Tips for Effectively Working from Home
More and more people are having to work from home thanks to the coronavirus outbreak, and if you’re reading this, you probably are too!
It’s become a trend to share your working conditions as you #WFH, and from what we see the biggest challenges include dogs invading your conference calls, children being children, and national avoidance of changing out of your pajamas.
As digital consultants, we know all about working from home each day and being productive! It’s what we do all the time. Here are some of our best tips and tools for getting the job done, no matter where you might be. (And stay safe!)
Overcommunicate.
When you’re not likely to run into a coworker or your boss while you’re grabbing another cup of coffee, it’s easy to go for hours or days without talking to your team. (In fact, it’s a reason why remote work is starting to be discouraged by big companies like Google and Facebook.)
When you’re working at home, it’s incredibly important to have open, proactive lines of communication, whether that’s through using a tool like Microsoft Teams or Slack, or setting up regular check-in times with your colleagues. But the key is to do it in short bursts. According to Behavioral Scientist,
“People often think that constant communication is most effective, but actually, we find that bursts of rapid communication, followed by longer periods of silence, are telltale signs of successful teams.”
We have a rule that phone or video conference meetings are a must with our clients, usually once per week or once every other week when we’ve been working together for some time. That dedicated time to think about our work together it critical, even if we’re not entirely sure what we need to talk about, because that’s when new ideas can come out and problems can be addressed. Then, you have a week or two in between to actually execute.
Schedule these check-in meetings even if you don’t feel you need them, and throw on real clothes while you’re in them; it really does make you feel more together.
Embrace the shared to-do list.
Hopefully, you’re already using some kind of project management system, but if your typical way to attack the day is with a morning team meeting you might be a little thrown off right now. Find a digital tool that fits your working style and encourage your team to use it; by sharing what you’re working on and assigning each other tasks, you can save time and feel more informed about what everyone else is working on.
Use our review of popular project management tools to try out a few that might be a good fit. Or, keep it super simple and use a shared Google Doc for your team to brain-dump your tasks into one place each morning. It’s really important that this tool be a shared one, that your whole team can access; it holds people accountable, and, when you’re having those regular check-ins, looking at this doc together can help you figure out your priorities.
And, as you’re working through your day, keep that doc or your project management tool open so you can add new tasks or thoughts as you have them. The habit of writing things down is absolutely invaluable, especially as notifications and message requests and emails and phone calls and texts are dinging at you all day long. Don’t rely on your memory!
Plus, we know that you’re probably online shopping or reading up on the news a little more than usual, since your boss isn’t looking over your shoulder. That to-do list will help you get back on track when you’re done with that Buzzfeed quiz.
Btw, since we at TGL are dedicated Asana users, we like to use the Asana for Gmail integration. This handy tool lets you turn any email into an Asana task with the click of a button, without you having to leave your inbox at all.
Limit social contact, if you can.
Social distancing is encouraged right now, and it’s really important to do it to help slow the spread of the coronavirus and avoid passing it to vulnerable populations. But what does social distancing actually look like? According to The Atlantic:
“The CDC recommendations are to keep six to 10 feet away from other people. Bottom line, there’s no absolute indication not to go to bars and restaurants, but in practicing good public health—which is kind of a responsibility for everybody in the country—really think about how we can decrease those close contacts.”
We know that sometimes you may not have a choice but to go out, especially if you need essentials or have to go to work. Use this advice from MIT to safely go outside, whether you have to take public transportation or have to take your kids somewhere, and remember that soap and water is the best disinfectant, no matter what.
Set your boundaries clearly and decisively.
Working from home seems like it would be efficient, but us remote workers actually end up working longer hours and losing our sense of work/life balance unless we are really good about our boundaries. It’s hard to know when it’s quittin’ time when you don’t have a commute to end the day!
Plus, being cooped up at home might mean your space starts to get a little messier than you’d like, especially if your whole family is home with you for days and days.
Find a corner of your house that you can call your dedicated work space, and be absolutely vigilant about it. If your desk is half of the kitchen table between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., don’t allow backpacks or dishes in your space. Politely ask your partner to work on the other side of the room if they’re distracting you. If your chosen room has a door, close it. If noise drives you nuts, get out those headphones.
It’s tempting to work from the couch or your bed, but sitting in an actual chair at a table puts you in a better headspace. Your couch is for lounging and your bed is for sleeping. It seems silly that we have to say this, but, as experienced remote workers, we know: Making the mental shift to “work mode” is key to productivity, so set up your environment to help you, and allow your couch and your bed to be where you relax. You’ll sleep better that way, too!
This isn’t a time to be polite and accommodating of everyone else; work time is work time, and it’s up to you to set the expectations for how you’re going to get things done. At the end of your day, actually pack things up and leave it until tomorrow.
There are many more tips we can share, but the most important thing is this:
Put your health and the health of your community first.
It’s really tempting to treat this like a vacation or be nonchalant about the news, but disease outbreaks are serious. And this one is very dangerous for adults over 60.
Going out to work at a coffee shop is nice and all, but if there’s a chance someone might get horribly sick just because you had to have a matcha latte… it’s probably not worth it.
That said, we realize all this time at home can be a little mind-numbing! Find reasons to get up off your couch and away from your computer for a minute. Do some at-home workout videos, or have a dance break with the kiddos. An excellent way to keep your space clean and get a little physical is to use your break time to accomplish easy chores, like vacuuming or putting in a load of laundry. We like to take breaks like this at least once an hour, and do tasks that take 10 minutes or less; over the day, you’ll accomplish a lot and your family will feel way better in a clean house.
Stock up on healthy pantry essentials and make good food instead of ordering out, so you can help ease the pressure on delivery workers AND stay healthy. Our good friends at Just Simply… Cuisine have some amazing recipes to try.
Let us know what tips you have for successfully remote working, and stay safe!