COVID-19 working arrangements remotely led to feelings of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, role stress, and overload, reduced personal accomplishment, and job burnout, increasing turnover intentions. Excessive work overload had, as a consequence, staff stress, emotional draining, professional burnout, and employee turnover. One limitation of this study is that we inspected only research published between 2020 and 2022 and covered only the Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest databases. The scope of this study does not advance how taking breaks and time management in a psychologically safe environment prevented remote work burnout and increased productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, travelling to the office some days and working from home on others can tire you out even more than full-time remote work. Posture-induced aches in the neck, shoulders, or wrists, and back tension from sitting long hours can also result in physical exhaustion. Unfortunately, these open-yet-vague symptoms make WFH fatigue challenging to explain, even when it’s obvious you’re experiencing them. If you often ask yourself why you feel so low, you’re likely experiencing what experts call wfh fatigue ‘working from home fatigue’. And if you’re feeling poorly physically, you could be close to full-on burnout. Since the rush to work from home overturned traditional office life, many now prefer to keep working in a fully remote or at least a hybrid work setup.

Socialize During Work

The limitations of this work are mainly the heterogeneity of the primary studiesand those included in the review. Second, the lack of new studies from thecitation and/or organization search, which is why the final number of includedstudies was low. Gamification is all the craze right now, and for a good reason – it works.

Many employers are still figuring out what healthy remote productivity looks like when coupled with home life, so you might end up overworking out of fear you’re not working enough. A system of time management developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, the Pomodoro technique delivers excellent productivity results and helps you build a healthy work rhythm. You can do that by using digital productivity tools to smoothen your workflow and meet the demands of your cloud office and its challenges. These tools can  help you focus better, prioritise work, boost productivity, eliminate distractions, and more. If you’re experiencing WFH fatigue, you can turn it around by introducing healthy lifestyle changes and a better remote work rhythm to your life.

• While video calls can be valuable for maintaining visual presence and connection with colleagues, overreliance and poor management of such meetings can be counterproductive.
• “In many sectors, like technology and finance, there is an expectation that workers should be available to their employers also outside formal working hours, and this norm is probably stronger in the U.S. than in many places in Europe.”
• Prevention of remote work burnout allows preventing burnout of the entire team in a timely mode, which will cost the company much less than eliminating the consequences.

How to recognize culture and leadership practices that contribute to remote work fatigue

After all, video conferences can only do so much, and Zoom fatigue is real. With so much data consumed digitally, the brain can find it hard to focus and prioritise information, leaving you quickly distracted and unable to accomplish your workday goals. Becoming a chair potato is a health hazard and can only heighten your remote working fatigue. You might work even longer hours than at a traditional office due to the perceived ‘guilt’ of home distractions. Checking messages while fixing lunch, intercepting doorstep deliveries and family member disruptions, and fire-fighting situations at home while working adds to the stress.

The practice calms your body and mind so you can focus on the here and now. You may pay attention to your breath, your bodily sensations, or your mind-space. Meditation takes place in a serene space free of screens, phones, or other distractions. Logging off and stepping away from your computer and desk a few times during the day is important. It might be 15 minutes for a walk with the dog or your spouse, a quick run or workout, or a quick trip to pick up a coffee at a local coffee shop. A collection of resources, all around a certain remote work topic, sent every other week.

The Most Common Causes of Remote Work Burnout

Marni joined Newsweek in 2024 from Frasers Group and had previously written for Cosmopolitan, Schon, The Fall and Voir Fashion. Some IV companies allow you to add specific ingredients to your IV to achieve your health aims. For instance, one study found that intravenous vitamin C reduced fatigue, so you may want to add that to your IV bag if you need more energy. Don’t feel pressured to jump into an hour-long meditation session if you’re not used to being still and focused. Start with a few minutes of meditation and add a minute or two each time you practice.

• Another effective approach to mitigating digital fatigue is adopting flexible work schedules.
• Don’t ignore your need for interaction and companionship, even if it means making time to walk your pet in the middle of a workday.
• For example, positive forgiveness in chats, congratulations on the upcoming holidays, the presence of office humor will be useful.
• These neurons are also responsible for producing empathy, which translates into trust, safety, and belonging—feelings that may be missing from remote and hybrid office settings.
• Crampton cautions leaders to plan their reemergence strategies carefully and to include planning to deal with remote work fatigue.

Take Your Time

In conclusion, remote work burnout is a common challenge that many individuals are facing due to the rise of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Blurred boundaries, isolation, increased workload, and lack of structure are some of the causes of remote work burnout. Remote work has become a norm for many people since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in early 2020. Although remote work has many benefits, such as increased flexibility, better work-life balance, and reduced commute time, it also comes with its unique challenges.

