DIGITAL WELL-BEING
Module 4: Teleworking
This module was funded by the Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte as part of the “Digital Well-Being for Youth” project.
OBJECTIVES OF THIS MODULE
In this module, you'll learn how teleworking influences behaviour and brain function. You will finish by learning about the best practices for improving efficiency on a daily basis.
TELEWORKING
Teleworking has existed for many years, but has become more and more common since the COVID-19 crisis. It’s a working method that’s popular with the vast majority of workers, as it enables a greater flexibility between personal and working life, in particular by reducing travel time. But working from home isn't just about working at home: you have to rethink the way you work!
Time management
Team work
The workspace
Note: this module will only cover teleworking from home, not working remotely with your team (on another site, for example), although the information on team work is similar.
Move your mouse over the image to find out more
DOMINANCE OF PERCEPTION
To understand how teleworking influences team work, here's a little exercise: you'll see a multitude of little images and you have to find the image representing tennis balls as quickly as possible. Click the button when you're ready.
DOMINANCE OF PERCEPTION
For this second stage, the instructions are the same but you have to find the image representing a face.
Click the button when you're ready.
A FUNDAMENTALLY SOCIAL SPECIES
As you have no doubt realised through the exercise, the human brain has specialised in picking up and understanding social signals, such as a face. That's what distinguishes you from our distant cousins the monkeys. This skill is thought to be a direct result of our evolution: for our ancestors who lived in dangerous environments, the recognition of a peer could be synonymous with survival, just as an aggressive person could be synonymous with danger. This natural advantage enables us to communicate and work effectively with others. However, to interpret social signals, you need to perceive them!
COMMUNICATION TOOLS
SOCIAL CLOSENESS
As well as the brain's ability to understand social signals, it is the ability to form groups that differentiates humans from other species. The more quality time you spend with others, the closer you feel to them socially. This social closeness improves the way you work together.
- You have a better ability to read people’s mental states, and therefore to understand what other people are feeling.
- You have a more empathetic attitude, so you'll be able to act appropriately when faced with other people's emotions.
- You have a better understanding of intentions, so you'll be able to understand what others want.
Social closeness is difficult to maintain at a distance, especially if you work from home several days a week. Even if you interact with your colleagues by exchanging messages or video-conferencing, these are still formal occasions, without the opportunity to forge social links. That's why face-to-face time is essential to maintain that link!
TIME MANAGEMENT
Working from home also changes the way you organise and manage your time.
This raises a number of issues:
Interruptions
Procrastination
Breaks
Click on the images to find out more
PLANNING INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP TIME
To make the most of the benefits of teleworking for concentration, and its disadvantages for team work, you can organise different work activities for your days at the office and for teleworking.
In the office: plan as much time as possible for group activities, such as meetings or team time, and avoid scheduling videoconferences that would force you to isolate yourself or disturb others. If you are teleworking: plan as much individual time as possible, especially for those tasks that require a lot of concentration. You can also schedule video conferences if physical meetings are not possible.
THE WORKSPACE
When you work from home, you need to ensure that you have suitable working conditions and space, as similar as possible to the office. This encourages better concentration and greater efficiency!
BEST PRACTICES FOR TELEWORKING
Teleworking influences your day-to-day behaviour. This way of working has many benefits, but it also has its drawbacks. There are a number of good practices to help you make the most of teleworking so that you can continue to be effective on a day-to-day basis.
Adapt your teleworking space
Organise your time around teleworking
Organise social team time
Turn on your videoconferencing camera
Avoid working too much
Move your mouse over the buttons to find out more
BEST PRACTICES FOR TELEWORKING
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
We're going to assess what you've learned with a few summary questions.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
We're going to assess what you've learned with a few summary questions.
DIGITALWELL-BEING
Module 4: Teleworking
WELL DONE!YOU'VE COMPLETED THIS MODULE!
This module was funded by the Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte as part of the “Digital Well-Being for Youth” project.
Interruptions
When you telework, the number of physical demands on your time is greatly reduced, because you no longer have all your colleagues coming to disturb you. The downside is that the number of digital requests increases, as these tools become the means of interaction (for more informations, see module 2 if you have access to it). The strategies for managing these demands are different and call for different behaviours: turning off your email, at least at certain times, is essential if you are to maintain a good level of concentration. But this means that you are no longer available to your colleagues or managers, who may wonder what you’re doing. This is not a barrier in itself, but it does mean that you need to communicate your concentration needs clearly.
Procrastination
When you telework, you work in an environment that is also your personal environment, with all the distractions that entails: books, household chores, television, and so on. You are also no longer 'under the watchful eye' of your colleagues and managers, which encourages procrastination, in other words putting off tasks until later. Be careful not to force yourself to finish your day too late, otherwise you'll leave yourself too little time to recover (for more informations, see module 5 if you have access to it). Of course, procrastination isn't a problem for everyone, as some people take advantage of teleworking days to complete a heavy workload in order to compensate for days at the office that are sometimes shorter due to commuting times.
Breaks
When teleworking, there are a number of different attitudes to breaks, and these vary greatly from one individual to another: On one hand, some people take very few breaks when they work from home, because they are not approached by colleagues for a chat or a coffee. They therefore tend to work for several hours without stopping, even for lunch. On the other hand, some people take breaks more regularly than at the office because they take the opportunity to do personal tasks, such as picking up their children from school. There is no cognitive contraindication to this (see module 5 if you have access to it), provided that they still have enough time to do their work.
