Whether your business is new to remote working due to the numerous stay-at-home policies issued by most U.S. states to fight the coronavirus or accustomed to it, it can be hard to be productive working from home while also keeping your sanity.
Believe me, I can personally attest to this. Ive worked from home for more than a decade now, and still struggle with certain aspects of it every day. It is very easy to form bad work-at-home habits. Here are some ideas and tips to help you and your employees work at home more effectively.
Youll be more productive if you can carve out a separate space in your home in which to work. That helps you separate your work space from your personal space and maintain some privacy.
This is even more important if you dont live alone and are sharing space with other adults and/or kids. If that is the case, you need to establish some ground rules. Tell your kids when its okay to interrupt you and the best way to do it. If you have a separate room, put a small sign on the door, saying when its safe to come in. If youre in a meeting, let everyone know they need to be quiet.
One business owner I know, struggles with the possibility his dogs will start barking when he tapes his podcasts. He once asked his wife to take the dogs for a ride while he was taping a particularly important episode.
If you dont have a spare room, can you take over a guest room, part of the basement, or a little-used dining room? Someone I know converted their back porch from junk room to office space. You also should work from an ergonomic chair whenever possible. Experts will tell you not to work from the couch. Theyre rightbut in the spirit of full disclosure, even though I have a separate office, I sometimes work from my living room couch.
Set office hours and try to stick to them. If youre the boss, its okay to tell your employees the times you expect them to be at work. But given the current situation, some may need extra flexibility.
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Incorporate breaks into your schedule, even if its just a quick stretch or walk around your house or apartment. Try for a five-minute break once an hour. If you can safely go outside for a short break, do so. If you cant, check with your doctor to see if you need to add Vitamin D to your diet. And dont forget to eat lunch.
Every businesss circumstances are going to be different here. What computers are your staff using? Work-issued secure machines or their personal computers? Whichever, you want to make sure your employees are keeping their work secure. You might want to investigate getting a VPN (virtual private network) service.
