Working from home can be a perfect move. However, it can also come with its downfalls, such as more distractions.
That being said, more of us than ever are now having ot deal with working from home, and are also having to face the prospect of it becoming a permanent fixture in our working lives. Many companies are even thinking about using a hybrid approach to remote working and only using the office as a touchpoint for training and important meetings.
In the past, working from home was a once in a while luxury that your employer would extend to you, but with the sudden move for many employees, are you ready for this to be a more permanent thing? And where are employees most productive?
If you are going to stick to working from home on a more permanent basis, have a look at some of the tips below:
Start Early
When you are working in an office environment, you will find that your commute helps you to wake up, and get in the frame of mind to start work. At home, though, moving from your bed to your computer can be a little more challenging. However, if you want to be productive with working from home, one of the best things you can do is to dive into your work as soon as you can when you get up. Simply ticking a few to-do’s off your list first thing such as ordering your new fashion work from home lenses, or reply to a few important emails can set you on the right track to be productive throughout the rest of the day. If you’re not careful it can be very easy to allow your mornings to slip away from you, and before you realise, you’re not starting work until after 11 am.Â
Act Like You Are Going To The Office
The association your brain has with actually going to work on a commute can make you naturally more productive, but this doesn’t mean you can’t recreate this at home. If you can do all the things you would so to prepare yourself to go to the office, set your alarm for the same time, get yourself a coffee, get dressed for work, do your makeup, etc. If you miss the readiness that your commute provides, consider going for a routine morning walk each day before you start your working day.
Keep To A Structure
It’s likely that when you were in the office you had a structure to your day that worked well and became your normal working life. When you are working from home, however, you are your own time management, and with things such as in-person meetings your day may not naturally break up, so you may lose focus or burn out quicker. Try using your online calendar to create a schedule, if you were used to having a team meeting in person, or used ot go and get a coffee at the same time every day, still do this virtually.
Have A Dedicated Work Station
This cannot be ignored. If you are going to be working from home on a more permanent basis, you are going to need a permanent workstation, especially if you have been temporarily working from your kitchen table or sofa. There are plenty of ideas online for how you can turn a corner of a room into an office space without it impacting the look or feel of your home.
Do Most Of Your Work When You Are Most Productive
Nobody is able to stay at the same pace all the way through their day, and each person is more productive at a different time of the day. This is one of the reasons why teams work well. Your motivation will naturally flow and ebb throughout the day. When you work from home, it is essential for you to know to schedule your day through the times you know you are most productive. Save your harder tasks for when you know you are going ot be in the right frame of mind to tackle them. If you know you are slower on a Friday afternoon, consider pencilling in your easier, logistical tasks.
Complete Calls In the Afternoon
One thing you will notice from working from home is that the people who are experienced with remote work will often schedule their appointments, phone calls, and meetings for the afternoon. This way you can tackle solidary tasks early in the morning before you directly work with others. Of course, if a manager or colleague can’t make an afternoon meeting, you will need to make sure you make time in the morning for them.
Identify Your Distractions And Tackle Them
It has become more apparent for many, that working from home isn’t as luxurious as it appears to be. With so many people now being forced to work remotely, they ar quickly realising how many distractions there are at home. Especially when you look at people such as parents. They are having to tackle with working from home as well as homeschooling or looking after small children, if you are careful and plan, you can use these distractions to your advantage. For example, if your children are going to sitting to study during a certain time, schedule this time to also sit down and make sure you are ultra-productive, and if you have small children, try to get a chunk of work done when they are napping in the afternoon. Other distractions such as household chores like putting a load of washing on or running the hoover around can actually serve as a good break away from your screen.
Communicate To Anyone At Home With You
This won’t work well for small children, however, older children and other adults in your home will understand that you need space during working hours. You may not b able to commit a full 9 hours of a working day in the same way as in the office. But, you will be able to explain that you have a meeting and need quiet, or you need to concentrate on a difficult task. At the end of the day, just because you are ‘at home’ doesn’t mean you are at home.
Pick A Definitive Finish Time For Each Day
Before working from home, you may have been under the impression that working from home automatically established a better work-life balance, however, you should be very careful with this assumption. It can be equally as easy to become distracted as it can to get carried away with work. Being at home means that you are in a more relaxing environment, therefore, it’s easier to extend your day into the evening. On top of this, you don’t have your co-workers packing up their things, and reminding you that the end of the day is near, so you do the same. This doesn’t mean that you need to stop at an exact time, however, if you make note of when your working day is supposed to end, it will make it easier to identify when you may be overdoing it and when it may be time to call it a night.
These nine tips will help you to prepare for home working if it becomes something more permanent. Have you thought about working from home on a more permanent basis or remotely? What considerations have you made about it, or has your employer made about it? Please share some of them in the comments section below.