Working From Home - The Best Practices Tips & Tricks

Due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have been asked to work from home during these quarantine periods. As employees, this excites some of us, but as employers, this could get stressful. It is important to remember that not everyone gets this opportunity, so it is very crucial to stay transparent with your manager and remain focused like you would any other day at the office.

Here are some tips and tricks we have found helpful to make your remote work successful.  

1- Sticking to a Schedule

The number one thing you should do when working from home, is stick to a schedule. Set your normal hours of work, wake up early and get started. This will help you maintain focus and make boundaries between your professional time and your personal time. Use your calendar to make a list of things that need to get done each day. Go into the day with a plan of everything you need to accomplish. 

Be sure to add in time away from your computer, like a 30-60 minute lunch break (whatever you would regularly) to give your mind some time to recuperate. Try and avoid doing chores during this downtime. 

2- Creating a Dedicated Work Space 

Another important aspect is creating a dedicated workspace. When working from home, it could be easy to want to do your work in bed or on the couch but this could lead to distractions or even end up just making you tired. Set up a desk in your home away from the TV or other people in your living space so you have no interruptions. 

For some people, they feel more productive when they get ready for the day. If this is you, do that. Get dressed for the day like you normally would before you sit down to work. 

3- Check in With Your Manager

It is important to stay in contact with your boss and team. Reassure them that you are getting your work done. Stay on top of things, so work does not get piled up. Set up video calls, skype meetings or use any other kind of professional communication tools relevant to your office. When you have finished with a project, be sure to send it over right away to show that you are getting work accomplished.

4- Work as a Team 

Stay up to date with group projects, don’t let working from home get in the way. Set up your weekly meetings as if you were in the office. Google+ hangouts allows for 10 people to video call all at the same time, it also allows for screen shares as well. This is a great way to ensure team deadlines are being hit and projects are getting done. This is also a good time to check in on your co-workers, ask how they are doing and make sure everyone is ok during the social isolation period. 

5- Create Boundaries 

Create boundaries for your personal life as well. For instance, say once you're done with your 8 hours of work, turn off your computer and revisit it the next day when you start again. As we all know, emergencies happen, which of course is acceptable to take care of right then, but be sure to have boundaries between business hours and personal hours. 

6 - Stick to Your normal Eating Schedule

Last tip we would recommend when working from home is to stick to your normal eating schedule. It is easy to want to snack during the day or make food at random times, but these small breaks add up. If you are a regular meal prepper, be sure to still do that so when you get on your lunch break you don’t have to spend the whole time making food or deciding what you want to eat.