ANGLAIS - Elearning - Bien-être numérique - Module 4
IMS team
Created on September 30, 2024
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Transcript
DIGITAL WELL-BEING
Module 4: Teleworking
This module was funded by the Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte as part of the “Digital Well-Being for Youth” project.
OBJECTIVES OF THIS MODULE
In this module, you'll learn how teleworking influences behaviour and brain function. You will finish by learning about the best practices for improving efficiency on a daily basis.
TELEWORKING
Teleworking has existed for many years, but has become more and more common since the COVID-19 crisis. It’s a working method that’s popular with the vast majority of workers, as it enables a greater flexibility between personal and working life, in particular by reducing travel time. But working from home isn't just about working at home: you have to rethink the way you work!
Time management
Team work
The workspace
Note: this module will only cover teleworking from home, not working remotely with your team (on another site, for example), although the information on team work is similar.
Move your mouse over the image to find out more
DOMINANCE OF PERCEPTION
To understand how teleworking influences team work, here's a little exercise: you'll see a multitude of little images and you have to find the image representing tennis balls as quickly as possible. Click the button when you're ready.
DOMINANCE OF PERCEPTION
For this second stage, the instructions are the same but you have to find the image representing a face. Click the button when you're ready.
A FUNDAMENTALLY SOCIAL SPECIES
As you have no doubt realised through the exercise, the human brain has specialised in picking up and understanding social signals, such as a face. That's what distinguishes you from our distant cousins the monkeys. This skill is thought to be a direct result of our evolution: for our ancestors who lived in dangerous environments, the recognition of a peer could be synonymous with survival, just as an aggressive person could be synonymous with danger. This natural advantage enables us to communicate and work effectively with others. However, to interpret social signals, you need to perceive them!
COMMUNICATION TOOLS
SOCIAL CLOSENESS
As well as the brain's ability to understand social signals, it is the ability to form groups that differentiates humans from other species. The more quality time you spend with others, the closer you feel to them socially. This social closeness improves the way you work together.
Social closeness is difficult to maintain at a distance, especially if you work from home several days a week. Even if you interact with your colleagues by exchanging messages or video-conferencing, these are still formal occasions, without the opportunity to forge social links. That's why face-to-face time is essential to maintain that link!
TIME MANAGEMENT
Working from home also changes the way you organise and manage your time. This raises a number of issues:
Interruptions
Procrastination
Breaks
Click on the images to find out more
PLANNING INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP TIME
To make the most of the benefits of teleworking for concentration, and its disadvantages for team work, you can organise different work activities for your days at the office and for teleworking.
In the office: plan as much time as possible for group activities, such as meetings or team time, and avoid scheduling videoconferences that would force you to isolate yourself or disturb others. If you are teleworking: plan as much individual time as possible, especially for those tasks that require a lot of concentration. You can also schedule video conferences if physical meetings are not possible.
THE WORKSPACE
When you work from home, you need to ensure that you have suitable working conditions and space, as similar as possible to the office. This encourages better concentration and greater efficiency!
BEST PRACTICES FOR TELEWORKING
Teleworking influences your day-to-day behaviour. This way of working has many benefits, but it also has its drawbacks. There are a number of good practices to help you make the most of teleworking so that you can continue to be effective on a day-to-day basis.
Adapt your teleworking space
Organise your time around teleworking
Organise social team time
Turn on your videoconferencing camera
Avoid working too much
Move your mouse over the buttons to find out more
BEST PRACTICES FOR TELEWORKING
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
We're going to assess what you've learned with a few summary questions.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
We're going to assess what you've learned with a few summary questions.
DIGITALWELL-BEING
Module 4: Teleworking
WELL DONE!YOU'VE COMPLETED THIS MODULE!
This module was funded by the Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte as part of the “Digital Well-Being for Youth” project.
Interruptions
When you telework, the number of physical demands on your time is greatly reduced, because you no longer have all your colleagues coming to disturb you. The downside is that the number of digital requests increases, as these tools become the means of interaction (for more informations, see module 2 if you have access to it). The strategies for managing these demands are different and call for different behaviours: turning off your email, at least at certain times, is essential if you are to maintain a good level of concentration. But this means that you are no longer available to your colleagues or managers, who may wonder what you’re doing. This is not a barrier in itself, but it does mean that you need to communicate your concentration needs clearly.
Procrastination
When you telework, you work in an environment that is also your personal environment, with all the distractions that entails: books, household chores, television, and so on. You are also no longer 'under the watchful eye' of your colleagues and managers, which encourages procrastination, in other words putting off tasks until later. Be careful not to force yourself to finish your day too late, otherwise you'll leave yourself too little time to recover (for more informations, see module 5 if you have access to it). Of course, procrastination isn't a problem for everyone, as some people take advantage of teleworking days to complete a heavy workload in order to compensate for days at the office that are sometimes shorter due to commuting times.
Breaks
When teleworking, there are a number of different attitudes to breaks, and these vary greatly from one individual to another: On one hand, some people take very few breaks when they work from home, because they are not approached by colleagues for a chat or a coffee. They therefore tend to work for several hours without stopping, even for lunch. On the other hand, some people take breaks more regularly than at the office because they take the opportunity to do personal tasks, such as picking up their children from school. There is no cognitive contraindication to this (see module 5 if you have access to it), provided that they still have enough time to do their work.