Working from home. You either love it or you have… well, let’s say mixed feelings about it.
Working from home offers employees both benefits and challenges. Decreased living expenses, eliminating your work commute, flexibility on where you live, and independent working conditions might be benefits you enjoy. Some challenges, however, can exist, including feeling isolated, experiencing increased workplace distractions in your home, struggling with time management issues, and having difficulty maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
If you are still working from home in 2025, you may be feeling susceptible to workplace burnout. It can be a struggle to manage one’s workload, feel motivated, and balance your personal versus work life when working from home. If this resonates with you, keep reading to learn how to stop work from taking over your life, especially if you are working/living in a small space.
- Find and maintain a routine that works for you. Everyone has a different routine that gets them into the right mindset for starting their workday. Maybe this is brewing a big cup of coffee, packing a work bag, or putting on your ‘work’ clothes. This can be a lot harder working from home, when pjs and your cozy bed are nearby. Therefore, find something you can do every day to kick off your work day. A small ritual activity can help condition your brain to get in the work mood and start your day off right.
- Create a division of space. For many, being able to effectively work from home is a privilege, because an ideal setup requires a private office and/or workspace, a quiet environment, and accessible childcare (if applicable). This, sadly, is not the case for many people who are working from home. While you may not have a lot of extra space available, in the form of a separate office or study, it may be possible to make whatever space you do have work for you in a more effective way. For example, if you live in a one-bedroom or studio condo or apartment, find creative ways to physically divide the space. This could be as simple as adding a small rug under your desk, or moving a side table between your desk or work setup and your living space. Even putting your work items away and stowing your laptop out of sight at the end of your workday can help.
- Maintain healthy workplace boundaries. Working remotely may cause you to feel pressure to be online or accessible 24/7 in a way that is different from working in an office, where you may physically leave your work behind at the end of the day. However, unless your contract stimulates an on-call schedule, when you clock out you are done for the day! Treat working from home like being in an office. Take your designated breaks and do your best to clock out once your scheduled hours are over for the day. Read this article for more information on setting healthy workplace boundaries.
- Find social connections at work. Working in an office allows for plenty of daily social connections – catching up at the watercooler, happy hour after work, lunch dates, holiday parties, etc. Working remotely, however, means that you might miss out on key opportunities to connect with your coworkers. But it doesn’t have to be that way! In 2025, make it a habit to connect with your coworkers. This can be something like starting a virtual happy hour or lunch date, or just going out of your way to strike up a meaningful conversation with coworkers before a meeting starts.
- Find social connections outside of work. In addition to losing social connections in the office, working remotely means that we may also miss out on other moments of human connection. These can be simple things like saying ‘hello’ to people on the bus or greeting the barista at your favourite coffee shop during your lunch break. It can be easy to take these small moments for granted, but they can be greatly missed when we no longer engage in them. But you can still find opportunities to connect with the outside world when working from home! You might even try working from a coffee shop or co-working space once a week. You may want to increase your social activity outside of work as well – try signing up for a painting class, joining a running club, participating in an online video game league, or finding some other way to connect with others around your hobbies and passions. Remember, there is life outside your home office!
Working from home can be a great option for many people, but it’s not without its challenges. Hopefully, these tips will help you get the most out of your work-from-home life in 2025, especially if you are living and working in a small space.