Work-life balance guide for remote employees

Remote work has changed the way many of us live and work. It brings flexibility and freedom, but it can also make it harder to switch off.

When your workspace is also your living space, it’s easy to fall into the habit of working longer hours or constantly checking in on your team’s tracker or messaging app. This often leads to excessive stress, anxiety, burnout, and even tension at home.

If you’ve recognised that something has to change, this guide is exactly what you should be reading. Here are some intentional changes you can make to recreate and maintain the work-life balance you need.

1. Find a daily rhythm that feels supportive

Remote work has a tendency to blur our days.  Without clear signals to start and stop, it’s easy to fall into a cycle of overworking or staying half-logged in long after your day should be done. That’s why building a steady rhythm is so important.

Start your morning with something that connects you to yourself before work begins. This might be stretching, stepping outside for a moment of sunlight, or enjoying your coffee without screens. These small morning routines help set the tone and ease you into the day with clarity instead of stress.

Throughout the day, give yourself permission to pause. Take proper lunch breaks, even if it’s just 20 minutes away from your desk. Step out for a walk if you can. These moments of rest reset your nervous system and help you come back more focused, rather than caught in distraction.

In the evening, shift gears with an intentional routine. That might look like closing your laptop, tidying your workspace, turning off notifications, or doing something calming like cooking, reading or moving your body.

Routines can help you stay grounded, especially when things feel uncertain or you’re struggling with overwork, anxiety, or even issues outside of work.

2. Set boundaries that work for you

Start by deciding on your work hours. Choose start and finish times that align with your responsibilities and energy levels, then communicate them clearly to your team. Let people know when you’ll be online and when you’re not. It’s okay to be firm, and you can do it with kindness both towards yourself and others.

Try using rituals to mark the end of the day. Log out of your tools, shut your laptop, and physically step away from your workspace. It sounds simple, but it helps your mind shift out of work mode.

If you’re used to always being available, this might feel uncomfortable at first. But with practice, setting boundaries can become one of the most empowering things you can do.

3. Communicate with care and clarity

When you work remotely, communication becomes one of your most powerful tools for maintaining connection and reducing stress. Without body language or casual chats to fall back on, misunderstandings can creep in more easily, and so can workplace conflicts and unnecessary tension.

It helps to practise emotional intelligence when you communicate, be clear about timelines, set realistic expectations, and avoid non-essential messages after hours. These habits can help reduce work anxiety and keep work from spilling into your personal time.

Listening actively is just as important. When you take time to understand what others are really saying, you build trust and reduce friction. Clear and respectful communication creates smoother collaboration, fewer interruptions, and a more balanced rhythm between work and the rest of your life.

4. Reconnect with what brings you joy outside of work

Remote work can quietly shrink your world. You finish your workday and stay in the same space, on the same screen. Over time, you might notice that the things you used to enjoy, such as your hobbies and other playful moments, have faded into the background. It’s as if you’re in autopilot or survival mode all the time, which is not at all fun.

Joyful things matter. They help you return to your sense of self, especially if you’ve started tying your worth to your productivity. Whether it’s gardening, painting, playing music, learning something new, or just pottering around without a goal, carving out space for hobbies reconnects you to life beyond work.

These moments aren’t wasted time. They help you ease into a flow state, where your attention is steady and your mind feels refreshed. That mental reset supports creativity, focus, and emotional balance. When joy is part of your week, the pressure to find fulfilment only through work will start to ease.

5. Turn down the noise, literally and emotionally

The notifications, messages, updates and alerts can keep your brain in a constant state of low-grade stress. Even when you’re not actively working, just seeing those red bubbles or hearing the pings can trigger tension.

Take back control by deciding when and how you want to engage. Turn off non-essential notifications during focus time or after hours. Use “do not disturb” settings to protect your rest.

If the thought of being unavailable makes you anxious, that’s worth noticing. It often ties back to a fear of missing out or a deeper belief that being constantly responsive proves your worth. In truth, creating space for silence helps you respond with more care when it really matters.

6. Stay connected to the people who matter

It’s possible to work with a team all day and still feel lonely. Remote work can unintentionally cut you off from the kinds of everyday connections that keep you grounded.

Make a conscious effort to reach out. Send a message to a friend, set up a call with someone you trust, or organise a walk with a neighbour. These moments of connection don’t need to be long or deep; they simply need to be authentic.

In positive psychology, connection is a key part of wellbeing. When you feel seen and supported by others, your sense of resilience grows. You also remember that you are more than your to-do list or your inbox.

Nourish your relationships and you’ll feel more anchored, especially when work feels heavy.

7. Assess your relationship with money and success

Financial stress can drive how you work. It can lead you to say yes to too much, blur your boundaries, or keep you in a constant state of hustle.

Take time to check in with your money habits and beliefs. Do you avoid looking at your finances because it feels overwhelming? Do you tie your sense of security to how busy you are? You don’t need to have all the answers now, but try noticing your habits over time and what beliefs fuel them.

If money stress is affecting your sleep, mood, or ability to switch off from work, it might be time to speak with a therapist as well. Financial pressure is rarely just about numbers. It often connects to deeper fears about worth, identity, and safety.

8. Don’t let your job define your worth

When you’re not around colleagues or a physical workplace, it’s easy to feel like your only value comes from output. This can be especially true in fast-paced or high-expectation environments.

But your work is just one part of who you are. You are also someone who laughs, rests, creates, connects, and lives a life beyond deadlines.

If your self-worth feels tied to how much you accomplish, it helps to build space for other identities. Try volunteering, exploring a passion project, or simply reflecting on the parts of yourself that exist outside your job title.

9. Check in & adjust once in a while

Work-life balance isn’t something you set once and forget. It shifts as your responsibilities, health, and priorities change.

Consider setting a weekly or monthly reminder to check in with yourself. What’s working? What’s starting to slip? Are you feeling energised or drained? If you notice that tension or conflicts are becoming more frequent, or your ability to focus is fading, that’s a sign to pause and reassess.

Sometimes, this reflection points to small changes in your routine. Other times, it might mean reaching out to your manager, a colleague, a friend, or a therapist for support. 

A word for leaders managing remote teams

As a leader, the way you manage your own time and wellbeing sets a powerful example. If you take regular breaks, respect your own work hours, and speak openly about mental health, your team is more likely to feel safe doing the same. When you create space for balance, others follow.

Make it clear that people are not expected to always be available. Encourage your team to take their full breaks, use mental health days when needed, and reach out for support through your employee assistance program.

Check in regularly, not just about deadlines but about how your team is feeling and whether their boundaries are being respected. If someone needs stress leave, respond with care and support, not suspicion.

It's also worth reflecting on your own habits. If you send emails late at night or schedule back-to-back meetings, your team may feel pressured to do the same. A few small adjustments in how you work can help build a culture where people feel trusted to take care of both their performance and their wellbeing.