Home × office or home and office: importance of breaks at work

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic can be seen as a rite of passage where individuals are being called upon to rethink the dictatorship of the way-of-being through work. With the intensification of the work from home modality, many essential aspects of life became secondary. This way, it is important to think about work breaks, not only from the viewpoint of labor laws, but also for creating moments of reflection for (re)thinking various aspects of work, whether remote or in person. The objective of this study was to promote a reflection on the importance of taking breaks during remote work (working from home) or in-person work, considering the promotion of occupational health and well-being. Breaks during the workday are beneficial to physical and mental health, as they help restore concentration and energy, relieve stress, improve muscle tension, among other factors. Strategies for promoting work breaks cannot be prescribed as recipes but should be considered as possibilities to exercise these moments of disconnection from work on a daily basis. Moreover, the worker can also contribute to improve the quality of working life by adopting simple attitudes such as maintaining adequate hydration and using practices such as foot soaks, meditation, yoga, self-massage, foot reflexology, and mindfulness in the work environment. Therefore, in order for strategies for the promotion of health and occupational well-being to be successful, we need a change in the behavior of managers and workers in order to better reconcile our way-of-being through work and our way-of-being through care.

Full text

Rev Bras Med Trab. 2023;21(1):e2023857
OPINION
ARTICLE Received: 07/22/2021
Accepted: 08/02/2021
ABSTRACT | e COVID-19 pandemic can be seen as a rite of passage where individuals are being called upon to rethink the
dictatorship of the way-of-being through work. With the intensication of the work om home modality, many essential aspects of
life became secondary. is way, it is important to think about work breaks, not only from the viewpoint of labor laws, but also for
creating moments of reection for (re)thinking various aspects of work, whether remote or in person. e objective of this study was
to promote a reection on the importance of taking breaks during remote work (working from home) or in-person work, considering
the promotion of occupational health and well-being. Breaks during the workday are benecial to physical and mental health, as they
help restore concentration and energy, relieve stress, improve muscle tension, among other factors. Strategies for promoting work
breaks cannot be prescribed as recipes but should be considered as possibilities to exercise these moments of disconnection from
work on a daily basis. Moreover, the worker can also contribute to improve the quality of working life by adopting simple aitudes
such as maintaining adequate hydration and using practices such as foot soaks, meditation, yoga, self-massage, foot reexology, and
mindfulness in the work environment. erefore, in order for strategies for the promotion of health and occupational well-being to
be successful, we need a change in the behavior of managers and workers in order to beer reconcile our way-of-being through work
and our way-of-being through care.
Keywords | teleworking; COVID-19; occupational health; personnel management; health promotion.
RESUMO | A pandemia da COVID-19 pode ser vista como um rito de passagem em que os indivíduos estão sendo convocados
a repensar a ditadura do modo-de-ser trabalho. Com a intensicação da modalidade do home oce, vários aspectos essenciais da
vida caram em segundo plano. Assim, é importante pensar acerca da pausa laboral, não só a partir da legislação trabalhista, mas
também criando momentos de reexão para (re) pensar vários aspectos do trabalho, seja remoto ou presencial. O objetivo deste
artigo foi promover uma reexão acerca da importância da pausa no trabalho remoto (home oce) ou presencial, tendo em vista
a promoção da saúde e o bem-estar ocupacional. As pausas durante a jornada de trabalho trazem benefícios para a saúde física e
mental, pois ajudam a restaurar a concentração, revigorar as energias, aliviar o estresse, melhorar as tensões musculares, entre outros.
As estratégias para promover a pausa no trabalho não podem ser prescritas como receitas, mas esses momentos de desconexão
com o trabalho devem ser considerados como possibilidades de se exercitar cotidianamente. Além disso, o trabalhador também
pode contribuir para melhorar a qualidade de vida no trabalho ao adotar atitudes simples como manter uma hidratação adequada e
utilizar práticas como escalda-pés, meditação, ioga, automassagem, reexologia podal e mindfulness no ambiente laboral. Portanto,
para que as estratégias de promoção à saúde e de bem-estar ocupacional obtenham sucesso, é necessário que haja uma mudança de
comportamento de gestores e trabalhadores a m de conciliar melhor nosso modo-de-ser trabalho e nosso modo-de-ser cuidado.
Palavras-chave | teletrabalho; COVID-19; saúde do trabalhador; administração de recursos humanos; promoção da saúde.
16
Home × oice or home and oice:
importance of breaks at work
Home vs. oice ou home e oice:
a importância da pausa no trabalho
Carla Aparecida Spagnol1
1 Nursing School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Funding: None
Conlicts of interest: None
How to cite: Spagnol CA. Home × oice or home and oice: importance of breaks at work. Rev Bras Med Trab. 2023;21(1):e2023857.
http://dx.doi.org/10.47626/167944352023857