Make it a priority to work at least one day per week outside of your home. Whether it’s a co-working space, coffee shop, library or university campus, changing your environment provides the human energy your brain craves. Even without direct interaction, being around people helps you feel part of a larger community. “People do have different styles of working,” Kossek said, noting that people may work out of hours to enable taking breaks at other times in order to help balance work-life responsibilities.

While it is true that remote work offers more flexibility when it comes to work schedules, that in itself is not always a good thing. Some remote workers may lack the self-discipline and self-motivation skills to create a work structure and a set routine. The best fix for this issue is to create proper communication channels and have regular communication.

What’s a burnout and how is it influenced by remote work fatigue?

Remote work often necessitates frequent video meetings, contributing significantly to digital fatigue. While video calls can be valuable for maintaining visual presence and connection with colleagues, overreliance and poor management of such meetings can be counterproductive. Establishing clear guidelines around the necessity, frequency, and duration of video meetings is crucial. Once considered an enterprise video conferencing tool, Zoom went mainstream this year as schools, churches, families, and other organizations signed on. Videoconferencing technology allowed many organizations to remain connected and productive while their workforce went remote and Zoom became the de facto standard to replace face-to-face meetings. The methodological rigor of the studies was assessedusing the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) MethodologyChecklist tool.

While remote work has eliminated countless wasted hours of commuting, many are seeing longer workdays. Perhaps this is an attempt to have control over something in a year filled with uncertainty, but working non-stop will ultimately lead to burnout. Take time to disconnect from work, stay active, reconnect with others, and rest. I’m not saying you should lie, but if you are experiencing bandwidth issues, wink…wink… turning off your camera helps improve the audio quality. With everyone working from home and many kids going to school virtually, it’s very plausible.

This helps clear up any issues that employees might be experiencing, as well as resolve any feelings of uncertainty that they have about their work. Schor said, “When workloads increase, reducing hours can often make it easier to do all the work,” this is because “people are most rested and less burned out.” Vili Lehdonvirta, professor of technology Policy in the Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Finland, echoed this point. “In many sectors, like technology and finance, there is an expectation that workers should be available to their employers also outside formal working hours, and this norm is probably stronger in the U.S. than in many places in Europe.” Newsweek also spoke to Ellen Ernst Kossek, distinguished professor emerita of management at Purdue University, who said that U.S. culture itself, “Really emphasizes work,” and that “The U.S. identity is linked really heavily to work.” Though the Fair Labor Standards Act sets a standard workweek of 40 hours, for most U.S. workers, there is no federal limit on how many hours you can work in a week.

These experiences offer natural pathways for building relationships while advancing your career. One of the most effective ways to combat isolation is to regularly break free from the confines of your remote work fatigue home office. The workforce is rapidly changing, but more change may need to come to tackle always on culture. Microsoft’s report comes as the world of work is being rapidly changed by the increasing prevalence of Artificial Intelligence. AI is a polarizing topic—some liken it to a new industrial revolution, while others are sounding the alarm on ethical and environmental concerns. Lehdonvirta pointed to different technology adaptations and urban planning as playing a potential role in this.

According to the Economic Times, many remote workers complain of issues like eye strain and blurry vision. Besides home office distractions, you aren’t taking your eyes off the screen long enough to give them a break. I was instantly impressed with the UI/UX of the RemotePass platform, it is incredibly user-friendly and the feedback I have received from the remote workers has been excellent. Having supplied contract and remote staff to clients in the Middle East for several years, I have been used to a very manual and labor-heavy process when it comes to payroll and compliance. After one demonstration from the team at RemotePass I switched from using an existing supplier, as I get better value and service using this platform.

Burnout can also lead to increased absenteeism, as individuals may need to take time off to recover from physical and emotional exhaustion. This can lead to decreased staffing levels, which can impact the ability of the organization to meet deadlines and deliver on projects. Another effective approach to mitigating digital fatigue is adopting flexible work schedules.

Spending all your time online can quickly suck you into a whirlpool of unnecessary information, be it excessive tabs, social media distractions, pop-ups, or irrelevant apps that clutter your digital workspace. We want you to live a productive, healthy, and happy remote working life. So follow these best practices to beat WFH fatigue and enjoy all the perks that make remote work – work. Furthermore, as worldwide office culture is still figuring out the hows of remote working, many organisations are unaware of how to forge strong social bonds within a remote workforce. For many, the most enjoyable part of office work is time spent with colleagues, making real friends and forming social bonds. As a result, this lack of human interaction makes loneliness one of the biggest challenges of WFH fatigue.