To mark the importance of National Workplace Wellbeing Day, Empeal conducted an interview with Moira Dunne who is a qualified productivity consultant. Moira was able to give some great advice and some further insight into the challenges people are facing when working from home. Many different touchpoints were addressed including, how fitness, nutrition sleep and stress management can help individuals enhance their wellbeing.

Moira firstly described what workplace wellbeing truly meant to her,

“For me wellbeing is important every day of the week and it is important that it is continued all year round. Wellbeing is important in so many levels and for example, employers can support their employees through fitness, health but also through mind fitness. For me, it’s looking to see how engaged and happy people truly are in their role at work.”

Moira was also asked about her opinion on the importance of fitness, sleep, nutrition, and stress management, in our daily lives,

“Yes so they all really interrelate. It is important to take a holistic view of wellbeing because it’s not just all about the hours you sit at your desk but it’s about the breaks you take, the exercise you do, the eating of healthy foods throughout the day. This is all related into mind fitness as it affects your ability to focus and be productive. In regard, to sleep it significantly affects your ability to focus the next day and so it is extremely important”.

As sometimes it can be hard to relax at the end of a busy day, Moira was questioned to see if there was any helpful advice she could give on this topic,

“Yes I find that this is a challenge that is increasing for people especially now people are working from home. It is important to establish a definite end to your workday, this can be done through building a routine where perhaps straight after work you go out for a walk to get that separation from your home in the evening. Another good tip is to make a quick plan for the next day as it helps relax your mind and gives you an idea of what tomorrow is going to bring”.

Another challenge for people which was brough up was prioritisation of tasks within a workday. Moira’s opinion on this was that,

“Often the morning can be quiet overwhelming for people as it feels like you have so many tasks to get done. However, writing out your main priorities can help you to visually see what really requires your attention. My main tip is that if you are feeling overwhelmed it is important to take some action. Often just getting thoughts out of your head and putting them in some order can free up your head to priories in the correct way”.

This is very practical advice that anybody can onboard to their lives, additionally Moira also highlighted the importance food plays in productive and energy levels throughout the day,

“When your energy levels drop so does your concentration levels. Typically, people are freshest in the morning but also the most disciplined and people tend to stick to plans in the morning. However, as the day goes on it is easier to get more distracted. This is directly linked to what we eat and the breaks we take.Often what really helps if you have good healthy food options in your house this can make it quick and easy to make healthier food choices”.

Finally, we all know that when working from home it can be very distracting at times. Moira was asked if it was possible to give any advice to those who struggle with this on the daily,

“Often it comes down to the distracting you can control and the distractions you can’t. For example, when working from home other family members can be a distraction but the distractions you can control is our phones and devices. Notifications have a huge impact on our ability to stay productive throughout the day. Studies show that distracting notifications can take your attention away from your work for up to twenty-three minutes at a time. This leads to working in a very broke way and to help this putting certain chats on mute can help throughout work hours. It about taking back a bit of control, it is also about tracking your distractions and identifying what exactly is distracting you throughout the day and then eliminating them to the bets of your ability”.

In all, Moira was able to give some very practical tips to help us all become more productive at home. To ensure wellbeing at work it is important to remember the role nutrition, fitness sleep and stress management play’s in giving us the ability to keep our energy levels up, to help us stay focused and to help cope with stress.