Get your home space ready for remote work
As global citizens face uncertain numbers of weeks of lockdown due to COVID-19, the continued fate of working from home is still looming. As we anxiously await more announcements regarding the extension of lockdown and therefore, working from home arrangements, what we do know is that we can best prepare ourselves to succeed with remote working. While introverts all over the world are supportive of this arrangement, it’s not an easy adjustment for everyone, especially if you struggle to find space and share a home with multiple people.It can also be challenging if you have your children running around and demanding attention while you’re meant to be working. This article will share some tips that can help you set up your space for working from home.
1.Get dressed for work like you normally would. While you’ll be excused for wearing pyjamas on occasion, you should know that it’s actually the act of changing clothes that’s important. Changing clothes symbolises the time to wake up, get out of bed and start being productive for the day. Changing into some of your favourite clothes can improve your confidence and give you a boost. This same principle applies to other hygiene-forward activities, such as having a shower or bath, brushing your teeth and hair and washing your face. You don’t need to don a full face of makeup, but the act of looking after your appearance can help you feel like you’re taking care of yourself, even amidst all of the uncertainty at the moment.
2. Find a designated office or working space in your home. This might be at a desk or spot on a dining room table or lounge – or whatever else is available to you. You don’t want your work to take over your entire house – that’s why it helps to only use a specific area for working. The act of specifying a specific work spot also acts as a physical separation, like you’d feel when walking in and out of your office at work. It’s very important that you make this space as comfortable as you can, meaning that you’ll need a good chair that can withstand your daily 9-5 hours. It’s also important that you take natural light into account, especially if you have a lot of video calls to attend.
The purpose of this space is to switch your brain into working mode when you enter the designated area. If you don’t have the luxury of using a separate room, another way you can create a physical separation is to physically pack your work items away when the work day is done.
3. Keep Set Working Hours. This won’t be a problem for some of you who have set shifts. But for those of you who are able on flexi-time, you should try to set your working hours every day, and keep them the same for the week. If you are often collaborating with colleagues, you should make sure that your schedule lines up with theirs. With that said, you might also want to work later in the day than before – which is totally fine, as long as your managers are aware of this. Doing this helps your mind to get into a productive mode. If you’re sharing a household with others, it may be wise to communicate your working hours and boundaries. This can also help to ensure that you don’t spend your whole evening working when you feel bored – your work will be there for you in the morning.
4. You can create a transitional routine. Now that there’s no need to commute to work on the daily, you’ll find you have some extra time on your hands. You could use this time to do things before or after work – maybe you’ll spend an extra 30 minutes exercising in the morning, or you’ll indulge in a 30 minute bath after work. Keeping transitions before and after work can help you ease in and out of your workday, in the absence of physical travel and transitions.
5. Communication is key. You’ve probably heard this before in one way or another – but now that you’re not physically with your team members, communication is more important than ever. If you’re struggling with your working arrangement, talk to your supervisor or HR manager. If you need to update your team, sending them a group message could be a good idea. There’s also the option to host virtual conferences and calls. The important thing is to speak up when you feel isolated, or if you’re concerned about a friend.
6. Remember that you can still socialise! Now that your entire office is now working remotely, you’ll be having less casual interaction – that means no more small talk and office jokes. There are many messaging apps you could use to stay in touch with your colleagues, such as Zoom, Google Hangouts and Slack. Don’t feel anxious to schedule weekly catch-up sessions with your coworkers – this can extend to friends outside of work too. Everyone could probably use some cheering up right now .
7. If you’re looking for specific items you should use, we’d put emphasis on a comfortable chair and maybe another harddrive you can use to back-up your laptop or computer if you want to store your files. This may not be necessary for every kind of job, but this is something you could do for your own personal laptop anyway – and is a good measure to ensure the safety of your files.
8. Come to terms with the fact that your wifi is probably going to get interrupted at some point. Don’t despair when this happens – it’s always a good move to communicate your problems to your manager or colleagues. Network providers are aware of the high demand for connectivity, and are actively working towards increasing their speeds and capacities. While your wifi is down, you’ll have a good chance to think about what you really need to prioritise during your work day.
9. Schedule breaks, including your lunch break. This gives you something to look forward to during the work day like you’re used to at the office – and gives you a surge of energy and a chance to rest for a little bit. Staying up to date with your schedule will ensure that your working time is optimised so that your free time doesn’t have to suffer. The last thing you want right now is to burn yourself out!
10. Remember to keep a bottle or glass of water with you on your desk. It can be easy to get sucked into work without preparing your station properly. A wise move would be to take out a glass of water as you sit down for the day. If you prefer your water ice cold, keep a second bottle in the fridge that you can access during the day. It’s important to stay hydrated as you’re busy. If you don’t feel like drinking water, set aside a few breaks in the day to brew some tea or coffee.
11. If you have a home-based business, you might want to set up a dedicated home phone so that you don’t clutter up your personal phone. You might look into using VoIP or internet-based phones if you don’t want to set up a landline.
12. If you’re able to, don’t stay at home everyday. If situations change and we are soon allowed out of our homes, go to a library or coffee shop to rejuvenate your working attitude. This could be great for days when you don’t have any meetings and need to sit down and get through your workload. Obviously, this won’t be an immediate option with the pending coronavirus – but it’s something that we can all hopefully look forward to soon!
13. Prepare your meals the night before. While it may be tempting to eat slices of toast every day, it won’t be good for your nutrition. If you muster up the energy to start meal prepping, you can cook enough portions for a couple of days’ worth of food before needing to cook again. It’s also a good idea to buy a few healthy snacks that you can keep near you, such as fruit, nuts and an occasional treat.
14. Remember that you control the soundtrack of your office – though, you might want to take turns choosing playlists if you’re co-working at home with family members or your partner. You can have any genre of music on in the background – though, be careful not to do this when you’ve got meetings to attend. Depending on your preferences, you could choose music that soothes you or that energises you and allows you to get more done in a day. The choice is yours!
Conclusion
We don’t know how long we’ll all need to work from home – so it’s time that we take measures to ensure that we’ve optimised our remote working stations. Some of the top tips we’ve shared include keeping in communication with your colleagues, designated a specific working area in your home, scheduling your working hours and breaks accordingly and getting prepared for the workday like you normally would.
ShoppingFeeder acknowledges the severity of COVID-19 and reiterates the importance of staying home and keeping up to date with the latest information.
