Ever since the Coronavirus started to spread, people began working from home for the first time on a consistent basis. For some people working from home is second nature to them and for others, this is there first time and they’re not sure how to go about starting to work from home. I’ve devised these 5 tips to help out those who are struggling to understand the best way to go about working from home.
1. Don’t change your routine
Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you get up at 9:30, shower at 5pm and then watch tv the rest of the day. Wake up at your normal time as if you were heading into the office. Shower, eat, get dressed etc. as if this was any other day. What will happen is that if you break from your normal work routine, your work from home routine will be nothing more than a laptop on a coffee table with you covered in empty chip bags with a marathon of Law and Order SVU on the tv.
2. Create a dedicated work space
When you walk into your office at work, you have a desk, a chair etc. all in your office. Your home office should reflect the same. Don’t make your couch or your bed your office space because you will never get any real productive work done. The point of a home office is to mimic, to an extent, your office space at work. Some place where you feel you can be the most productive.
3. take breaks
You have coffee or water cooler breaks at the office, have one at home as well. Go outside for 10 or 15 minutes and enjoy the sun on your face. And if you see people biking or jogging past you remember to use social distancing guidelines. Better safe than sorry. If you have dogs at home, use your break time to go take them for a walk. Don’t feel like you have to be committed to being at your home office every waking second. Of course if you have a boss who doesn’t trust you working from home and sends an instant message asking to “see what you’re working on,” then you might just have to be chained there for a while.
4. socialize with coworkers
Call or text your coworkers and talk about what you would normally talk about if you were in the office. Don’t feel like you’re isolated from the rest of your team even if technically you are. Damn quarantines. Ask for help or be active in meetings whether on the phone or in video chats. And if you new coworkers are about knee high and sing the Shark song, make sure to try to establish some rules for them to follow so you can work and not feel like you’re not only in an office but a daycare as well. These are some unprecedented times and people understand you have to juggle being a parent and an employee at the same time.
5. know yourself
If you know Law and Order SVU or a Modern Family marathon is going to suck you in, don’t turn on the tv for background noise. I get it’s hard to draw the line between a home life and working from home when you’re at your house. Make sure you set time to do your job and do household chores and errands after or before you start work as if you were in your office. Don’t replace your afternoon coffee with a 6 pack of Whiteclaw. Try to remember that even though you’re at home, you’re still working.
Those were some of my tips for working from home. Leave your tips or suggestions in the comments section below!