Work from home is another thing that came to the fore with the outbreak of coronavirus.
This might have been tough for a lot of people given the environment that they get at the workplace.
This might have been tough for those who have never worked remotely sledding around in their couches.
On the other hand, for another group of people, working from home can be really fun. Many modern professionals believe in the luxury of work from home that their respective companies are providing them.
There is something good in every situation — and especially when you cannot do anything but change the situation. John Wooden once said, “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out”.
But, whether the concept of work from home works for you or not — it is about when are the employees most productive — working from home or working from the office? There are pros and cons to both situations, it is you who is going to be responsible for how you manage.
There are more pros to working from home than working from the office.
Office Scenario: While you are working in the office one of your colleagues might drop by you asking you for a walk outside at a time you are feeling most motivated to complete a task. He might engage you into some conversation making your motivation go away.
Work from home scenario: If you’ll announce the work schedule at your home and how strictly it is important to follow — no one will disturb you. Because they already know you are doing something important.
Of course work from the office has its social benefits — you get to meet people and interact with different groups of people adding to your personality. But in the current scenario where COVID-19 is on the forefront, work from home has become a necessity for most companies.
So, the idea is how you manage to work from home productively & effectively. To help you with this, we have jotted down some important points you must take care of while you are working from home. Let’s dive deeper to discover:
Rules for work from home:
- Keep your everyday plan/schedule ready before beginning
Planning and keeping a schedule handy every time you are starting with something rewards you by making sure you never deviate from your goal. For a number of reasons, it is obvious that you might feel deviated when working from home. The motivation, therefore, has to work every hour & every second when you are in front of your computer.
Keep your plan ready at the beginning of the day. If you can mention the time frame for every task and even for the breaks — it would keep you focused.
- Create a permanent space dedicated to work.
This is one of the most important aspects of your work from your home journey. Decide where you’ll be working from — keep it fixed. Changing it every now and then can only lead to disorienting you from your schedule.
Choose the spare area of your home which is empty most of the time — convert this spare room to your work from the home office. If there isn’t any such space in your home, you can set up your desk properly to get a feel of office space. Make sure the space you have chosen is ideal for work and isn’t noisy.
- Invest in creating your Home office space.
It may require you to invest in setting up your home office space — but this is undoubtedly worth it. This is similar to starting up a new business, when you set up your new business — investments (big or small) are evident. Getting your wifi setup done, laptop, high-performance keyboard & mouse — all of this will save a lot of your time. A little investment would save you from any hassle.
- Keep your work hours Fixed
This is quite very important. So, even when you are working from home, you have to be particular about your work hours. Make sure you do not plan anything else during your working from home hours. Again this will act as a motivator and allow you to complete the task at hand on time. One of the best things about working from home is that it gives you the freedom to flexibly tweak around your working hours. Like if you are more productive during the morning time — you can create a working hour schedule from 7 AM to 3:30 PM & alike.
- Don’t work after your set Working from home hours.
When you are working make sure you are pouring 100% into it, but when you are off don’t think about work. Keeping this “Work from home” rule in your list will clear out any kind of ambiguity about working hours. Taking complete leave from work after the work hours will keep you refreshed and motivated to take up the next day’s work challenge.
- Take leave from your phone uses during work hours.
Your incessant phone uses — checking on your emails, social media & WhatsApp message — every five minutes will only mess it all. While your inbox may have very important information waiting for you, but you must refrain from checking it during your work hours. Social media might have so much to learn from it, but during work hours it can be detrimental to what you are trying to do at the moment. To help yourself with social media addiction, you must dedicate a time frame in which you’ll be only scrolling down through your social media feeds.
- Pretend & structure your work as if you are working from the office.
Pretending that you are in the office and structuring the day in a similar way will only improve productivity. Even when you are communicating virtually make sure there is the same feeling of being associated in-person. This might sound funny, but you should do every little thing you would do in the office — wearing perfect clothes, sitting in the right posture, setting up your alarm, getting up early & more. You have to act as your own manager when you are in the office or you might lose your focus easily.
Some more tips to work from home efficiently:
- Make sure your favorite music is on while you are working.
- Work even harder than what you used to do in the office.
- Make sure you are using technology for work communications.
- Update your to-do list every day.
- Eat healthy to remain active throughout the day.
- Develop the habit of exercising regularly.
- Design a reward system for your achievements.
- Step out to feel rejuvenated.
Takeaways.
While work from home is not easy, it can be fun if you know the right approach. For some people, they already know about this art of working from home efficiently, but for some, there are things to learn. These people should take inspiration from the above work from home tips.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, work from home has become quite necessary, but it can be advantageous to both – the employee and the employer. While employers would save expenses on the internet, office rent & more, employees would increase saving by cutting on the cost of commuting.
But, work from home brings a lot of responsibility on part of the employees. They are expected to communicate everything way more maturely. So, as a manager, if you want to check on your employees during work from home — check out our latest blog 8 Signs Your Remote Team is not Communicating Productively.
There can be more work from home tips depending on your personality and the nature of work. If you have anything more to share on work from home tips, please drop us a comment.