Even before we found ourselves social distancing due to a global pandemic, there were 4.7 million American’s working from home. Now that we are trying to stop the spread of this health hazard, millions more have been sent home to work. As workers and employees get comfortable with this new working arrangement, it’s not hard to see it becoming part of our new normal even after we tame the virus. That means you could be working from home for the foreseeable future, might as well get comfortable. Here are some tips and tricks to help make working from home a breeze.
Set Up Your Home Office
Have a dedicated workspace. If your home has an office already in it, great! If it doesn’t, you might have to get creative. Can you convert a guest bedroom or an unused dining room into an office? If you have to, you can even set up a portable office with a rolling cart you can tuck away when not in use. The point is, having a dedicated space can help you separate your work and home life, creating a better balance between the two.
Keep To A Schedule
When working from home it’s easy to be tempted to take breaks during the day to do housework or hobbies. It’s also easy to fall into a trap of working day and night, losing the ability to shut out work at the end of the day. You can help keep this in check by creating and sticking to a schedule
Keep Up Appearances
While it’s tempting to work in your PJ's every day, getting ready for work in the morning can actually help you stay motivated. If you keep your same morning routine and office dress code then again you’ll have an easier time telling the difference between being “at work” and being at home.
Video Check-Ins And Chats
If you start to feel disconnected to your co-workers handling everything over e-mail, set up daily or weekly video chats. Face to face communication is key for a great working relationship. Even people that work remotely 100% of the time with teams all over the
world use regular video conferences to keep in touch and even to socialize for team building. If you really enjoy your co-workers you can even set up a monthly happy hour over Zoom just to chat.
Avoid Distractions
Make sure that your spouse, children, roommates, or whoever lives with you know that just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you’re free. If your office space has a door,shut it when you’re working. Keep focused on work and don’t let the dishes in the sink woo you away to do chores. Keeping office hours should help you stay on track during the day and give you time for doing chores and spending time with your family or pets after working hours are over.
With the future of work at home jobs looking promising, many new home builders are putting an emphasis on office space and even building homes with multiple home office spaces available.