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Spagnol CA
INTRODUCTION
THE PANDEMIC AS A RITE OF PASSAGE
Since the beginning of 2020, the eects of the
COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2
are aecting society in its political, economic, social,
and cultural aspects. Many changes have taken place
in this context, such as distancing between people,
public health actions, emergency economic measures,
the devastating number of deaths, increase in
unemployment, and remote work and education.1,2
Considering these changes, in this article we
chose not to bring numbers or statistics, but instead
reect on the importance of breaks at work, whether
remote (working from home) or in-person, especially
in the context of the pandemic. For this, we sought
inspiration in the book “Essential care: an ethics of
human nature,” wrien by Leonardo Bo in 1999,3 and
other important literature in this theme. What Bo
wrote then is still relevant considering what we are
going through today.
In 1999, the author already said: “We are not
experiencing the end of the world, we are in fact
experiencing the end of a type of world. We are facing
a crisis aecting human civilization (...)”. erefore,
“We are in need of a new paradigm for living together
(...). Only if these changes occur will it make sense for
us to start thinking about alternatives that may present
us with new hope.”3 is citation makes us think that,
even if metaphorically, a “virus’ genetic mutation” had
to happen to lead to a so-called “mutation” in society
and the search for a “new hope” to build a new type of
world.
e pandemic can thus be seen as a rite of passage
rather than as an apocalypse in the religious sense of
the word, instead as a moment of rupture marked by
important changes in people’s lives.
is regard of the pandemic as a rite of passage
allows us to understand that individuals are being
called upon to rethink life, especially when it comes to
the dictatorship of the way-of-being through work, as
in recent times our lives have been revolving around
work 24 hours a day, depriving us of many other
essential aspects such as family, leisure, friendships,
our own health – things that are many times le aside
due to work.
is was intensied with the COVID-19 pandemic,
as remote work is occupying and sharing space in
the home environment with other activities, which
previously had clearer boundaries. is intensication
can lead to a decrease in spaces and moments
dedicated to idleness, family interaction, rest, and
physical and mental rehabilitation.4
Working from home stood out among remote work
modalities, especially in the current context of the
pandemic. Working from home started in the 1970s
and constitutes a exible work modality performed at
the worker’s home; he or she mainly uses the Internet
for developing the activities of his or her work
routine.5,6
Some authors point out that working from home
has provided a share of the global population with
opportunities of keeping their jobs, with the advantage
that workers are able to protect themselves from
contamination with the new coronavirus by reducing
social contact and consequently mass contagion,
avoiding the collapse of health systems.4
On the other hand, some disadvantages are more
recurrent, such as the conict between personal
life and work issues, greater professional and social
isolation, diculty controlling the workload,
psychological impacts, low motivation, and increased
home utility costs – for example, electricity, Internet,
telephone, and water bills, among other expenses.5
Along with the aforementioned issues, another
obstacle is managing time and space boundaries when
working at home. erefore, one of the most common
consequences of working from home is a longer
workday than the one usually required when working
in person. With this, the worker has diculties
maintaining a routine and many times ends up losing
control of the time and space reality in this new “work
environment” – his or her own home.7
In this perspective, the workload of people working
from home should be noted, as it is usually 10 to 20%
larger than that of in-person employees. In addition,
for some authors, the exibility of the work routine
can camouage the intensication of work.5,8

