Working From Home
Top 10 Tips On Being Productive
Working From Home
Top 10 Tips On Being Productive
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Keep Regular Hours
Having clear boundaries is extremely important. Set a schedule and stick to it as best as you can. Having clear guidelines for when to work and when to call it a day helps maintain a healthy work/life balance. Otherwise, your work life and personal life rolls into one ball of wax that will sap your energy away. That said, one of the benefits of remote work is flexibility and sometimes you need to extend your day or start early to accommodate other commitments; just be mindful of keeping it within reason.
Dress For Work
I know some people might not agree with this, but for me personally I just can’t get in the right mindset for work sitting in my pajamas. It might be the dream for some people, but the difference in your mindset and productivity is day and night. I’m not saying you have to put on a suit, but dress how you would at the office. That is obviously different depending on the company dress code and culture. If you work for a law firm I would suggest business casual at the very least but maybe put on a blazer for a video conference. If you are a software developer working for a tech start up and ripped jeans and a t-shirt is the order of the day then by all means. But don’t sit in your jamies or undies all day; it’s a slippery slope to losing your self respect and keeping some dignity.
Ground Rules With Everyone At Home
Set ground rules with other people in your home or who share your work space for when you work. Just because you’re home doesn’t mean you are always available to run errands for the household at any given time. This disrupts your work flow in a big way and will have a negative impact on your productivity. Make it clear to everyone at home what times you are on break and ensure that personal errands/tasks are designated for those times as best as possible. Otherwise you’ll be interrupted regularly at any given time and you will find it extremely difficult to get into a good rhythm of work.
Schedule Breaks
Know your company’s policy on break times and take them. Give yourself adequate time during the day to walk away from the computer screen and phone. A lunch hour and two 15-minute breaks seems to be the standard for full-time employees. You are not a machine – the breaks are integral to keeping you fresh and working at optimum levels throughout the day.
Go Outside
This Is Huge! I cannot stress this enough! Make sure to go outside, provided you maintain physical distancing of course. You need to move your body. The fresh air is so vital to stimulating your mind and shaking out any cobwebs. In fact, if you are feeling stuck or totally bogged down on any specific task or project, take a couple of minutes to breathe the air outside. You’ll be surprised how this will invigorate you to the point where new ideas pop up and the creative juices start flowing again.
Proper Equipment
If you are an employee, request from your employer the equipment you need as soon as you start working from home. It’s hard enough with the new transition to be working at home; ensuring you have the right tools and workstation is integral to being productive. Your company will probably have a budget for this and it would be best to know what that is and stay within that budget.
If you’re working from home unexpectedly due to Covid-19, be mindful to ask for what you need within reason. Unfortunately, it seems the pandemic might last for several months (hopefully shorter) but at the same time it’s not expected to be very long-term and requesting a complete workstation might be asking too much.
Designated Work Space
Ideally, designate a separate room in your home as your office. But at the very least designate a certain area that is exclusive for work. There have been studies done where someone who has designated an exclusive work area at home is 32% more productive than the person who interchanges their work space with personal home activities. If your living quarters are tight, at the very least sit on the opposite side of the kitchen or dining room table than where you normally do for family meals.
Make Your Presence Known
I’m sure you’ll be having video-conference and/or teleconference calls scheduled. Do not miss any meetings if at all possible. Especially for companies who had to transition because of Covid-19; these are the moments where your presence is vital to the continuity of the firm and also demonstrates your level of continued commitment. Be sure to speak up during the meeting so everyone knows you’re on the call. Even if it’s a video conference, don’t just assume that because they can see you participation isn’t necessary. If you don’t have anything to contribute, at the very least say hi to everyone at the beginning and thank the host at the end of the meeting. Making your presence felt, however small pays dividends.
The Social Vibe
If you like the social scene, transitioning to working at home could generate feelings of loneliness & being disconnected. Companies should schedule team/company-wide social meetings, Lunch & Learns and good ole water cooler schmooz sessions. This really helps make everyone still feel connected and keeps the vibe and culture of the organization permeating through its people.
Ending The Day
Ending your day is an extremely important part of your daily structure. Just like you are setting boundaries to keep your day productive, you should also have a concrete way to end your day to signal your mind the workday is over and it is now family time. It could be as simple as closing your laptop, shutting the light and exiting the room with closing the door. It’s extremely important for a healthy life balance to leave the office for the night .Whatever has to be done could wait for the morning just as it would if you commuted home for one hour. I would sometimes envision myself commuting home to send a subconscious message to myself that I am home and it’s now time to spend quality time with my family. ☺
Dave Menzel
About the author:
Dave is an independent talent acquisition consultant who has been working from his home office for the past several years. He has been working in the recruitment field successfully for the past 12 years, recruiting for small and large businesses like INVIVO Communications, Questrade, IG Wealth, Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire among others.
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