How to stay engaged at work this year

Engagement at work – tl;dr

• Need more “me” time in the office? Spend a portion of or workday alone in a quiet, private space like the hushHybrid pod — it’ll help you manage your bandwidth and prevent sensory overload

• If you have too much on your plate full stop, schedule time with your supervisor to delegate 1-2 items to another teammate

• If you’re sensitive to office commotion, take five in a cozy environment like the hushAccess.L. acoustic booth whenever you need to collect yourself

• To rediscover the meaning in your work, gather at hushWall for a “big picture thinking workshop”

• Schedule frequent team meetings in the hushMeet meeting pod to foster comradeship

• If you’re really struggling, survey yourself to identify its root (plus a practical action step to resolve it)

• Ask your employer for the exact support you need in order to give your best

Overwhelmed? Stressed? Spent?

Know that “checking out” is a natural response to excess stress. It’s how we self-regulate and find equilibrium when we’re overburdened. And by anything. A deadline. Office noise. A volume of tasks that’s too large. So don’t judge yourself harshly should you ever find yourself disengaging.

Instead…

1.    Spend more time working alone in a quiet, private workspace like the hushHybrid pod.

Blocking out or limiting distractions is a sure way to reach a healthier homeostasis at work.

Office distractions like noise cause measurable physiological stress.

They hinder your sense of control over your immediate space and your headspace.

So if your focus is fuzzy, observe your surroundings for a whole day.

How often do random stimuli sidetrack you? If the answer is “often,” then your best move is to periodically retreat to a work pod or similarly restful den. Get a hardy dose of grade-A peace-and-quiet when you need it.

Say you finally have a minute to kick off creation of the next campaign. You direct your mind to think abstractly about visuals, drafting a few. You pick up momentum. Your thinking gets loose and lively. You’re in a groove. Then *ring ring* a peer’s phone sounds off, breaking your flow. Begrudgingly, you start from square one, knowing it takes nearly half an hour to refocus after being distracted. Office activity can be a real stress factor. Which is why pods have become such a popular product

– says Mateusz Barczyk, Senior Brand Manager, Hushoffice.

Reclaim your autonomy. Spend more of your workday in a 1-person pod like hushHybrid.

It’s acoustically fine-tuned for deep work. It blocks out sound outside and insulates sound inside. So you’re shielded from office noise and free to work how you work best. If that means murmuring under your breath to work out ad copy or throwing on a playlist of tutorials at full volume, so be it.

2.    Schedule time with your supervisor to delegate 1-2 items to another teammate.

How do you know you’re overloaded? Let’s review some of the unmistakable signs…

• You’re always in catch-up mode

• You find yourself stalling out on where to start because you’re swamped by responsibilities

• You routinely work weekends

• You’re always playing catch up or just staying afloat

• You often temporize (delay making a decision) due to decision fatigue

• You have a hard time calling it a day and signing off for the evening

• You run from one task to the next in a dash

• You’re burnt out, frazzled, or discouraged

• You don’t feel accomplished even when you do stellar work

• You’re experiencing indifference

• You have too many tabs open in your brain at all times

If you relate to even one of these bullet points, be encouraged.

Though the reality of having too much on your plate is unpleasant to experience, the solution is beautifully cut-and-dry. Delegate an item or two to someone else.

Get together with your manager and communicate what’s up.

Come prepared with a few propositions for where to delegate what. Run them by colleagues involved beforehand, so everyone’s on board. Just switching into solution mode and speaking candidly with your supervisor will likely be a relief.

Taking even one responsibility off of your plate can make a difference.

Especially if it’s an item you don’t particularly enjoy or feel suited for. Delegating it to a teammate that’s a better match will do. These kinds of conversations can seem intimidating, so hold yours in a confidential space like a privacy pod.

3.    Take five on the regular in a cozy space like hushAccess.L.

When your brain is saturated with sensory input, it enters fight, flight, or freeze mode, making you panicky. This is sensory overload, and it’s common in open-concept offices since shared spaces are communal, used by many people, and prone to frenetic, unexpected action.

Are you sensitive to your surroundings? Start taking scheduled breathers.

Anyone who is sensitive to their environment needs to disconnect in a low-intensity space every so often. Pods are right because they’re self-contained. Even people who basically thrive in a bustling atmosphere need to withdraw every once in a while

– adds Mateusz Barczyk, Senior Brand Manager, Hushoffice.

People with ADHD are acutely attuned to the sights/sounds around them. Frenzied spaces cause them anxiety. Then there are introverts; like sponges, they’re maxed out by busyness, too. And Highly Sensitive People — wired in a similar way, hyper-affected by the office’s hustle-and-bustle.

