Maybe you’re sitting in a room, refreshing koronavirus.hr for the hundredth time, wondering when it’ll all stop. Maybe your life has gone on as it always has. This whole situation might even give you the opportunity to learn what remote work really means and see if it really is as romantic and perfect as people talk about it.
In our yesterday’s poll on Instagram, most people answered that they work from home. If you’re one of them and you’re working from home for the first time, we’ve some useful tips for you to help you get organised, which we also use to make working from home easier. 🙂
Communicate
Now that your colleagues are not around, you’ll notice how much less you communicate. In part, this may be good because it also means fewer distractions, but it’ll certainly reduce the effectiveness of communication. To make your work easier, you should agree on rules and ways of working with your colleagues and supervisors. You may have been working from home for a few days by now, but it’s always a good time to get organised. You can start organising short video calls every day or actively communicate via Slack or similar tools.
Communicate for fun too. Jokes in #random on Slack, the morning coffee, lunch, or a beer after work with colleagues, all via video calls, of course.
Also talk to your roommates or family members. Let them know your schedule, tell them when and how they can come and ask you something, especially if you work in one of the common areas such as the kitchen or living room. If you make video calls, it would be good to have a wall behind you or at least warn the residents not to walk behind you. It could be funny, but also a bit embarrassing for them or the person you’re talking to. You can probably already think of a few situations. 🙂
Tools and equipment
The basic things you need to work are a computer and internet access. Also make sure you have access to all the tools and working environments. If something isn’t working, report it immediately to your supervisor or the colleagues in charge.
Headphones, a microphone and a camera are also very useful. Most laptops have a built-in microphone and camera, just make sure they work. A standalone microphone or one built into the headphones is better than the laptop’s microphone because it doesn’t pick up as much ambient noise. Don’t worry if you don’t have a special set with you. You can also use the headset that comes with your cell phone.
With everything you normally use at work, you’ll probably be using communication tools like MS Teams, Google Meet, Zoom, Slack, Discord or Mattermost more often now. Watch some simple how-to videos or ask your colleagues for advice on how to use them. The most important thing is to relax: these are tools like any other. 🙂
Schedule
Working from home requires a little more discipline than it might seem at first. A lack of discipline leads to days becoming a collection of house chores, work and lost time. Working from home can easily eat up your whole day and lead to frustration – you neither have time for yourself nor are you satisfied with the work you’ve done.
So be clear about when you start, when you stop and when you take breaks. When it’s over, it’s over, but while you’re working, do your best. As a rule of thumb, you should take a 10-minute break every 60 minutes.
During breaks you can have a chat with your family, go out on the balcony, or have a coffee or tea, but avoid running to the fridge and eating snacks out of boredom.
Working place
If you have it, adapt it and organise it, if you don’t have it, make it. If you lack some equipment, ask what you can borrow from the office (e.g., an extra monitor). If you don’t have an ergonomic chair and table at home, you’ll probably have to get up and stretch more often.
Avoid working from bed but use the flexibility of your new space. You may find that you do some things better at the table (perhaps those that require more attention and concentration), while doing other tasks on the balcony or couch (for example, creative tasks).
Results
Make notes of what you’ve done, both for yourself and for your colleagues. If you haven’t used a task tracking tool yet, now is a good time to start. Trello is useful and effective, but you might also like MS To-Do, Wunderlist or Google Keep. Of course, the good old notebook is also a great option. Crossing out a completed task with a black marker gives you an indescribable feeling of satisfaction. Try it out!
Decide at the beginning of the day what you want to do and monitor your progress throughout the day. Try to do more challenging tasks right at the beginning, when your concentration is still at its peak. Also, avoid falling into the trap of “just one more thing and that’s it”, as you could easily find yourself still at your desk at midnight.
Be considerate of others
Some colleagues may find it harder to adapt to this way of working, or they may have additional challenges to deal with, for example if they now must look after their children while working. So be understanding and find a way to accommodate or help them.
And most importantly, relax and socialise through all these communication channels. They’re still your colleagues.
