How to switch off from work - The Derbyshire Benevolent Trust

Throughout the pandemic, our working lives have seen some significant shifts in balance. For many of you, working from home was never an option. Instead you worked through tough shifts and got through more bottles of sanitizer than you ever thought possible. Some took your work home with you, transforming kitchens, living rooms and spare bedrooms into offices. The last 18 months have really impacted upon our work life balance and more and more of us are finding it harder to switch off from work. So, in this article, we will share our three top tips to help you create the boundaries needed for you to enjoy your down time.

The ability to switch off from work is vital for a healthy lifestyle. Not doing so can lead to increased stress, low concentration levels and mental exhaustion. Research has shown that police officers are already at considerable risk of emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, burnout and PTSD, but those who can successfully disengage with work at the end of their shift are more likely to be able to manage their stress levels well.

Literally, switch off (and mute the work Whatsapp group whilst you’re at it)

As soon as work is over, turn off your work phone and mute any notifications from email accounts related to work on your personal devices to start the process of turning your work brain off. You are entitled to time off and there are very few things that cannot wait until you are back at work. If there is an extremely specific and niche incident that needs your immediate attention, your supervisor has access to your personal phone number and will be able to get in touch with you. But by checking your devices “just in case” someone needs you, you are remaining permanently engaged with work. In this day and age, people often expect instant access to you, so it is understandable that you may feel uncomfortable with the idea of your emails sitting unanswered for three or four days. If that’s the case, you should set up a polite auto-reply explaining what your working hours are and that there may be a delay to your response.

Remaining connected with others and feeling like part of a group can help to combat poor mental health. But if the group you are connected with are discussing work matters on your days off, this too will stop you from fully disengaging when you’re at home. No one wants to miss out on the group chat, but consider muting it for a day or two if it’s constantly reminding you of work. We could all benefit from spending a little less time with our heads buried in our phones, and a little more time connecting with the tangible reality of life – whether that’s with people, pets or outdoors with nature.

Accept your limits

You are not a superhero.

Read that again. You are NOT a superhero. You cannot complete all of your work, solve everyone’s problems, and then take on other people’s work, all day, every day, ad infinitum. Trying to achieve that will just lead to burnout. All you can do is your best everyday. Accept that some things won’t get done and as long as you have tried your best, this isn’t your fault.

Due to the nature of policing roles, it’s not always possible or suitable to write down a to-do list of tasks, but it is possible to prioritise your workload. Knowing what has to be done, what is important to get done as soon as possible and what you would like to get done in an ideal world can help you to mentally unwind when you get home, through the realisation that you have done all that you could today. If you are significantly struggling with your workload, you should always speak to your supervisor or manager and let them know. Derbyshire Benevolent Trust Group Insurance Scheme members also have free access to Care First, who can provide impartial and confidential online or telephone advice on tackling stress.

Use exercise as a barrier between work-time and down-time (not alcohol)

For many who have been working from home, the loss of a commute has resulted in the blurred lines between work-time and down-time. The temptation to do a little bit more after hours can easily exist when you’ve still got the laptop half open next to you. Instead, try to create separation between work and home by putting your work away in a different room then heading to the gym or going for a run or bike ride as soon as you have reached finish time. Vigorous exercise will help you to burn off any built up work-related stress, boost your endorphins and help you to get a better night’s sleep.

Many people report using alcohol as a way to switch off from work and working from home has made it easier for us all to walk straight to the fridge and grab the wine. But alcohol should never be used as a coping mechanism, as this can quickly spiral into the much more serious issue of alcoholism. Moderation is key – there is nothing wrong with a few drinks to wind down from a stressful week, but try to keep this to weekends only. Too much alcohol can increase anxiety levels, so remember to drink water to feel more in control and refreshed.

I’ve not received a password reset email?

Be sure to check spam folders, Some email providers may consider the email to be a spam email and automatically file it into your spam folder.

The email is not in my Spam folder?

Some email providers may have very strict spam blocking in place. If this is happening you can add our email address to your ‘white list’

To do this please follow the instructions in the below links, by choosing your mail provider and adding the email: “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” to your whitelist.

