There may be many people within your company who regularly work from home, however, the likelihood is that the majority do not. The current COVID-19 pandemic has meant a huge shift in working practices for many of us, we have detailed some top tips below for those new to working from home.
1) Environment – Try to make the working environment at home as close as possible to what you are used to within the office. So, from a technology standpoint – if you have multiple screens in the office, ensure you replicate that setup at home, otherwise, productivity will suffer. Due to the length of time, it is envisaged this change will last for – it’s worth the modest expenditure.
2) Communication – It’s vital to maintain good, open communication with your teams during this period of time. It may be that in order to do this you need to formalise the process more than you would if you were in the office. So, schedule daily or intra-day calls with your teams. Using desktop-based Video Conference software such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams can help simplify this process and keep everyone engaged. Most phone systems will now offer a softphone option so you can make/receive calls in the same way as if you were in the office.
3) Commute – Use the time saved by not having to perform your daily commute into the office. Whether that be to complete a job you have been putting off or on self-improvement – training or webinars.
4) Breaks – Schedule in breaks throughout the day – that five-minute conversation you would have with a colleague in the kitchen at the office – make sure you have those same breaks when working from home. Studies show that regular breaks throughout the working day make you more productive.
5) Disruptions – with the kids no longer going to school, for most of us that will mean an element of disruption to our day. Plan for this – appreciate that you are not going to be able to avoid it but adapt to overcome it. If that means changing your normal working hours to accommodate it – speak to your employer. At the moment everyone is having to go through this so it’s the best time to be having these conversations.