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Working from home: the importance of breaks at work
In remote work, “despite the competition
between household chores or family interaction
and the time spent working, the individual remains
online and responding, meeting performance goals
and deadlines and avoiding any impression of
idleness on his or her hours. Therefore, by removing
the employer’s oversight of a minimum workday
to be performed by the subordinates (attendance
control), teleworking may amplify the employer’s
power, as it is no longer restricted to registering the
time an individual spent in a certain environment
but instead turns every space this person may occupy
into a work environment.”4
According to Bo, the great challenge is to combine
work and care and understand that these two ways-
of-being in the world are not opposites, but should
comprise each other. For the author, “e recovery of
the way-of-being through care is not achieved to the
detriment of work; it is rather done through a dierent
way of understanding and performing work. In order
to do this the human being needs to turn itself to itself
and discover its way-of-being through care.”3
is way, it is important to think about work
breaks, not only from the viewpoint of labor laws, but
also considering the creation of moments of reection
for (re)thinking various aspects of work, whether
remote or in person. At this point of our work, rather
than answers, many questions have emerged:
1. How to organize new forms of work? Shouldn’t we
beer use the available technologies and invest in
others?
2. Work must be performed and quality products must be
delivered. However, shouldn’t we have beer working
conditions to reduce occupational risks?
3. How to enable leadership development? It can be said
that many people in leadership roles still centralize
decisions and use subtle or even invisible forms of
violence, harassment, and oppression with their teams.
4. How to educate autonomous, nonsubmissive
professionals, with skills and competencies for
achieving collective decision-making?
5. Is it possible to work more creatively and with freedom
to propose individual and collective ideas and projects?
Creating breaks for collectively reecting on
working conditions and interpersonal relationships at
work may help us beer understand work (seen here
as the “oce”) and its modalities. It may also make us
think how to seek strategies for promoting workers’
health and well-being.
Considering these aspects, the objective of this
article was to promote a reection on the importance
of breaks during remote work (working from home)
or in-person work, considering the promotion of
occupational health and well-being.
IMPORTANCE OF BREAKS AT WORK
Breaks for reecting upon new ways of working
and new conducts are as needed as those stipulated
by labor laws. It is thus important to shed light on
the need to care for workers and for them to practice
self-care – as “home” is our house but also our body,
which requires care.
In this sense, people should be called upon
rescuing care as one of the dimensions of the human
being, in its way-of-being through care. is is due to
the existence of something in human beings that is
not found in machines: the feeling, the ability to be
moved, involved, aected, and to aect.3
erefore, breaks throughout the workday are
required both for remote and in-person work. From
time to time the body needs to stop or else workers,
which are human beings and not machines, fall ill!
e types of breaks stipulated by labor laws must
be recognized. e daily rest break lasts at least 11
hours between workdays; workday breaks last up to
15 minutes for those who work 6 hours and at least 1
hour for those who work 8 hours a day.9,10
Workers frequently forget to care for themselves
during the workday. For example, health professionals
working in-person at sectors dedicated to caring for
patients with COVID-19. ese professionals have
great diculty taking breaks during their workday, as
they need to remove and put on personal protective
equipment, which is not easy and takes time. With
this, they frequently end up forgeing to take care
of themselves. In this case, the question is: if health

