Mental Health and Home Working

Our working lives have recently seen changes for a large number of us across the nation – but the emergence of COVID-19 has since led to an enormous change, more uncertainty, and new challenges for many of us. These challenges may include keeping focused when working at home or more importantly the change in our mental health during a nationwide lock down.

Keep casual and formal work moving

Structured and unstructured connections with work and colleagues must carry on whilst people are working remotely or flexibly. At PLH Medical, we regularly use video calls for all formal and non-formal discussions. This can include work-related projects or simply checking in on everybody’s well-being.
Mental health consider the entire team

We all have mental health and whatever our circumstance, this outbreak will undoubtedly have some form of impact on how we think and feel. I have discovered that having a good team bond has helped me personally and has kept my mental health in check. I find it can help simply by sending a simple ‘vibe check’ to colleagues, even if it’s a small text message or positive gif image; something to brighten their day!

Calling a colleague to discuss a project or pass information may be the only form of human interaction that you may have during these times. This is why I believe it’s important to encourage informal conversations. You may have an instant messenger or such as Microsoft Teams like us – but text messages and calls also work well. Daily check-in’s with my colleagues has always presented itself as a good idea.

Gemma Wilson
Marketing & Communications