Go home on time this Wednesday

National Go Home on Time Day is a great way to remind ourselves how important it is to successfully integrate the demands of work with our personal responsibilities.

“A wise person once said that we should work to live, rather than live to work,” says Flexible Work Champion, Warwick Dawson. “We need to think about how we practice self-care and deliberately and intentionally switch off from our work day, regardless of where we work – in the office, lab, library, studio or other location,” he adds.

Now in its tenth year, National Go Home on Time Day (NGHOTD), is the perfect reminder. It will be held next week on Wednesday 21 November.

Establishing healthy patterns and behaviours around setting a time to switch off and finish work will look different for each person, but here are some helpful hints to get you started.

What are the benefits of switching off from work?

Practicing self-care techniques such as switching off from work can:

• Enhance mood and lower fatigue. 
• Have a positive impact on workplace performance and satisfaction.
• Increase performance and wellbeing in highly stressful situations.
• Build resilience and allow employees to cope better with change.

What are the challenges to switching off from work?

There are often factors outside of our control that hinder our ability to switch off from work:

• Our state of mind. A positive mood will help us be more efficient at switching off. 
• Workload and job insecurity. 
• Unrealistic deadlines and pressure to work overtime.
• Working part time or from a remote location requires boundaries to be set to avoid overwork

How do I switch off from work?

Switching off from work may seem like an unachievable goal at times. This NGHOTD we encourage employees to strive for balance by:

• Taking regular breaks. Say ‘yes’ to that tea/coffee break or walk around campus. 
• Look for ways to lift your mood at work. Take advantage of your social networks, engage in light-hearted office banter or practice relaxation techniques.
• Avoid working evenings and give yourself time to wind down at night.
• Look for ways to optimise your time away from work. Find a hobby or activity that makes you look forward to switching off.

We encourage our employees to practice self-care, and set a time to switch off from work, whatever this looks like to you.  We are committed to helping and encouraging our employees to work flexibly to achieve work-life satisfaction and wellbeing.

Please visit the UNSW Wellbeing website for information about the resources available to staff, including the employee assistance program.