Due to the success of the COVID-19 vaccination programme in some countries, there is a glimmer of hope that the end of the pandemic is getting nearer. The narrative by the UK government and media is now about the “terminus date” and the eventual “return to work” – despite a developing bump in the road caused by the so-called Delta variant. For most academics, however, the notion of returning to work is a misnomer – not only has work never actually stopped but it has even increased since the pandemic began early last year, resulting in widespread burnout, depression and anxiety.

Following the initial UK lockdown in March 2020, universities and research labs made it a priority for scientists to continue working. A focus was put on shifting to remote work – a change that many disabled people have campaigned for, and often been denied, for years. Yet the increased difficulty of doing research from home – whether it be connecting to unreliable VPNs, a lack of data from paused experiments or not being able to get into the lab – put many in a difficult position. The underlying feeling of “needing to catch up” has emerged, further eroding the line between personal and professional life.

In this new stage of the pandemic, we must remember that although we are returning to work in person, we never actually stopped working

Now, seemingly out of nowhere, we are being prompted to return to work (face-to-face) with at best a small extension to projects. There is little to no accounting for the enormous cost that working from home has caused for many people’s personal and mental wellbeing. Students and academics across the board have put in more time than they would normally have to keep their work progressing at a similar pace to pre-pandemic levels. This includes additional tasks such as writing, recording, editing and posting video lectures for online teaching, planning and implementing new projects that can be done virtually, as well as attending meetings outside of “normal” working hours to keep in touch with international collaborators. All of this is done at a personal cost, with no formal compensation to account for the countless extra hours these tasks have taken.

Given this dire situation, taking time off for a holiday may not have even been a thought during these tumultuous months. It is well known that pre-pandemic there was a serious problem with academic burnout, with people at all stages of the academic career ladder regularly going years without taking a holiday. Indeed, prior to the pandemic multiple surveys on thousands of PhD researchers worldwide have found a relatively high level of depression and anxiety among them compared to the general population. PhD students have reported that their university departments or supervisors have enabled bad habits with requests to take a holiday being met with hostility or negativity. Depending on how proactive a group is in checking on the welfare of its staff and students, it is very easy to work every day if everyone else in the office does the same, making it difficult for an individual to ask to take time off. Since the pressures of the outside world have increased so dramatically in the last 18 months, this is only likely to have become worse.

Pursuing interests

Standard working contracts should provide people with paid-for holidays. For example, PhD studentships funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council have up to 25 days holiday (excluding public holidays and weekends) per academic year. Yet this time is not being utilized despite reports of increasing mental-health issues and burnout throughout the pandemic. Unfortunately, the focus on keeping up with research has resulted in the individual’s physical and mental wellbeing falling by the wayside. As we enter whatever the autumn and winter brings, there will no doubt be a lot of new work that comes along with it.

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Achieving a healthy work–life balance as a graduate student

In this new stage of the pandemic, we must remember that although we are returning to work in person, we never actually stopped working. Indeed, taking a few days to hurriedly arrange a new living situation or sitting, nervously waiting as your department/research group figures out how to work remotely as thousands die, does not count as holiday. Such situations are missing the key “relaxing” ingredient that actually makes it time off. Due to months of lockdown, it may not be possible to finish within whatever your original funded period was, and the feeling of being behind on work and constantly trying to catch up on a never-ending list of tasks is an easy rabbit hole to fall into. However, we must remember that to function, we cannot work 24/7. If you want to conduct research as well as you possibly can, then you must use whatever holiday you are entitled to to pursue hobbies, recover and, most crucially, relax. You mind, body and research will thank you for it.