As working from home has become more common over the past several years, one of the casualties has been the daily commute. Remote workers no longer need to spend time on the road to get to the office, allowing the average remote worker to save almost an hour each day.
This article, though, highlights one of the downsides of this trend. The daily commute provides workers with a “liminal space” for switching gears between their roles at work and home. Without this transitionary space between the two domains, some have found it difficult to disconnect from one and effectively shift into their role for the other, resulting in additional stress.
The authors suggest that remote workers can benefit from creating their own version of a daily “commute” to provide space for recovery and transition before and after work. For example, taking a ten or 15-minute walk to mark the beginning and end of the workday could provide some of the psychological benefits of a traditional commute without the need to sit in traffic or catch the train.