Why Returning to the Office Could Improve Your Mental Health

In research highlighted by HR magazine, 24% of UK office workers expressed their fear that physically returning to the workplace could adversely affect their mental health. However, this concern could be ill-founded, according to renowned psychologist Michael Mazius. 

“Human beings are organisms known for habituating,” Mazius tells Real Simple when explaining why, even if you now feel thoroughly accustomed to working from home, you shouldn’t be too quick to rule out a return to the office. So, how could an office setting mentally revitalize you?  

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It’s easier to socialize with people in an office

“Social interactions are crucial to growing our social brain and social skills,” Mazius says. Georganne Hassell, one employee who was originally recruited in October 2020 and required to work remotely for her company as soon as she joined, has attested to the beneficial effect of office life. 

After eventually meeting her co-workers in person for the first time, she enthusiastically reported to Real Simple about this “energizing” experience. 

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You could now more easily appreciate a good work-life balance 

Your work life and your personal life are like two different sides of the same coin. In other words, you must be wary of spending excessive time at either your home or the office. 

Sadly, though, successive lockdowns have left many of us a little too familiar with our homes – potentially leading to weariness and loneliness to set in. To help shake off those negative feelings, you should step outside – and ideally head over to your office.  

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You might not struggle so much to enter ‘work mode’

One persistent drawback of working from home is how it blurs the usual boundaries between work and non-work responsibilities. You could end up occasionally working in bed or without slipping into ‘proper’ work attire. 

However, none of this applies when you are required to always emerge from your bed at a specific time, get washed and dressed and spend fixed hours of your day at an office potentially far removed from your home in both location and atmosphere. 

 

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You feel a stronger sense of career progression

Working from home day after day can start feeling akin to running on a treadmill – in other words, like you aren’t getting very far even when you expend a lot of effort. 

However, as you spend more of your time at the office, you could find yourself increasingly brimming with optimism about your career trajectory. For example, as your company grows, you could relocate it to larger premises by renting a serviced office from BE Offices.

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Your co-workers could reinforce your positive feelings

Furthermore, they could do this more easily in person than online – given that, as explained earlier, socialization just flows more naturally in an office environment.

Sharing the same physical space as your work colleagues could help to keep the feel-good factor going – at least from your point of view. When you do good work in an office rather than at home, these people could notice it more easily and thus be inclined to praise you for it.