Surviving working from home

14 Mar Surviving working from home

As the uncertainty of the coronavirus continues, most businesses are making plans (if they haven’t already) for staff to work from home wherever possible.  Social distancing is then kept to a minimum and you avoid the daily commute on trains, trams and buses loaded where you can’t avoid being in close proximity to others.

Many businesses are using this as a trial to monitor productivity with a view to offering more flexibility to work from home even once we get through the current situation.

Working from home can be a challenge at the best of times.  Here are some tips we’d like to share to help you get the most out of it, and maximise results for you, and your employer.

1. Set your work space –  decide where you’ll be working.  Do you have a home office, will it be in the spare room, on the dining table?  Set aside a space and stick to it, moving around and just perching at different areas encourages you to get distracted.  You could be here for a while, so start to treat it as a work space and respect the income that it’s generating for you.
2. Get the right set up – set up the area like you would at your office.  The best desk area possible, a good quality ergonomic chair, and ideally a keyboard and monitor independent from your laptop.  The Laptop is one of the biggest destroyers of good posture.  Get this right and you’re on the way to being able to work long hours at home without feeling stiff and sore at the end of the day.
3. Get dressed – you don’t need to put on a formal suit, but get up and dressed so you feel like you’re working and not lounging around in your PJ’s.  Take a shower, brush your teeth, check yourself out in the mirror – make it feel like you’re getting ready to work, not doing a bit of work while you’re at home.
4. Turn off the TV – avoid the temptation to have the TV blaring in the lounge room.  Sure you can still work with it on, but it’s too easy to be distracted and just pop out to listen to a news article or two, or find out what sort of mood Judge Judy is in today.
5. Sort out your snacks – avoid constant trips to the fridge by bringing some snacks to your workspace and setting that as your working day intake.  It can be hard to focus after another trip to the cupboard and a handful of lollies can cause a distracting sugar rush.
6. Plan your day – When it’s time to work, work.  When it’s time to chill, chill.  Don’t turn an 8 hour working day into 11 hours of sorta working, sorta watching Netflix or following social media.  Be where you’re supposed to be, go hard and then tune out and relax, you’ll feel great knowing you put in a solid day.
7. Set aside some social interaction – working from home can be lonely.  Set aside some time to chat with colleagues, friends, duck out for a coffee.  Work it into your routine so that you’re looking after your mental health, it will keep you motivated and in the loop.  If you’re managing others, keep in touch with them and check how they’re coping, the isolation can be a challenge for some, and many of us may be missing out on that social interaction for some time to come.

Good luck with it, see it as a new challenge, and many businesses are talking about introducing more freedom to work from home down the track.  It can be a very positive experience, treat it as one.

Look after yourself.

Best Wishes,

The Green Cube team.