Protect health when working from home during the epidemic season
Workers’ health and psychology are easily affected when working from home
The Covid-19 pandemic has made “teleworking” more popular than ever. While this form of approach can bring comfort to workers when working in their own familiar spaces, it also poses serious risks related to health problems. So what should be done to protect your health when working remotely?
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have outlined the benefits and risks associated with health problems when working from home. At the same time, they also gave some measures to keep in mind to adapt to this form of work.
Gain and lost
The report of two UN agencies said that working remotely improves work-life balance, creates flexibility in working hours, reduces traffic congestion, reduces air pollution, etc. This can improve mental health, physical health and social welfare for workers. In addition, it can lead to higher productivity and lower operating costs for many companies.
Poor health significantly affects the quality of work
However, telecommuting also carries many risks to physical health, mental health as well as social welfare if there is no scientific plan and appropriate support. Some of the negative effects that workers may experience while working from home are feeling of isolation, burnout, depression, domestic violence, musculoskeletal injury, eye strain, increased usability addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco and the ability to gain weight out of control.
What to do to protect workers’ health?
Optimism is very important
To prevent these risks, the report highlights the role of governments, employers, workers and health services in the workplace.
Dr Maria Neira, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, said: “The pandemic has made remote work increasingly popular, dramatically change the nature of work overnight for many workers. In the nearly two years since the outbreak of the pandemic, it has become clear that working remotely has health benefits for workers. However, it also has many serious consequences.”
“Which way the pendulum swings depends entirely on whether governments, employers and workers work together, and whether there are effective occupational health services in place to policies that benefit both employees and employers?”, she added.
Protect your health and stay optimistic during the epidemic season
The report has outlined a number of important measures that employers should keep in mind when motivating employees while working from home, such as: provide relevant information and guidance on how to minimize psychosocial impacts. At the same time, it is necessary to train managers to know how to prevent risks, be able to lead remotely and promote health in the workplace.
Need to establish “right to be disconnected“ and provide full holidays. According to the report, occupational health services must be enabled to support the mental health and psychosocial well-being of people working from home using remote healthcare application.
