Many organisations around the world are preparing to pack up and work from home as the world isolates from Covid-19. But who says this has to be a bad thing? For a lot of modern day businesses, working from home is the norm. So, here are * steps on how your businesses can survive as we all begin to work from home!
1.Online Calls
As we all prepare to work from home, people are struggling to know how to communicate with the rest of the office. One thing available to every worker is Skype, Zoom, or here at SCCU we use GoToMeeting. In working alongside these different video call networks, colleagues are able to liaise with one another, hold meetings and organise catch up sessions. Often these calls can turn sour if wifi connection is poor or there is no organisation as to who can speak at what time. You may require setting up a chairman role in the group call so they can give people time to speak. Businesses can provide logins to these platforms for all their employees and can arrange remote sessions in order to replace normal activities that would take place. It provides the perfect solution to all businesses struggling to come to terms with how the businesses will survive during this testing time. With employees help and support, these platforms should work successfully for every business, and help them in continuing business as usual.
2.Having a good work space
In working from home, it is important that there is an appropriate space for the worker to work from. As a worker, going to the office is an isolated space dedicated to work. It is important that you are getting up out of bed and getting dressed so that you have a working mindset, something that is crucial.
To find this at home can be difficult, particularly during the circumstances with most family members working from home or potentially being put into isolation, the distractions are limitless. Therefore, it is important that people prepare now, and can find an area in the house to work. Having the working from home essentials are also important! This mainly involves a desk, laptop and a work phone. Businesses should provide these electrical items.
Whether your plan is to work at the kitchen bar, dining table or bedroom desk. If you have an area where you can focus on work, and where there will be limited distractions, then this is an ideal place to work. If you have a room slightly closed off to the house, such as an attic room, or a study, these spaces are idyllic.
Having children whilst working from home during this outbreak can be challenging. To be able to balance your work life with babysitting will be a major struggle and will be challenging for many households across the country. If you have a partner, sharing the load can make this obstacle much easier.
3.Having Time to Work – Clock In and Out
As an organisation, a lot of trust is involved in letting your employees work from home. To be able to ensure that your workers are actually working is crucial to the business, especially as the virus spreads, there is a risk to the increasing number of people that could get it. Therefore, making sure work is productive is important so that if people are unable to work, there is nothing that could damage the business so long as work is up to date.
Having a clocking in and out system also provides a timeframe to employees’ daily routine and it means they still have something to wake up for so long as they have a timeframe that they must be logged in for. Having this will motivate employees to work during this time and it will keep the employees engaged with their work and restrict them from any potential distractions.
This includes incorporating a finishing time for all employees. The usual working day is 9-5. Give workers that timeframe so they aim to finish at 5pm each day. In doing this, workers have a fixed pattern to their day.
4.Structure your day like you are in the office
In order to get into a positive working mindset, pretend and convince yourself that you are going to work in the office. In doing this, you will get the work done! By structuring your day around your work, just like an office day, you will be able to structure your work accordingly. Businesses can help employees in doing this. If organisations provide employees individual targets and goals, workers will be able to use that as a method of motivation which will improve their daily productivity and encourage them to stick to the daily work routine.
5.Don’t stay at home – break your day up!
Don’t stay at home everyday working. By breaking your day up and working when you are most productive, you will feel more engaged with the work you are doing. For example, don’t wake up and go straight to your desk! Wake up early and take the dog for a walk, go for a run, or make yourself a nice breakfast. Allow yourself to wake up to ensure you are being fully productive. Keeping yourself active will stimulate your brain and by having a positive approach to life and keeping your days productive outside of work, you will increase your productivity rate.
6.Detach yourself from Social Media
A common theme when at home is social media. Social media is a ruler of most lives, and being at home will make it an even bigger distraction. When working in an office, social media is not relevant. However, there is a greater temptation when working from home as there is no one to tell you otherwise. In order to prevent this being a major distraction to your work pattern, by deleting the apps from your toolbar on your desktop, and by putting your personal phone elsewhere, you are able to eliminate this distraction from your new work life.
7.Match your background noise to your work
In the office, you may often have the office or news on the televisions or radios. When in the comfort of your own home, you may feel the temptation to put something more engaging on the TV, such as a film or series. No one is expecting to work in silence, but choose your background noise appropriately and avoid clear distractions. This includes the radio station of choice, or even playlist. By suiting your music to your style of work, you will become more productive in your work! This could become another form of preparation as the world transitions to working from home.
