Paul O'Shaughnessy — Posted on May 4th, 2020
1. Keep to your regular office working schedule as closely as possible.
Yes, it is tempting to roll out of bed into a video conference meeting with pillow lines on your face…but that isn’t conducive to putting your best foot forward in the company.
Get up, and start your day as normal.
The bonus here is you’ll be able to allocate ‘commute time’ to sit and read that book you’ve had on your bedside table for months and/or grab a proper breakfast that’ll have you up and firing.
2. Minimise possible distractions from your temporary workspace
This is crucial for productivity.
As all seasoned remote workers understand, it is easy to get distracted when you’re at home, but mastering this will see your productivity soar. In fact, productivity of remote workers can increase from 4.4% all the way up to 13%!
This can be explained by the reduced break time and sick days, plus a more comfortable working environment. This could be your chance to shine in your company.
3. Separate workspace from personal space
It can be hard living and working in the same space, but make it easier for yourself to relax when appropriate, and switch on when necessary.
By drawing a dividing line between the space in which you plan to work, and the rest of the doldrum you’re inhabiting out of work hours, you’ll be less tempted to ‘just reply to one more email’ or conversely, avoid ‘just one more episode of Tiger king.
Pack up or leave the workspace when you clock off and don’t sit back down until you’re ready to get in the zone.
4. Communicate with your team
Set lines of communication and appropriate channels for information as a team. To be fair, this should probably already be done (thank you HR), but if not, a WFH period without this will unravel a project quicker than a virus unravels our fragile existence…
It’s likely that you’ll be using some new tools for online collaboration, yes they can be confusing, but that’ll take a hard 3 minutes to figure out and you’ll be feeling like a tech guru in no time.
Video-conferencing tools are critical when working from home. Be a champion of the idea that your usual Friday drinks don’t have to fall by the wayside, grab a drink and join your team on a video call to debrief and relax.
5. Get out of the house!
We’re lucky here in Sydney that our weather is fairly mild year-round. It’s easy to forget about the outside world if you’re stuck in the house day-in day-out during a WFH period.
Now, we’re certainly not telling you to traipse around Perth spreading germs if you’re meant to be in self-isolation but to feel the wind on your face and sun on your skin will brighten anyone’s day. Just do it in an appropriate manner for your personal circumstance.