We asked staff what they were doing to look after their wellbeing, productivity and social connections in lockdown. Here are some of your tips.

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Health and wellbeing

“I make sure I take a regular lunch break (most days) by putting a placeholder in my calendar.”

“I’ve built in shorter breaks throughout my day to make sure I’m moving more. I’m really missing those that extra steps of walking around the office to get food, go to the bathroom, walking to meetings etc”

“I do a yoga session with Yoga with Adriene on YouTube every day.”(Editor: I second Adriene – she’s amazing!)

“I disable email notifications from 9pm to 7am.”

“The Headspace meditation app is great.”

“I don’t have anyone who lives close by to go on walks with, so I set up phone chats with friends and family at the same time so that I get my socialising, fresh air and exercise all in one!”

“Spending as much time outdoors as possible: bush walks, surfing, bike riding through bush trails, running.  As long as my physical health is great, my mental health follows.”

Caring for children 

“For people with primary school aged kids: you can use the Service NSW Creative Kids vouchers for art supplies. Just google ‘creative kids art pack’ and there are lots of sites that come up with $100 packs that are good for entertaining the kids.”

“With two young children at home, my partner and I need to tag-team to have any chance of remaining productive (and yes, a day with kids in lockdown is a lot like a WWF tag team match!). We compare our meeting schedules every morning and try to find an hour for one parent take the children out for exercise (and give the other parent some invaluable quiet time).”

Staying connected to teams

“We’ve just started a ‘Friday catch-up’ where we share skills. Many of us speak another language, so we plan to share and learn.”

“Virtual walking meetings with colleagues on the phone.”

“Once a week or fortnight, have a Friday afternoon wind-down meeting where you have a chat about anything except work. How was the week, what are the plans for the weekend etc.”

“While Zooms are great, people are a little Zoom-weary by now.  Our team keeps the chat function in Microsoft teams open and we share little fun things with each other through the day – it’s like having your office mates around you.”