To ensure a balanced and productive workday while working from home we suggest the following tips:
- Maintain clear work hours. Whether this is your normal workday, or an amended workday, be clear for yourself on when you are starting work and when you are finishing work. Let your family or anyone else at home know when you are working and ask them to respect those hours. If you have children at home, you may need to set smaller blocks of work time so you can meet their needs throughout the day.
- Set up a separate workspace for your home office. Ideally in a room where you won’t be interrupted (I have moved a table into in my bedroom while one of my children is in the lounge doing online learning). If you don’t have a separate room, create a space for yourself that is clearly your workspace i.e. end of the dining table. Remove all the clutter. Make it comfortable and organised. You might like to put up some inspiring quotes, a little plant, flower or a photo.
- Turn off or silence all notifications on your phone.
- Set 3 clear goals for what you hope to achieve that day.
- Check in with a co-workers or manager at least once a day to share what you are working on and to connect. Share tips on what is working well and what you are finding hard. Working from home is new to a lot of people and sharing ideas can really help.
- Move around regularly and get some fresh air– if you can, go for a walk at lunch time or sit by an open window.
- Ensure you have all the correct hardware and software you will need i.e. internet, zoom, genius scan. If you are not sure what you need or how to use something don’t be embarrassed to ask your organisation for help.
- Think about your online etiquette:
- Be a few minutes early to the online meeting
- Put your microphone on mute if you are on a group call and not speaking as background noise can be very distracting.
- Make sure your face can be clearly seen by participants
- Be aware it is harder to see social cues online so make it clear you have something to say to the facilitator of the conversation. Likewise, if you are the facilitator, make sure those that want to contribute are heard. Encourage everyone to use the online comment section of the call to aid this.
- If you have called the meeting be clear on your agenda and the people that need to be there. The smaller the number the better.
Good luck and remember to stay calm and reach out if you need support.
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