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professionals do not care for themselves, how will they
be well enough to care for other people?
is question is directed not only to health
professionals but also to overall workers, especially
those who are currently working at home; these are
more prone to having their domestic and personal
lives invaded by work issues.
is way, technological advances have signicantly
contributed to speeding up work activities, but at the
same time have made us obsessed with information by
checking e-mails or text messages outside of the work
environment, even without realizing it, which prevents
us from disconnecting when o work.11
In the context of the pandemic, we observed
that when faced with the power of companies and
“permeated with a pretended ‘meritocracy’ at the
expense of personal sacrice, a considerable number
of employees working remotely is deprived of the right
to disconnect from their jobs, working long hours and
leading to physical and mental exhaustion, being at
risk of chronic stress, burnout, or depression.”12
is is why planning working hours and acquiring
a certain discipline is important. is is true for in-
person work, but especially for remote work (working
from home), where workers currently divide their
time with other household chores and their children’s
homework, all in the same environment. is exercise
of discipline and time management is extremely
necessary for not losing sight of the way-of-being
through care.
erefore, it is vital to think about health
promotion and self-care and, in this regard, other
issues appeared in our reection:
1. What do we do in life with our health?
2. Which leaders are taking care of their teams during
remote work in this pandemic?
3. How do workers organize for taking breaks during
their workday?
It is thus of utmost importance that workers be
able to practice self-care, but organizations also need
to ensure their rest in order to protect their physical
and psychological health, avoiding work overload and
respecting the workers’ family environment and leisure
time.12
Breaks during the workday need to be understood
as benecial to physical and mental health, as they
help restore concentration and energy, relieve stress,
improve muscle tension, among other factors.
e literature indicates some individual or
collective strategies for caring for the body and
enabling work breaks. Some organizations such as
Google, Target, and the United States Navy have
provided alternative treatments for managing stress,
introducing meditation sessions during the workday.11
Many other organizations also use physical
exercises, workplace physical activity, and educational
games, in addition to many complementary and
integrative health (CIH) practices that were made
ocial by the Ministry of Health, such as music
therapy, yoga, foot soaks, and mindfulness. Studies
indicate that these practices signicantly contribute to
raise self-esteem, increase productivity, and improve
workers’ disposition and satisfaction. In addition, they
may increase stress tolerance, decrease absenteeism,
and improve the teams’ interpersonal relationships,
which contributes to the quality of the performed
work.13-16
ese strategies for promoting work breaks cannot
be prescribed as recipes but should be considered
as possibilities to exercise these moments of
disconnection from work on a daily basis. Moreover,
the worker contributes to improving the quality
of working life by adopting simple, but essential
aitudes, such as maintaining adequate hydration and
before starting work, during the workday, or even aer
work, using some of these CIH practices: foot soaks,
meditation, yoga, self-massage, foot reexology, or
mindfulness.
According to Bo, “caring for the body means
to search for the creative assimilation of all that may
occur to us in life, commitments and work, meaningful
encounters and existential crises, successes and
failures, health and suering. Only then can we turn
into ever more mature, autonomous, wise, and fully
free people.”3

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Working from home: the importance of breaks at work
is is why for strategies related to the promotion
of health and occupational well-being to be successful,
we need a change in the behavior of managers and
workers in order to beer reconcile our way-of-being
through work and our way-of-being through care.
Creating moments of reection is also necessary,
inviting managers and their teams to think about the
concepts of atmosphere, interpersonal relationships,
and (re)organization of the work process, in order
to intervene with the institution’s micro and macro
policies and aiming for improvements in working
conditions and occupational health.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
With these reections, one could say that, both
for remote work (working from home) and in-person
work, we need to create permanent spaces of analysis
of the professional activity that allow us to understand
the three dialectical moments of the work institution.
e instituted moment is understood as in-person
work and the home oce, that already existed in some
areas before the pandemic, in which workers already
had an established work routine.
e institutor moment is considered the form of
remote work that, during the pandemic, was suddenly
instituted in various areas and did not allow workers
to plan their work activities, which invaded household
chores; therefore, workers and their family members
are living with “home vs oce.”
The moment of institutionalization comprises
what may come to be the “home” (body) and the
“office” (work), that is, new forms of work that
may include productivity, self-care, and caring for
workers and professional relations.
In conclusion, one may think that the home oce
and “home vs oce” could be replaced by “home” and
“oce.” Is this reection possible?
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2023 Associação Nacional de Medicina do Trabalho
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons license.
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Correspondence address: Carla Aparecida Spagnol – Universidade Federal
de Minas Gerais, Escola de Enfermagem – Av. Alfredo Balena, 190 – Bairro
Santa Eigênia – CEP: 30130100 – Belo Horizonte (MG), Brazil – E-mail:
spagnol@ufmg.br