For many of us, working from home creates many emotions, different scenarios and risks. We have put together the following suggestions to help you be successful working from home.
Create A Routine And Set Regular Hours
Routine is important. It’s required for yourself and also your family.
Set your work hours to ensure that you can cut off and relax. This routine doesn’t necessarily mean that you should set 9am – 5pm. It might mean that you break up the day to work around the family, the children and other matters.
Remember you want your time to be efficient, focused and effective.
Communicate The Rules
When your routine is set, this should be discussed and agreed with our key personnel within your household – normally your family including children.
It’s important to set clear rules which they can respect but also to create time for them.
We would recommend that you put up a visual aid for them so that they understand when you are in ‘work mode’ and when you are in ‘family mode’.
Schedule Breaks
Working from home is challenging. Make sure you get some fresh air – this could be just going out in the garden or outside your property and having a quite tea or coffee break. It is important that you take breaks from the computer screen and your phone. Work these scheduled breaks around family time. Maybe you could do an exercise routine with the children or play a game. (Let’s hope the weather is good as we know it will make it easier.)
Set Up A Working Space
Where possible, set up a working space. This could be a separate room or space in a room. This will help your household see when you are in ‘work’ mode. It will also give you more privacy for those important calls or online sessions with your colleagues.
Assign The Toughest Projects
Everyone is different. Many books will recommend that you do this in the morning as that it when they predict you are at your freshest. These times are unprecedented and you need to manage you. When would be best for you to do these projects? For some, it could be after the children have gone to bed or before they awake? It might be when a family member is taking time out to occupy the children? What works for you may not work for others and so nothing is wrong here. All we would advise is that this time is included within your overall routine and plan.
Encourage and Communicate With Your Team and Others
Your schedule should include time to encourage and communicate with your team and others. We are lucky. We live in an age when digital technology provide us with multiple means to communicate. Our phones, computers and tablets are multi skilled devices offering many sources of communication – the normal phone, Skype, WhatsApp, Facetime. No matter what your technology level, you and your team should not be isolated. Free solutions such as Zoho Remotely take this to an extra level where applicable. We know that this does not replace socialising but it’s the next best thing. Talking is powerful.
For your team, arrange meetings as you would as if you were in the office. The only difference is that these will be digital face-to-face rather than physically in person face-to-face.
Over-communicate and Track Progress
It’s easy when working at home to become ‘bubbled’. Over-communication is the best way to overcome this. Use multiple channels – voice, messaging, emails etc – to support this.
Keep your team in control; keep planning; keep informed and track progress.
Set you and your team tasks and monitor how they are being performed. Communication can take many forms. Make sure you use the formats which work best for you and your team and keep it simple!
Plan For Tomorrow – Today
Planning in advance is best practice. If you can finish off the day by planning tomorrow, it will enable you to try and switch off and be able to relax. This is a good way to get into a routine to end your work day when working from home.
Workout, Meditate and Relax
You and your health are paramount. Your schedule must make time available for you. Use this time carefully and carry out things which will help you to exercise, meditate, relax and chill.
Quality Family Time
You and your family need quality family time. Your children will want your attention so it is vital that this is included as part of the plan. Why not combine your exercise with their exercise? There are many videos on YouTube or Social media encouraging families to commit to exercise at this current time. Make it fun!
Continue With Your Learning and Research and Development
Use your time wisely and also consider both your own and the business’s development. Can you develop your knowledge? Is there a new offering which you can provide to your customers? Use the time now wisely. Move you and your business to the next level.
If you need any support when working from home, please feel free to call us. We are here for you and if we are not available immediately, we will get back to you at the earliest opportunity. You are not alone. We are in this together. Together we will thrive.