Getting the Most out of Working from Home

Due to the pandemic working from home culture and practices has been more popular and accepted not only for safety reasons.

More and more people are finding numerous advantages from working from home such as reducing the cost of travelling; no more parking tickets, fuel, eating out, etc. This also enables one to spend more time with their family at home.

In our advanced age of technological communication there are little to no barriers when the need arises to hold important meetings with colleagues and clients. The benefits and allure of working from home is very attractive and seems to be a staple of future office working culture.

However, despite the various up sides there are also obvious down sides as common with any major change. Some of these notable disadvantages are the increased amount of distractions, lower levels of productivity and waning relationships between co-workers.

In this article I shall discuss and give some tips on how to negate the downsides from remote working at home.

Dressing for the Occasion

One of the best things about working at home is the convenience to not care about one’s appearance and mannerisms. But this convenience can also serve as a negative influence to our state of thinking because we often perceive ourselves based on our appearance. The social pressure to dress appropriately and presentable in the office often boast our confidence According to this journal (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3496262/) the way we feel about ourselves is often link to our appearance. Of course, wearing a full suit and tie in the house not only feels uncomfortable, it also feels silly and may serve as an overkill to this point. Instead of engaging in work in the clothes you wear to sleep, at the very least dress in the way you are comfortable with having guests around the house.

Have a Dedicated Space for Work

If possible, set up a dedicated room or space that you are confident is the most convenient place and least distracting for work. Human beings being habitual creatures often equate certain scenarios and environments for certain activities; the gym is a place for exercise, the park is a place for recreation, the dining room is a place for eating, etc. So when the habit is to work in the office it may sometimes feel jarring and out of place when switching to working from home. Therefore, ensure that the place you will be working in your house to be optimized for working to the point it feels natural. For example, place a calendar next to the laptop, place your smart phone out of reach, have a clean work desk free from leisure items such as video games and books. Make sure that the place you will be working feels like it on a fundamental level.

Make Full Use of Remote Working Apps

Good communication is essential when working in a team. Basic communication methods such as messaging and email can only be effective to a certain degree. The huge shift towards working from home has greatly increased the need for applications that can manage work online for multiple people in a team. Applications such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams for real time conference meetings between various parties, Basecamp and Monday that can visualize and organize working timelines and progress for a team, and many more. To ensure that communication and productivity between team members remain as effective when working together physically compared to working remotely, all parties need to embrace and familiarize themselves with remote working applications.