Insights from our blog about digital mindfulness will also help you manage your bandwidth.

Much modern stress is caused by being plugged in too often, beholden to the demands of devices. A few simple habits like the ones highlighted in our blog will help you draw a line. You’ll ease the unpleasant urgency that comes with being connected all the time.

Lacking camaraderie? Team spirit?

Reminding yourself of your work’s significance will help. Doing it as a group can be terrifically invigorating.

4.    Hold a “big picture thinking workshop” around hushWall.

As knowledge workers, much of what we do is cerebral. Cerebral work is detail-laden and not very tactile. So its bigger-picture real-world impact is tricky to trace (forget feel) on a day-to-day basis. Missing the forest for the trees is an inevitable risk of it.

Gather your main crew and zoom out.

Start by listing your core people, from partners to customer personas. Then, for each one, talk freely through the benefits your organization provides them. Reviewing as a team can rekindle the fire.

The following questions can aid further reflection…

• What were last year’s biggest challenges and successes?

• What were the most valuable insights gleaned?

• What is your priority (as a team and as individuals)?

The bigger picture gives us a sense of meaning.

And meaning is a mover. Employees who have meaningful work boast more raises and promotions.It makes sense because meaning fosters the comradeship that helps us overcome hurdles together. So zoom out every now and again. Refresh yourself on your work’s significance. It’s key.

5.    Disconnected from your team? Hold team meetings in the hushMeet 4 person team meeting pod.

Regular in-person, on-site meetings are critical in a hybrid work world. They facilitate the powerful motivator that is team spirit. And the truth is everyone benefits from team spirit, or a sense of alignment toward a worthy shared goal.

Face-to-face meetings give us a dimension of energy we just don’t get via video.

Eye contact and presence are only felt IRL. After-meeting small talk is also more likely on-site since people typically don’t feel as pressured to end the meeting as quickly as possible. Instead, they chit-chat for a few minutes should they find (after reading the room) that no one’s in a rush.

In-office meetings are also more immune to miscommunication.

They offer real-time non-verbal cues of body language to help us communicate more finely. And when we share a physical space with teammates, we exchange palpable chi. As a result, we’re bonded. Much more strongly than virtual communication can bond us. That bond is motivating.

6.    Feeling far away from remote peers? Attend hybrid meetings in a video pod like hushHybrid.

HushHybrid is a perfect video call space. Inside, your speech is clear, never muddied by floor noise. Peers on your call can hear every word of yours. You can hear every word of theirs. The pod strengthens your link to remote coworkers.

If you’re really struggling, identify the root of your struggle.

List the reasons you’re falling off. Then think of an action item for each one. It sounds like a silly exercise, but it can reveal a way through. We sometimes lose perspective when we’re having a tough go. But just looking at the problem plainly, in a dispassionate way, can often fix what’s wrong.

And don’t hesitate to ask your employer for the support you need.

Would more attention help? Maybe an employee recognition program is a good idea. More calm? Maybe private work pods are next. More reassurance? Bi-weekly one-on-ones for the win. Whatever you need to perform at your best, ask for it. You are the main investment.

Engagement at work – summary

• Need more “me” time in the office? Spend a portion of or workday alone in a quiet, private space like the hushHybrid pod — it’ll help you manage your bandwidth and prevent sensory overload

• If you have too much on your plate full stop, schedule time with your supervisor to delegate 1-2 items to another teammate

• If you’re sensitive to office commotion, take five in a cozy environment like the hushAccess.L. acoustic booth whenever you need to collect yourself

• To rediscover the meaning in your work, gather at hushWall for a “big picture thinking workshop”

• Schedule frequent team meetings in the hushMeet meeting pod to foster comradeship

• If you’re really struggling, survey yourself to identify its root (plus a practical action step to resolve it)

• Ask your employer for the exact support you need in order to give your best

Engagement at work and pods – frequently asked questions

How do I stay more engaged at work?

Spend more time working by yourself in a one-person pod like hushHybrid. It will help you manage your bandwidth by guarding you against office distractions. If you simply have too much on your plate, meet with your supervisor. Delegate an item or two to another teammate. If it’s indifference that’s causing you to check out, gather your crew for a big picture thinking workshop.

What do I do if office noise is stressing me out, causing me to disengage?

Talk to your manager about acoustic work pods. Pods are like quiet, private dens for independent work, team collaboration, or alone time. They come in many sizes. They offer many features. They give you autonomy by affording more control over your environment. Check out our Hushoffice collection of pods to explore all the different kinds.

What is the largest booth in the Hushoffice collection?

The hushAccess.L wheelchair-friendly booth. It seats 6 people comfortably.