Working from home is undoubtedly a privilege for those who sometimes miss their office hours or reach there late. It’s practically a magical cure for those office goers who don’t want their salaries deducted for unnecessary leaves. By working remotely, people, as such, can stay connected with their office desk and their colleagues even from home.
It’s not for everyone, of course, because industrial workers and their supervisors can’t manufacture anything staying at home. They need to be on their shop floor. But for people working in digital sectors such as software development, IT operations and marketing, journalism, etc. can very well take advantage of these practices for working remotely:
Best Practices to Follow if You’re Working Remotely from Home
1. Hygiene of Your Workplace
As everyone is aware of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak that is taking lives and infecting people across the globe. Many corporations have sent their employees on indefinite work from home days, where they can continue working remotely. The most recent being Google, who has advised its employees in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa to work from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Office spaces are regularly cleaned, but the same can’t be said about your home, especially if your home is a bachelor pad. So, keep it clean, keep it sanitized, keep a hand sanitizer with yourself, and take all precautions possible. Only then you’ll work fruitfully.
Now let’s get on to the essential practices of working remotely that’ll help you feel like you’re working from your office desk:
2. Get Yourself Some Space
Your office desk is your home for those 9-10 hours you’re at work. That place is designed to make you feel comfortable while carrying out the daily task. So, the first practice for remotely working at home should be to create a space where you can feel like you’re at work. You can’t be as productive as you’re at your office desk if you’re working laying down your couch with a plate of sandwich on the living room table.
No. That doesn’t work. Confine yourself to a proper desk. Have your computer/laptop with you and other necessities such as a notepad and pen nearby, just like you have on your office desk. If you’re working remotely, you should start by fitting right into it.
3. Build Your Boundaries
When I was interning for a startup two years ago, I sort of had the luxury of being casual at work. You know how budding startup offices are. The guys there were not much older than me, and they had a PlayStation and everything. And I didn’t need to come to the office daily. So, I used to take my laptop, play an episode of Game of Thrones on one half of the screen, and open a Word document on the other half.
Trust me, that will lead to a blunder. You need to set up boundaries if you want to follow these practices of working remotely. Keep yourself away from distractions. No excessive use of cell phones, no television, and keep your luxuries aside.
4. Look The Part
It surely won’t hurt you to sit at your home desk after taking a proper bath and getting ready as you’d have done before going to the office. It takes the laziness away and helps you stay uptight for work without feeling, you know, odd.
And I am not asking you to be in a complete three-piece suit attire (that’s recommended if you need to be on a video conferencing with your bosses) but just be in smart casuals. The last thing you want is to be in your boxers and dirty t-shirt on your home-office desk.
5. Schedule A Calendar
When you’re at the workplace, you need not worry about timings. You have your eyes stick to your system clock to meet deadlines. There is specific lunchtime, break time, tea time, etc. At home, you’re a free bird. So, make sure you have every detail of your daily tasks fed into your preferred calendar application.
Set a time for starting your work, your lunch break, tea break, and the end of the day on your calendar for every day. Mark your calendar with important tasks, dates, meetings, etc. and keep a regular check on your email so that you can update the timeline accordingly.
6. Connect With Your Workspace
Now, when I said “meetings” in the last line, I meant real meetings. Of course, you don’t have to go to work while following these practices for working remotely. But you can still reach out to your colleagues.
Every corporation uses communication mediums such as Slack Channel, Skype, Zoom (for video conferencing mostly), etc. And if not, there are always Hangouts that everyone uses. Turn desktop notifications on for your preferred medium. Keep a check on all the messages as there’ll be a flow of them since you’re working remotely. Using these tools, you can have group meetings, chats, and even video calls to discuss project progress.
Many large corporations have provisions for remote system access, which will literally convert your personal PC into a virtual office system.
7. Better If You Stay At Home and Not Some Cafe
I know it is a hard thing, but if you have a Starbucks nearby your home, I say you don’t head there to make that cafe a workplace. Starbucks-like places are flooded with people working on something or other. And as I said in the first point, you can’t have so many people around you in a crowded place like a cafe. It does feel better to have people around, but given the current situation, please do not have a crowded environment surrounding you. Stay home and keep up with your work in a healthy manner.
8. Kill Social Media Distractions
Turn off notifications for all your Facebook, Instagram, Messenger notifications until you’re at work. If your office does not use WhatsApp to convey official announcements, turn that out too. Also, have your family members connect with you via Hangouts.
Use this app called Social Fever. It’s pretty effective in keeping you off social media distractions. It’s available for Android users and compatible with the latest OS as well. It allows you to set activity tracking timers on social media apps. Set it at like 10 minutes at max for unwanted social media applications and save yourself from distractions.
Get it now –
9. Drink Plenty of Water
This is important. You must keep water by your side all the time. Don’t get dehydrated. Drink water or juice if you prefer that and take some sips every other minute to stay active while working remotely.
The app Social Fever also keeps track of water intake, so try that if you tend to skip taking water while at work. The constant reminders give you an extra boost to get up and hydrate yourself.
Pointer 1 is kept bold for a reason, and hopefully, everyone has read it. While these practices will keep you active and uptight for work even when you’re in a home-like environment, but it’s important you care for your hygiene and keep yourself safe from any symptom of COVID-19. That will not just keep you healthy but also the ones living around you. Get to work and help yourself in not making the health concerns a hassle for your work life.
All The Best!!
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