It's official: we've reached the halfway point of the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. During this period, many companies adapted their work routines and put their employees on remote work.
After all this time working from home, many professionals feel exhausted, while others say they have never felt so productive.
And you, which side are you on?
Uncertain times directly affect our productivity.
To better understand how moments of uncertainty can affect individuals' productive capacity, we spoke with Rita Brum, neurotherapist, master coach, and master in Psychology.
Rita explains that turbulent times can directly affect individuals' productivity. "People's productive capacity is directly linked to their emotions, and emotions accompany us every day, so it's very important to understand them, because only then will we know how to deal with them," says the psychologist.
The specialist explains that people react differently to circumstances, and some adapt more easily. However, Rita reports that most people have experienced some type of psychological exhaustion during this period. "I have observed in several patients – who have already had Covid – an increase in insecurity and fear, and the consequent development of phobias," says the specialist.
She claims that Certainly, nowadays, people are much more emotionally overwhelmed than they were at the beginning of the pandemic.Rita says she has treated many patients with problems of focus, concentration, memory and anxiety, and through neurofeedback techniques, she has been helping many people.
The difficulties brought about by remote work.
One of the main difficulties people face when working remotely is balancing household chores, family life, and work routines.
Giuliana Tosi, marketing and experience manager at Ambev, shares this sentiment. However, for her, 2020 brought another significant change to her life: she became a mother.
The manager says she went on maternity leave in March, the month the lockdown began. Therefore, she only definitively started working remotely in October, and has remained in that model ever since.
Giuliana reports that the biggest difficulty is find quality time to work and be productiveFurthermore, she has personally experienced the difficulty of balancing daily tasks between home and work: "The biggest challenge is separating tasks. Being a mother, homemaker, and professional in the same environment is tough. Time is confusing, I feel suffocated," says the professional.
For Giuliana, the turning point was her son starting daycare. She says she resisted the decision a lot because of the pandemic and that she often felt judged by people who told her to "enjoy the moment."
However, the situation reached such a point that Giuliana realized that, if the decision wasn't made, it would be impossible to maintain the same work pace. “It’s humanly impossible to do both jobs very well. I have my professional pride. I love my son more than anything. I don’t want to give it up! But… there are only 24 hours in a day,” she says.
Giuliana says that despite the initial suffering, she now realizes she made the right decision. “His going to daycare hurt me a lot inside at first. But today it gives me a huge breather in my professional life. What I haven't managed to do yet is balance my personal life!” – she jokes – “Weekends are always for the baby.”
She says she has found balance by taking breaks to rest and be silent. She also states that she has found refuge in the practice of meditation and that today she can disconnect from her problems after work hours: "This is liberating," she says.
Giuliana's practice is encouraged by Rita. According to the specialist, overworking is a dangerous practice that can even affect a professional's productivity. Therefore, she emphasizes the importance of planning and organization, as well as well-established schedules.Paradoxical as it may seem, overworking reduces productivity."Because when we are tired we have less focus, less concentration and consequently less productivity," explains the psychologist.
Advantages of remote work
On the other hand, remote work has been pleasing many professionals, who have become big fans of the system and are quite satisfied.
Mariana Lauande is one of them. The commercial and relationship manager at IDP has been working from home since March 2020 and explains that, right at the beginning of the pandemic, she realized the need for social isolation, mainly to be able to be with her mother, who is part of the disease's risk group.
She says that at the beginning the situation presented several difficulties. "In addition to all the external stress with so much new information and events, the change in routine, staying home 24 hours a day and not having an adequate physical space brought me several difficulties," explains the professional.
However, she assures that after a better adaptation, remote work became easier. “I consider that my productivity has increased considerably. It took me a while to adapt, because I didn't even have a physical space at home to work, but After organizing my workspace and daily routine, I find that I'm more productive than I was at the beginning."My routine is well-structured and I'm able to follow it in an easy way," explains Mariana.
She says she has also adopted practices to improve her work routine. "I organize myself to take 10 minutes every time after an hour sitting at the computer. I have some reminders in my office to remind me to drink water, breathe, blink... Every day I stretch, because spending the day sitting ends up hurting my spine a bit, you know?", says the professional.
How to improve productivity
Finally, psychologist Rita Brum suggests some practices to improve productivity during this period. She considers them extremely important for those who wish to better manage their emotions and increase productivity:
Developing Emotional Intelligence: Investing in the development of emotional intelligence is essential. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize one's own emotions and, from there, learn to acknowledge and manage them. Learn more about emotional intelligence in this post: Emotional Intelligence: What is it?
Having discipline: Working from home is a challenge that requires a lot of discipline. We need to keep in mind that all of this that is happening will pass.
Maintain a positive mindset. It greatly helps with productivity.
Be grateful for life and health.Gratitude produces endorphins in our bodies, which are natural anesthetics that help alleviate physical and emotional pain.
Engage in physical activity: Taking care of your body is also important, in addition to producing endorphins.
Establishing contact with people, even if it's online or through messaging.
