Today I’m speaking at the @CIPD wellbeing conference on supporting the wellbeing of remote workers. This continues to be a big challenge – and even though we have all been working from home for a while now I think it isn’t getting any better.

At the start of the pandemic work for many people intensified and working days extended. Research before the pandemic already identified this problem. People work their commute times, or work harder because they feel they have to, in return for their flexibility.

Others fill the gaps that flex provides them with domestic labour and childcare. And now? We have Zoom fatigue, blurred boundaries, digital presenteeism and the stress of a pandemic on top.

Oh, and TAWS (Technology‐assisted supplemental work) – even longer working days created by remaining connected to work and colleagues by the device in our pocket.

How much of this problem is pandemic driven, and how much will disappear with the great return to the office? It is too soon to tell. But there are things that are different. In the WFH days of old, I rarely had an online meeting. MS Teams was barely used.

But now… that meeting cultures that we often criticised are worse than ever. Those meetings that could have been an email are Zoom, and a Yammer post and a WhatsApp and a MS Teams notification. The only thing I have less of are old school phone calls.

We have to get a handle on this. Urgently. Jumping from online meeting to online meeting is stressful. The abnormality of online meetings is exhausting. The sedentary nature of this particular wfh is bad for us in other ways.

We need boundaries. Transition spaces. Regular breaks. Physical movement. We need asynchronous work. We need fewer meetings.

As many organisations move towards hybrid work we need to take action. We need to educate people on work life balance, on recovery, on boundary management, healthy digital habits.

We need to call out presenteeism and everything that supports the structures that maintain it. Including how we reward and recognise people.

We can’t assume our people have figured this out this last year. We also can’t assume that even if they have, they feel that they have the permission to work differently or switch off.

If we don’t do this, the potential of hybrid or remote working will be lost. Our people will suffer, and burnout awaits.