact on: job performance and productivity; interest and engagement; communication and collaboration; and ability to accept feedback and adapt to change. 

Remote and hybrid set ups can be great for supporting individual needs. Without the commute to the office, working remotely conserves time and energy, it provides team members with greater flexibility, and allows for greater geographic diversity. This International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health study found that self-selected work environments and working hours can be more conducive to employee happiness. The flexibility of remote work and the ownership over personal decision-making can increase team member happiness and commitment.  

Although there’s a lot that individual team members can do to take care of their mental health, such as setting up a productive workspace, creating a daily routine, or staying connected to their team, organizations have a responsibility to make sure that they are supportive and prioritize team member wellbeing.  

In remote and hybrid environments, promoting wellbeing and self-care needs to come from the top-down to prevent workplace burnout and chronic stress. In remote working environments, there can be greater pressure to be seen as productive. This pressure, coupled with the blurred boundaries between work and home, can result in team members putting in more time. 

To help prevent overwork and burnout, organizations can establish and communicate clear expectations and boundaries. This could be as simple as encouraging team members to take a 10-minute break every hour to mimic the breaks one would take in the office. According to this study, these short breaks can decrease the risk of burnout, improve productivity, and reduce the risk of mistakes.  

Finding and respecting the balance can be difficult. According to this Harvard Business Review study, balance between professional and personal priorities comes down to a combination of reflection and role definition. It is a combined effort between team members and leadership to reflect on current practices, communicate expectations, and determine the results of that process.  

Prioritizing a healthy work-life balance is also about respecting these boundaries through flexible scheduling, asynchronous communication, and encouraged social connection. Encouraging a greater balance between work and personal priorities is one aspect of creating an overall culture that promotes self-care and well-being. To further support team members and their well-beings, employers can offer more flexible work arrangements, provide mental health support, and foster an open and supportive culture.  

Creating a culture of self-care and well-being, organizations can improve on their mental health literacy and reduce stigma. This could look like fostering open and non-judgemental spaces, providing mental health days, developing a common language to support conversations about mental health, making sure everyone knows about the mental health services available to them, or providing self-assessment tools. 

Prioritizing wellbeing and self-care in a virtual or hybrid workplace is an active process of meeting people where they are and working to ensure that everyone feels supported. Creating a culture that prioritizes wellbeing and self-care is instrumental to preventing burnout, unnecessary stress, and an unsupported team. Whether it be through increased awareness or encouraged offline time throughout the day, prioritizing wellbeing, self-care, and a healthy and sustainable work-life balance is crucial to ensuring team members are feeling supported and able to do their best.