L'Officiel Arabia Asks Claire Donnelly

Claire Donnelly is an MCIPD qualified Human Resource professional, with more than 25 years of experience working within various industries and over a decade of experience of HR practices throughout the Middle East. As a HR Generalist she has held a number of senior and Board level HR positions. She is experienced in working at both strategic and tactical levels.

Claire is answering our questions about employees' wellbeing while woking from home during COVID crisis. 

What flexible working can be implemented for the long term?

CD: Flexible working is not common in the UAE. Part time, job share, remote working are concepts that are the norm in many countries, but here in the UAE, where to work employees need a visa and visa quotas are based on size of office. It’s not unusual that companies look for the full time employees only, present in the office to ensure they cover all tasks needed using the visas they are able to obtain.

I believe that flexible working is key learning from Covid; companies will be able to see that some employees are more committed and produce better work when they are given the flexibility to work different hours of the day and week.

However, I also believe that the process that visa quotas are issued need to be reviewed. In order for one role to be job shared, in theory, both Employees need a Company visa to work on the same task – this is not a cost efficient solution for the company. For sure, coming out of Covid, companies will be looking at cost efficiencies – introducing flexible working policies which may not be top of their to do list.

Mental check - What's your mindset?

CD: Many Employees are now working remotely, potentially on half salary, with no notation of how their future will pan out. They may have loans outstanding, rent due and family to support. At times like this, its very difficult to keep your mindset positive and productive. Companies need to understand this and cut some slack with their team if they are not as productive as you need them to be.

Managers need to mindful of their remote working team either trying to carve out a working space in shared accommodation or perhaps they are living alone and are struggling to cope without physical support around them.

Daily catchup calls, perhaps daily virtual lunches will allow the company to keep in touch with their team and help them through any problems they may have.

Companies should also try and be as open and honest as possible with their team to keep them updated on the challenges the company is facing.  

How to balance work and life and maintain productivity?

CD: Structuring your day is incredibly important when keeping a work - life balance. With remote working, suddenly your office is constantly there in your house, you just can’t get away from it.

The time you spent traveling or having chat at the water cooler is missing. Employees may also feel under pressure to work harder than ever to try and support their Company during this difficult time.  Time just slips, weekends disappear leaving the feeling of groundhog day.

Set yourself a clear daily to do list with the top 5 things that must be completed that day highlighted.  Block time in your diary to have lunch, a coffee break and set a finish time will help to maintain the balance in your life.

Turn your computer off, switch your phone to silent and spend this time on yourself knowing that you manged to achieve something that will help you maintain your work - life balance.

How to avoid burnout while working from home?

CD: How many of us woke up this morning not knowing what day it was? Each day merges into the next, weekends do not seem to be distinguished from weekend days. Is all too easy to slip into one long working day, with no start or finish. Burnout beings to loom ahead.

I mentioned above ideas around diary blocking and setting yourself start and finish times – these will help with burn out. Try and keep your office separate from your life, so that you can walk away and mentally travel back home.

Knowing that what didn’t get done today will be at the top of tomorrows to do list and that its OK to have an evening off without looking at email. 

Tell us about employee wellbeing while working from home.

CD: Sitting behind a desk all day will not be helping your physical and mental health. Look around your home and look for something to lift your laptop to create a standing desk, alternate your day from standing and sitting.

Schedule into your diary time to exercise – if you have stairs in your home or building, walk up and down them a set number of time, dance to a favourite song, go through YouTube looking for short exercise routines - anything to get the blood moving.

Time to search out healthy recipes on the internet and cook meals from scratch. Now may be a good time to try out being vegan, Google your favourite meaty meal recipe putting vegan in front in the Google search, I guarantee you there will be a vegan version that tastes as good or better and it will be much healthier for you.

It’s time to use the additional time we now have – wasted traveling to and from work – to good use.

Claire Donnelly for L'Officiel Arabia, April, 2020