6 Effective Tips to Reduce Remote Work Fatigue

By Gary Pack II

Commuting to and from work pre-pandemic was a good way to clean your mental slate. It was like hitting the reset button for your day. Once we started working from home, our daily routine was gone. The line between remote work and free time at home became blurred.

Fatigue is a common outcome of working remotely, especially over the long term. How do we regain our control and draw a line in the sand separating work and free time? First, we need to understand what fatigue is in the context of remote work, and then we can build systems that create balances in our lives.

What is fatigue?

Fatigue is an intense feeling of exhaustion that can affect you both physically and mentally. In the office, fatigue can feel like you're drowning in your work with no end in sight.

If you have ever felt fatigued after a Zoom call, don’t worry—you’re not alone. As many as 73% of surveyed workers who had shifted to remote work say they felt digital overload. Why are Zoom calls causing so much fatigue? Perhaps it's because when we worked together in an office, we could get through a meeting like it was nothing and then move on to the next project. Now, it seems like there are often a lot of unanswered questions and confusion after calls.

While we once thought it would be great to work from home (not having to get dressed, drive to work, and sit at a desk for hours), trading the actual office for a home office has created an uninterrupted workflow that often feels like it's spiraling out of our control. By not having to commute, we have more time to complete tasks, but we no longer have the natural breaks that the office environment provided.

It may seem like fatigue is part of the trade-off of remote work—but it does not have to be. Here are six strategies to lessen your remote work fatigue and bring more control back into your life.

Tips to reduce remote work fatigue

The key to being productive at home is creating a work-life balance and setting hard boundaries. Just because you're working from home doesn’t mean work needs to consume all of your free hours.

1. Reduce excess stimulation

A key to having energy is to reduce fatigue early in your workday. Online conference calls can be especially draining because of the constant visual stimulation, as well as having to deal with problems and other issues that may come up during a call.

Instead of tolerating videoconferencing, try asking your boss if it's possible to cut any unnecessary meetings. If that's not possible, then limit the number of participants to only those important to the call. Limiting a meeting to only essential employees will reduce stimulation (fewer distractions on screen). Another option to decrease stimulation is to use audio only. Not having to stare at a gallery of faces will help reduce visual overload and the stress of being "on" for hours.

Since you're working from home, consider taking your call in your backyard or while taking a walk through your neighborhood. If you're on an audio call, don't have other screens or devices open. Trying to multitask during a call will only cause more stress and fatigue.

2. Give your eyes a 20-second break

We have all experienced throbbing pain in our temples from being on a computer too long. While limiting screen time may not be an option depending on the work you do, there is a way to give your eyes some rest: the "20-20-20 rule," taking a 20-second break every 20 minutes, focusing on an object 20 feet away from you.

During your focus time, simply find a favorite spot to focus on in the room. For me, that spot is a “Hang in There” cat poster. I look at the cat’s eyes for 20 seconds and try to clear my mind from work, and breathe deeply for 20 seconds.

Those 20 seconds are important as it is the amount of time your eyes need to relax completely. Establishing this habit will reduce tension and cut down on computer screen-induced headaches.

3. Don't fall victim to the myth of multitasking

How many times have you told yourself you could get more things done faster if you could do it at the same time as your work? We have all been there. We've had to prepare food for ourselves and our kids—but wait, there is a business call starting soon.

Contrary to popular belief, multitasking will not get you through tasks quicker. It actually can reduce the quality of your work, and puts your brain one step closer to remote work fatigue as it has to fire back and forth between the two tasks.

Instead, focus on one project, email, or spreadsheet at a time. Don’t try to jam-pack every working hour. Reduce distractions by placing your smartphone in "Do Not Disturb" mode. Limit the number of tabs open on your computer to only those that you need. If you're expecting a delivery, try not to work near your front door. Avoiding environmental irritants will go a long way in cutting out the distractions that plague your day.

4. Start a fitness routine

Reducing stress by working out sounds like clichéd advice, but it's true. Simply taking a walk, stretching or doing yoga, or using your home gym, for example, can really help clear your mind. Once your fitness routine becomes a regular habit, you will feel more energized and less tired.

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• Sleep on This: Well-Rested Employees Make for a Safer Workplace
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• 5 Tips for More Effective and Engaging Zoom Meetings

5. Establish firm boundaries

When you work from home, it's essential to draw a line between your work life and your personal life. Friends and family should be aware of your work schedule and know when it is okay to interrupt you. Perhaps you have a weekly Zoom call every Wednesday at 3 p.m. Make sure your family knows not to barge into your office during that time.

You also don't want work seeping into your personal time. If you have a 9-to-5 job, don't feel compelled to respond to emails, answer calls, or to complete projects after hours. Creating firm boundaries between your work life and your personal life is an important step to not only keeping your sanity, but avoiding fatigue and complete burnout.

6. Establish a daily routine

Having a set routine is vital for work-life balance. Lack of a set routine creates stress points throughout your day that can result in extreme fatigue.

Before you started working from home, you may have had a morning commute which allowed you to transition to being in an office, and then an evening commute which helped you decompress while you were heading home.

Reclaim control of your life by replacing your morning commute with a new routine of a leisurely cup of coffee, reading the news, or listening to a podcast. By establishing a morning routine, you train your body to understand when it's time to transition to work time. And then during the last hour of your workday, establish a "winding down" period to send out final emails, wrap up projects, and write a to-do list for the next day.

Reduce remote work fatigue and reclaim your life

By following these tactics, you will be able to reduce the fatigue that comes from working remotely. Working from home doesn’t mean you have to work longer. Come up with processes that work for you so you have a healthy work-life balance.

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