AOL

Add the “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” to your AOL address book:

Click the “Mail Options” menu and select “Address Book”.
Inside the “Address Book” window, click the “Add” button.
Inside the “Address Card for New Contact” window cut and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the “Other E-Mail” field.
Make our From address the “Primary E-Mail” address by checking the associated check box to the right of it.
Click the “Save” button.

If the mailing is in your SPAM Folder, you can open the email and click the “This Is Not Spam” button.

Gmail

Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Gmail Contacts List:

Click “Contacts” along the left side of any Gmail page.
Click “Create Contact”.
Copy and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the primary email address dialog box.
Click “Save”.

If the mailing is in your SPAM folder, check the box next to the mailing and click the “Not Spam” button along the top.

Hotmail/Outlook/Live

Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Hotmail Safe List:

Open your mailbox and click “Options” (upper right hand corner).
Click the “Junk E-Mail Protection” link.
Select the “Safe List” link.
Copy and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the dialog box titled “Type an address or domain”.
Click the “Add” button next to the dialog box.

If the mailing is in your “Junk E-Mail Folder”, open the email and click the “Not Junk” button.

You should also check that the mailing’s email address is not in your Blocked Senders list. You can find your Blocked Senders list by following the directions above and going to “Blocked Senders List” instead of “Safe List”. If you see the mailing’s from address on this list, select it and click the Remove button.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Thunderbird Address Book and configure your Junk Mail Controls to white list your address book.

Add an address into your Personal Address Book:

Click the “Address Book” button.
Make sure the Personal Address Book is highlighted.
Click the “New Card” button.
Under the “Contact” tab, copy and paste “admin@derbyshirebenevolenttrust.com” into the Email dialog box.
Click “OK”.

White list your Personal Address Book:

From the main drop down menu, select “Tools –< Junk Mail Controls..."
This will launch the Junk Mail Controls window that has two tabs: Settings and Adaptive Filter
Under the Settings tab, update the “White Lists” module by selecting Personal Address Book from the pull down menu and then check mark the box next to “Do not mark messages as junk mail”.
Click “OK”.

If the mailing is in your junk folder, right-click the mailing and choose “Mark –< As Not Junk".[/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title="Netscape Mail" tab_id="1498728551530-a54d18f1-2c51"][vc_column_text]Set up a filter to redirect the mailing you want to receive into your inbox:

From the Edit drop down menu, select “Message Filters”.
Click “New”, and give the new filter a name (e.g. “Whitelist”).
Change the drop down on the left to “sender” and the one in the middle to “is”.
Copy and paste username@domain.com into the box on the right.
Make the bottom two drop downs “Move to folder” and “Inbox”.
Click “OK”.
Make sure that your new filter is located at the top of the Message Filter list so it is run before any spam filter.

Outlook 2003/2007

Add the address you want to receive mailings from to your Safe Senders list:

On the Tools menu, click “Options”.
On the Preferences tab, click “Junk E-mail”.
On the Safe Senders tab, click “Add”.
In the Add address box, copy and paste in username@domain.com and click OK.

If you are using a different version of Outlook you can add the mailers From address to your Address Book. This can be done by opening the email, right clicking the From address, and selecting “Add To Contacts”. You can also access your Address Book via the tools drop down menu.

Yahoo

Set up a filter to redirect the mailing you want to receive in your inbox:

Open your mailbox and click on “Mail Options” (upper right hand corner).
Select “Filters” under the Management column.
Click the “Add” button on the Filters page.
In the “From header:” row, make the drop down “contains” and put the mailer’s from address username@domain.com in the box.
At the bottom of the page Click the “Choose Folder” pull down menu and select “Inbox”.
Click the “Add Filter” button.

If the mailing is in your Yahoo Bulk Folder open the email and click the “Not Spam” button. You should also check that the mailing’s email address is not in your “Blocked Addresses” list. You can find your “Blocked Addresses” list by clicking “Mail Options” and then clicking the “Blocked Addresses” link under the Spam column. If you see the mailing’s from address on this list, select it and click the “Remove Block” button.

Others

The most common way to whitelist an address is to add it to your address book, white list, or safe list. There is no universal way to whitelist an address, so if this is not an option, you will have to consult the help section associated with your email application. They should have instructions on how to whitelist an address there.