COVID-19’s widespread deployment across nations has brought remote working to become the norm, and many have long advocated its benefits to employees. Now it is our turn, so here are some effective methods of working at home.
Determine if remote work is right for you
Today, working from home may not be in your hands, but making the choice of whether remote working is proper for you will be one of your most significant decisions. Some individuals prefer meeting face-to-face or seeing their colleagues regularly for meetings and collaboration.
Social media platforms, like Zoom and Skype, have seen an explosion in usage to connect workers at work and stay in contact. Some industries may find it challenging to work from home; however, each industry seems to require change.
If this is your first experience working from home, reading these essential tips for working at home will give you an excellent starting point and increase the odds of your success.
Schedule meetings and work hours in chunks
Work at home can be challenging due to all of its interruptions – family phone calls, friends requiring you to complete tasks, and people simply passing by can all prove detrimental when trying to focus. By working remotely instead, however, these interruptions can be avoided, and you can stay focused.
Preparation is critical to staying on track. Scheduling appointments and phone calls at once and daily can help keep you focused, rather than taking breaks to complete other tasks that need doing.
Many remote workers work outside regular working hours due to difficulty switching off their office or workspace at home. Most individuals plan certain times during the day when they’ll go offline; making time in your calendar and working hours for this will help you remain focused on your tasks at hand.
Over communicate with everyone
No matter if you work as an individual or for a national company, communication in your workplace should always be top-of-mind. Monitoring your work regularly is one effective way of ensuring communication between employees is at its peak and allows collaboration to work more smoothly. Working from home makes communication an even more significant issue, as you cannot easily walk over and discuss work directly.
Video calls will play an integral role in this article’s next section. Likewise, other means of communication could include WhatsApp groups or Slack channels that enable you to track messages quickly in case they come back unanswered.
One of the more prevalent misconceptions among people is that being too open with your communication may anger coworkers. In reality, open dialogue helps projects remain on track, allows individuals to express their opinions during an up or down day, and shares their schedule easily – all essential ingredients of successful workplace interactions. So make sure yours flows!
Have a virtual coffee chat with your colleagues
Initial difficulty when working outside in an external work environment comes in trying to gain insight into what your colleagues are up to with tasks or projects, which can be challenging, with some individuals hiding away behind video chats due to nervousness or staying quiet during conversations.
One way of dealing with this is establishing virtual coffee chats for individuals you work with – lunch, coffee, or dinner is all up for discussion! Zoom or Skype make this possible! Coffee conversations don’t need to always focus on work issues – sometimes, getting together and discussing other topics helps foster an atmosphere of work and team spirit, even in remote working spaces!
Create an efficient working space
Finding yourself working from your bed or kitchen could cause you to want to work or even sleep! While sleeping may feel great, we doubt your boss would appreciate such behavior! To create optimal working conditions in your home environment, set up a workspace that is separate from the main areas – this way, there won’t be as many distractions for you, and more efficient results will come out. Creating an office within the confines of your own home would be ideal!
Prepare for video calls
Video calls, when working remotely, are the ideal way to build relationships with colleagues and get acquainted with them quickly. Most people participate in more than one chat every day; you must ensure your work environment is bright with a reliable internet connection.
HubSpot provides all the services you need to integrate phone calls into a CRM. Create calls directly through HubSpot!
Don’t forget to take breaks
An average 9-5 job usually allows one hour for lunch or to take a coffee break during the workday, and 20 to 30% of your day will likely be spent sitting behind your desk. Unfortunately, when working from home, it can become easy for hours to pass without taking breaks for lunch or coffee breaks – especially since these options might not exist at work anyway!
Introduce an offline time into your schedule as a break. Working from home often extends our workday, so be sure to set aside some time just for you: enjoy coffee and delicious food or take a stroll in the park while reading your newspaper.
To Conclude
Working from home will likely become part of everyday life before any employee is permitted to return to the workforce. Utilizing these tips will enable you to be productive and focused and, ultimately, achieve top performance at work; consequently, this may result in your company taking on an accelerated work schedule going forward.
If you enjoyed reading this piece, there is plenty more available on the Knowledge Hub.