In recent weeks many of us have suddenly had to swap the office desk for working from home – a circumstance once (wrongly!) deemed as a luxury is now being experienced by many. We’re experts at working on the move, remote access, conference calls – you name it we’ve done it! So, this week we’re giving you all the tips we wish we’d has before embarking on life working outside of the office.
The idea of rolling out of bed and opening up your laptop to endure a lazy day of checking the occasional email whilst escaping the peer pressures of the office can seem much nicer than the reality of it! The facts are, you can be much more more productive from home as long as you put some boundaries in place. The trust that is given to us when we’re able to work from home actually has a boosting impact on our productivity levels – we like being trusted with our responsibilities and not having someone watching over our shoulders has a beneficial impact.
As much as you may want to run yourself a bubble bath and drink a glass of wine whilst working, it’s really important you separate your working life and your ‘home’ life to ensure these activities don’t become blurred. Here are the things we wish we’d known from the get go when working away from the office – at home.
Maintain regular contact with your team. Communication is key – whilst having space to focus is important, it’s also crucial you don’t cut off contact with your colleagues. Successful remote working is communicative and not isolated – check-ins with your team allow questions to be asked before you focus on your on task in hand. Imagine spending a day working on something you later realise wasn’t needed or that another member of the team was also doing!? Keeping lines of communication open allows everyone to feel confident in what they’re doing, reassures the client and gives you clear direction and goals for your working day.
We also advise you to stick to your regular working hours – not only does this mean you’ll stick to some sort of routine but it allows for you to take breaks that won’t cause any major disruption to our day. Eat lunch – do not snack all day – it might seem too good to be true to be meters from your own kitchen, but we can promise you snacking all day will cause you nothing but problems and distractions!
It’s really important that you create a workspace at home, this will allow you get into the right frame of mind whilst your working, but also benefit you when your working day is over. Don’t turn on the TV – this is a distraction you’d never have in the workplace and whilst you might usually be being distracted by chatting to your coworkers – the minimising of distractions is something you should take advantage of rather than replace with another distraction!
We honestly believe that working remotely can allow your team to work more effectively than ever before – make sure you stay connected, plan your days in advance and take breaks! You’ve got this!
