How to build a working culture of positive habits during COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, many employers have been forced to close their office doors. Fortunately, however, this did not mean complete closure for most businesses. Instead, it was a shift to managing teams remotely.

In this period of drastic and sudden change, it is important for employers to find ways to keep morale and productivity high. Here’s how to cultivate a work culture that encourages positive habits – both at home and in the workplace:

1. Prioritize self-care

Your workers are going through a lot right now. Most likely, they focus so much on caring for others that they do not have time to take care of themselves.

Unfortunately, this harms not only their personal well-being, but also the success of your company. Their restrained stress can translate into being uninvolved and unproductive at work – neither of which is good for your end result.

Support their self-care by encouraging positive habits during and outside the workday. Here’s just a sample of ideas:

Home	Back in the office
Send weekly emails with ideas for a healthy lunch. Build a virtual corporate cookbook for anyone to be inspired by.	Continue sending emails and coordinate monthly lunches for employees to share their favorite recipes.
Run a “sleep prompt” in which employees record how much Z they get per night. Those who consistently reach 7+ hours will receive a reward (for example, that they leave earlier on Friday).	Stick to the challenge and get creative with incentives!
Encourage breaks to exercise during the day. Let them know it’s okay to do a 10-minute walk, a short yoga practice, or a dance party in the living room with your kids.	Tell everyone to bring a pair of sports shoes to keep in the office. If necessary, they should continue to take breaks for walking.

2. Encourage everyone to organize their workspace

Each employee has a different version of their “home office”. Some have an entire room, others have a desk, and many have to make do with just a couch or coffee table. But regardless of the setting, everyone needs a dedicated, organized workspace.

After all, stress is inevitable if your employees are working in chaos. And although maintaining order may not be natural for everyone, practicing these positive habits at home will help strengthen the skills needed in the office:

Home	Back in the office
Ask employees to designate a specific location for their laptops/monitors. Just as they sit at the same desk in the office, they should “commute” to the same space at home.	Computers can be assigned space, but what about the bundles of your employees? Archived files? Heaps of paper tasks? Remind them to find a place for everything.
Create a new rule that you should devote the last 5 minutes of each day to cleaning the workspace. Lead by example and share pictures of your setup at the end of the day.	If necessary, shift your attention away from the tables and focus on organizing conference rooms, breaks, and file rooms.

3. Set boundaries

The transition to teleworking brings to the fore the importance of work-life balance. Instead of having to worry about whether employees will bring their work home, you are now faced with the reality of their home life is their working life.

It can be too easy for both employees and managers to blur the line between their personal and professional worlds. Here are some tips for setting boundaries:

Home	Back in the office
Encourage employees to sit down with their families and discuss how remote work will affect everyone in the house.	Employees should always share if a new project interrupts their workflow and/or contributions to the team.
Ask your employees to follow a regular schedule. Given the circumstances surrounding the coronavirus, these may not be their typical office hours – but they should remain as consistent as possible.	Do not allow employees to be late. While this may be appreciated at the moment, you don’t want extra hours to lead to burnout over time.

4. Provide ways to stay connected

One of the biggest negatives of remote work? Social isolation. According to the 2020 State of Teleworking survey, loneliness is constantly being chosen as the main struggle for remote workers.

And right now, your employees aren’t struggling with loneliness just from remote work. They also face loneliness from social distancing. Keep this in mind when you want to build positive habits to stay connected:

Home	Back in the office
Plan your conversations about the water cooler. Every week, set aside 30 minutes to talk about life, play trivia, share pictures of pets, review recent Netflix shows, etc.	Connect with your employees and ask them to do the same to each other. Not every meeting needs to be focused on 100% work.
Even on busy days, remind employees to “stop” at someone’s virtual desk just like they would in the office. We recommend using video calls or IM to connect.	Help employees learn to recognize when their workload is too large. It shouldn’t be so overwhelming that they don’t have time for social interactions.
Ask employees to regularly praise or acknowledge the achievements of coworkers in a public space like Slack (or your company’s social media equivalent).	No change – keep up complimenting your colleague! This helps employees know that their efforts are recognized and appreciated, as well as builds team morale.