Are you at your kitchen table right now, thinking about what snack to grab next? Or, maybe you’re back in the office and feel a little sluggish? No matter where you find yourself doing your job, don’t let your healthy workday habits suffer from a case of COVID-19 fatigue.
This spring, City of Dublin employees who had been working remotely returned to the office. Undoubtedly, this brought a change of routine for those workers who had been operating from temporary home offices, their couches or whatever quiet space they could find. With businesses and organizations deciding what’s next for their workspaces during the pandemic (and in the future), what have we learned about our health habits on the job?
Janan Hay is one of many people who has had to navigate the changes accompanying a work-from-home experience. But as the City’s wellness and benefits coordinator, she had a few creative ideas up her sleeve
A registered dietitian, Hay knew she needed to focus on consistent mealtimes and incorporating more movement into her day. She says she was used to taking a break at the water fountain or walking more around her office area in City Hall, but being in a different workspace upended some of that daily routine.
At one point, Hay says to help her cramped neck, she flipped over an empty laundry basket, placed it on a table and propped up her laptop for a makeshift standing desk. Without those trips for water, she had to be more conscious of drinking fluids. Even if she was hungry, deadlines might eat away at the day, and she might forget a meal. So, she set reminders to step away from the computer: Lunch wasn’t going to eat itself.
“At home, it was a whole different atmosphere,” Hay says. “I needed to re-remind myself to stay hydrated to keep my focus and my energy up.”
Hay, who also runs the City’s wellness committee, recalls that people she has spoken to have had a mixed outlook on what worked and what didn’t while working from home.
Checking emails “really quickly” after dinner has led to more work outside normal hours, and migrating around the house to find the right work spot has meant people aren’t the most comfortable ergonomically, she notes. While not having a daily commute or rushed morning routine benefited some, starting the day at home could easily lead to accidentally skipping meals they normally wouldn’t, Hay says.
She says for anyone operating from home, set an alarm for lunchtime and designated periods away from the computer; it’s easier to continue being productive once you’ve had a break. Employees at the office also need to pay attention to their break times and can seek out extra movement by walking out of their way to indoor destinations.
Start Small
Regardless if you work at a computer or outside, in an office building or at home, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when thinking about all the do’s and don’ts of health. Your brain might want to view your wellbeing in a “big picture” way, Hay explains.
“I’m not drinking enough water, I’m not eating right, I’m not moving in the office, and now I’m stressed!”
Hay rattles off the way your mind might try to tackle your wellness to-do list.
“It’s too much,” she reminds us. “If you’re tackling one issue at a time, you’re likely to sustain it and make a lifelong habit versus ‘I have to do everything at once.’”
This applies to people getting reacclimated to the office or people who are worried about languishing routines at home. Hay points to planning as a way to start taking these small steps.
Plan Your Prep
To integrate planning into her work from-home habits, Hay says she stuck to meal prepping at the beginning of the week. She would prep her lunches by cooking in big batches, freezing some, or readying sides and portioning out items ahead of time, even though her own kitchen was within walking distance of her desk. That helped her recognize the need for continued attention to her eating – having it ready when it was lunchtime kept that consistency at home.
So, work location aside, planning your meals and snacks before your workweek is critical to following healthy eating habits when you’re busy.
“We may put thought into what we’re wearing that day or what we’re doing that day at work,” Hay says. “Try to take some of that time and also plan out what we’re eating so that we have those healthy solutions.”
Shawn Shipman, a zoning inspector for the City, and his niece Avery took on fishing for the day and shared their photo for the “Ignite Your Well-Being” campaign.
Don't Forget Fiber
What do you do when you forget to plan? Having food in your workspace that is “shelf-stable,” meaning it won’t spoil at room temperature, will help make that transition away from having your personal refrigerator on site. Hay points to snacks like almonds, whole grain crackers and peanut butter, or whole grain granola (with less than nine grams of sugar per serving) as good alternatives to a vending machine or drive-thru when you’re in a pinch.
“When I think of healthier-for-you foods, I think as fiber as being a No. 1 thing,” she says.
High fiber options keep us feeling fuller longer and contribute to the health of the stomach’s microbiome, or the mix of good and bad bacteria in your digestive system. Remember to also vary the colors of food on your plate, and each time you are eating, consciously choose a fruit or vegetable, she says.
It doesn’t have to be “grand,” Hay reminds us: Pair a peanut butter bagel with a banana or ask for some romaine lettuce on your sandwich.
Need to get lunch on the go?
• Choose whole grain over sugar
• Go for fiber
• Easy on the amount of protein and dairy
• Load up on veggies
• Salad? Be mindful of toppings and dressings that pack on the calories
Mental Health Matters
“Things have changed over the past year and there is no normal right now,” Hay acknowledges about the isolation we’ve all faced from stay-at-home orders and limited social gatherings. That unease has opened up a national emphasis on wellness that continues to grow, and employers have picked up on that trend.
She sees employers engaging more with what wellness and mental health means for their workers. Companies, she says, really have to ensure they are “providing avenues to integrate mental health, whether it be teaching stress-relief techniques [or] healthy alternatives to snacking – a focus on mental well-being trickles into every dimension of wellness, whether it be social, emotional, physical.”
Self-care was definitely on Hay’s mind in early 2020. She started “Ignite Your WellBeing,” a photo-sharing campaign for employees to let others know what brought them joy on a daily basis. Some submitted selfies to the City’s employee newsletter showing their ballroom dancing hobbies, kayaking adventures or dog walking – it became a way to keep up with coworkers from afar and inspire others to try something new.
This campaign resonated with people, Hay says, and provided her with important feedback about what activities employees truly appreciate that she can mold into future wellness programs.
Enthusiastic Employers
Like the “Ignite” campaign, the City and other workplaces have had to get creative in the virtual space to keep wellness programming part of the workday conversation. Another initiative, “Step Up, Dublin,” was a self-paced program consisting of specific movements people could follow to integrate motion throughout the day. With simple instructions online, one just needed the prompts to give their body some selfcare regardless of their workspace.
Hay says class structures with virtual components like these “opened up the programming doors” to many employees who may not have had access to wellness initiatives in the past. While online formatting did pose difficulties for generating group discussions, Hay thinks the organic result is to continue providing hybrid opportunities, virtually and in person, to create equity among different job types and shift assignments – so wellness can reach everyone.
Hay also relishes the City’s feedback circle, in which an employee’s opinion goes a long way. She says having a culture of leaders willing to listen to people identifying what health means to them helps prioritize employee wellness overall.
“I think Dublin is cultivating well-being by giving opportunities, multiple opportunities, for employees to identify what health is to them,” she says, “and I think our culture, in general, is very open.”
Businesses must continue to arm their workers with the wellness tools they need through virtual and in-person experiences, Hay says, in order to endure the unpredictability of the pandemic.
“We can’t control all the unknown, but we can control our reaction to it.”
Rebecca Myers is a public information officer for the City of Dublin. Feedback welcome at rrmyers@dublin.oh.us
