Two months of pandemic and our world is different now in many aspects. Many of the employees are now working from home, somebody is happy about this opportunity, and somebody is feeling lonely. According to the statistics of 2020, 20% of remote workers struggle with loneliness. Anyway, the advent of digital technology makes it possible for people to work from anywhere in the world. According to the new studies, remote working is a great solution for workers that enjoy flexibility, and it’s also beneficial to companies and businesses around the world.
To make your day as productive and efficient as it has been in your office, follow these advice.
- Create your own space
Try to remember your day, when you have been working at the office. Each day you have been separated between work and home and it was a physical thing. That’s why it’s so important to create your own working environment. It hasn’t to be a whole apartment, because most of us are living together with big families, it could be just a corner — but it should feel separate from the rest of your home. Feeling comfortable at your new working place is crucial to your productivity.
- Use a dress code when working from home
Nevertheless you are a woman or a man, dressing up could be very motivating. It doesn’t mean that you need to dress as formally as you might for the office work, but staying in pijama all day long will not give you the right mood to bring the effective result. Robert Ridge, a psychology professor at Brigham Young University, said:
“There definitely can be a connection between how people dress and how they feel. The more you like your appearance, the more confident you can be.”
Robert Ridge
This emphasises the importance of the short- and long-term impact of our clothing choices. If we wake up in the morning and will stay in our pijama, how could we feel? This will likely manifest in our behaviour — we may act awkwardly, avoid any social interaction and become extremely introverted.
There is one more reason to use a dress code at home while working remotely, many of the companies use video conferences, like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other applications for Digital Workplace. So staying at home doesn’t mean you have to look unattractive.
- Set your timetable
You should be well-organized, have time management skills and be a self-starter to work at home for a basis. Of course not everyone is hardwired that way. But remember that the part of success is a regime and discipline. If you are following these two simple steps like compliance with the regime in your daily routine, you know that this brings the real result. If you work for one company, try to set well-defined work hours to avoid phone calls and emails without boundaries on your personal time. If your role is collaborative, being on the same schedule as your coworkers makes everything much easier.
- Create your Miracle Morning
COVID-19 has changed our lives definitely. It changed our daily routine and this is the reason why many people are struggling now and don’t know how to plan their day. But there is something positive in it and try to find it. Hal Elrod, the author of the “Miracle Morning“ is proposing to create our Miracle Morning, when we have the time for self improvement, self education and self understanding. This means that you can use the time you used for getting to work and back home for yourself. Read a book that you wanted to read, make a meditation, start your day with positive affirmations and positive thoughts. It will help you to feel that you are doing the right thing.
- Evolve your tech skills
Before the pandemic, many of the companies and government institutions haven’t had the training for their employees due to help to start the work with digital instruments. But today it’s has become an obligate to be able to use and create your own Digital Workplace. Creation of a Digital Workplace — it’s an employer prerogative. FortySeven is now helping many companies to create a such Digital Workplace that totally covers their requirements and needs, in synergy with tools the company is using already, adding some that will give you profitable growth. Digital Workplace includes the creation and implementation of new procedures, documentation, adaption of the IT infrastructure, etc. DW puts all IT tools in synergy to make remote daily operations work. You as an employee can evolve your tech skills by starting to use web-based tools and meeting programs like GoToMeeting, Cisco WebEx, Join.me, TeamViewer or Google+ Hangouts, etc.
- Don’t forget to communicate, become an extravert when working from home
Nevertheless you are alone at your new working place, all your colleagues are near: they definitely are using some of the communication tools, like Slack, Jira, etc. You can call and ask all the questions in the same way, as you did it when sitting in the office next to them. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the same people you would usually turn to for help. You don’t have to stick with only text-based communication. We are all different from each other, some of us like to have a text-based communication, some like the opposite. Thanks to tools we can still do both. Remember to socialize with your colleagues, family members who live far from you and your friends. Today they are our main supportive team.
I hope that these tips will help you to feel comfortable while working remotely. As the situation with pandemic calms or we know how to deal with it, the point of discussion will not be how much destruction it did. Instead, it will be about how well individuals, governments, and businesses tackled the COVID19 crisis. If you need a digital support, send us your inquiry or contact our expert. With this rapid change, the best ones will be those who adapted rapidly and ensured productivity with strong willpower and sane minds.
