Working from home promises flexibility, but for many UK business owners, it is blurring the line between work and personal life, increasing the risk of burnout.
New research from garden building specialist Dunster House explored the growing UK backyard economy and found that more than half (55%) of home business owners regularly work evenings and weekends, while nearly half (45%) regularly receive work calls or messages outside working hours. More than a quarter (26%) struggle to separate work from personal life, while nearly 6 in 10 (58%) say their business has physically taken over parts of their home.
The pressures extend beyond working hours. Nearly half (48%) of home business owners said they have felt isolated or lonely while running a business from home, while more than half (53%) believe people take home run businesses less seriously than office based ones.
A trainer’s perspective from the kitchen table
For Alastair Wallace, CEO and Lead Consultant at London leadership training firm Brainfood Ltd, the findings ring true. He has trained more than 23,500 leaders and managers from his own kitchen table. He shared five rules for setting boundaries, staying productive, and avoiding the always on trap when the office is also home.
Design your boundaries on purpose
The hardest part is setting boundaries, Wallace said. When the commute is 10 steps, it is easy to never quite arrive at work or leave it either. Business owners must decide when they are available, when they are not, and what being finished for the day actually looks like. Boundaries are liberating, so Wallace recommends establishing clear start and stop rituals each day, even without a physical commute to mark the transition.
Build a shutdown routine
The shutdown routine matters as much as the start up, according to Wallace. At the end of the day, he advises clearing the table, closing the laptop, putting the notebook away, and physically resetting the space. It may sound small, but the brain needs cues. Otherwise, the home starts guiltily whispering work from every corner.
Protect energy, not just the diary
Running a business effectively from home is not about working longer hours, Wallace said. It is about managing energy deliberately by building in recovery time, movement, quiet thinking, fresh air, and proper breaks. Burnout and back pain do not care how nice the home office is.
Wallace said he uses clear start and stop rituals, proper breaks, and focused blocks of work, alongside a simple rule: if everything is urgent, nothing is being led properly.
A home address is not a lack of professionalism
For the half of home business owners who feel they are taken less seriously because of where they are based, Wallace’s advice is to own it. Professionalism is behaviour, not postcode, he said. Good technology, clear communication, and useful follow up can make a stronger impression than an expensive office.
Clients do not really care whether the background shows a glass office, exposed brick, and a fig tree. They care about whether their problem is understood and solved quickly.
Do not let working from home mean working alone
Isolation is a real challenge when working from home, Wallace said, so he recommends scheduling conversations, networking, collaboration, and in person work, since humans are not designed to be inbox goblins. For many, he added, part of the answer is physical as well as behavioural: giving the business its own defined space, separate from where people eat, relax, or sleep, rather than allowing it to spread across the kitchen table or spare room.
Working from home is not a lesser version of running a business, Wallace said. It is simply a different operating system. But like any operating system, it needs updating, maintaining, and occasionally turning off and on again.