With Covid situation and remote working being the new normal, there is an impending problem to all the people working remotely – “Remote working burnout”. It means working more than the time for which our body and mind can support us effectively. Simply put, working excessive hours. Work life balance is no more a valid term now, as there is no well-defined boundary between work time and home or family time. Some organizations are welcoming employees to work from office on a voluntary basis. However, there are multiple factors such as schools being closed, unavailability of day-care centres, or people preferring to stay back at hometowns, due to which work from home has become inevitable. As of now, the future is very bleak, and we are not sure when things would go back to same normalcy we had before the Covid situation. 
Next comes the question – What can we do to make this situation better? Apart from obvious ideas such as closing work on time, here are 5 ways to avoid remote working burnout:

1. Do not send emails or respond to them well after your working hours: If your working hours ended more than a couple of hours back or if it is well past midnight for most of your team members, make it a habit not to send emails during that time. By sending an email at that time, you are indirectly expecting another employee to respond during his family time. If you are working with a global team, set expectations when they can receive a response. For example: If you receive an email past 10pm or 9pm your time, they can expect reply only by their next day.
2. Try to create a physical boundary between work and family space: However small or big your house is, make some space where you can comfortably work and designate it as workspace. It can be as small as a worktable at a corner of your room. After your work hours, make it a habit not to go to that part of the house unless it is extremely important or needed. 
3. Do one task at a time: With laptops being mobile, we tend to take them everywhere and start working while watching TV or while making dinner. Multi-tasking adds more mental stress to your system. While you are thinking that you are doing two things, you are actually shifting your attention constantly from one thing to another. This adds to the burnout. Try to concentrate on task in hand and you will notice that work gets done faster.
4. Maintain regular and predictable work timings: Predictability is very important in any organization. Try to have a regular time when you log in and an approximate time when you log off. This in turn sends a message across to your team mates as to when you would be available to communicate. It also helps you maintain a routine for food, sleep, and work timings. Unless your employer has specific regulations, your work time need not necessarily be exact same time as your other team members. However, it is ideal that you maintain at least 3-4 hours of common working time with the team. 
5. Prioritize your tasks: The number of things or tasks you must attend to might be a big list. But prioritize them based on the importance, urgency, and relevance. Make sure that your To-do list always has these three columns – Today, tomorrow, or some time later this week. Take some time each morning to segregate the tasks according to this list before you get lost in work. 

Finally, working from home with too many other things demanding our attention is indeed tiresome. Some tips like these can help you work more efficiently, and thereby let you spend quality time with your family. After-all, the only good thing about this pandemic is the time we can spend with our loved ones.