Working sustainably from home

Published 30 April 2020

Working sustainably from home

For some of us, the shift to Level 3 will mean a return to our places of work. Many of us, however, will continue to work from home for the foreseeable future. Here are some tips that have helped us and will hopefully help you!

No doubt those of you working from home have already experienced your fair share of challenges over the past month: recurring technical problems, distracting kids/partners/flatmates, a recycling stockpile growing at a disturbing speed (whose wine bottles are those?!), Zoom burnout,  eating all your snacks for the week in one sitting... we understand! And we empathise. So we thought we’d compile a list of our top tips for working sustainably from home, for both the environment and for your own mental wellbeing.

Staying environmentally sustainable while you work from home:

• Turn off the power at your workstation at the end of each day to conserve energy and to signal to yourself that your workday is over.

• Keep your home warm, dry and healthy and avoid consuming excess energy using these top ten tips from Sustainability Trust.

• Remove your bin from under/near your workspace to remove any temptation to dispose of your waste in the wrong place. It’ll also encourage you to get up and move around!

• Working from home means eating more food at home (like, a LOT more) - check out our top tips on how to manage and minimise your food waste during lockdown and beyond.

• Avoid paper waste by taking notes on your computer/phone. There should be less of a need to print things and use paper right now, but if it’s a must, favour scrap paper or paper that is GOOS (good on one side).

• You’re likely going through cleaning supplies quickly these days - consider making your own to reduce the amount you’re having to purchase (good for the environment and good for your wallet!). The Trust has an easy DIY spray & wipe recipe here.

Managing your mental wellbeing while you work from home:

• Maintain a regular work schedule and make time for full breaks - get outside if you can!

• Start and end your day with a routine, to highlight to yourself that your workday is starting or ending.

• Have a specific workspace - it could be a room if you have space (lucky you!), or it could be a corner of a room if you don’t. If you’re set up in your bedroom, try to tidy everything away (your laptop, to-do list, etc) at the end of the day to help you switch off.

• Keep in regular contact with your colleagues to help you stay connected and accountable.

• Set ground rules with the people you live with, if you can - i.e. ask to not be disturbed between certain hours and have volume limits on noise from speakers, TVs, etc.

• If you have kids (we salute you!), consider some of the following: 

  • Set a family timetable for work/school/food/play and make it visible to everyone to help enforce boundaries.

  • Work in shifts and alternate childminding with your partner.

  • Relax your normal limits around things like screen time if you need to.

  • Plan for interruptions and don’t beat yourself up about it! And if your child needs to sit in on a Zoom call, then so be it - it’ll probably brighten up your coworker’s day.

• Reset your expectations around productivity and avoid judging yourself - working from home is hard mahi!

Check out the amazing resources at the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.