Every office worker has, at some point, bemoaned the ordeal of the commute or the monotony of the office space itself (or Dan from accounts that won’t stop talking about his trip to Bali).
These factors, and others, can result in lower productivity as well as make us feel miserable.
And if we are in the office all the time, how will we find those replacement kitchen doors we have been promising ourselves for the past 6 months?
Or have enough time to watch all the tv series and movies.
With the increase of communication choices, such as video conferencing software, working from the office is no longer mandatory in many cases.
Video meeting capability, email, office software and a telephone is all you need to wave goodbye to your commute for good.
A good work ethic, to stay productive, is also helpful of course.
But what can you do to make working from home more comfortable for you? Well, here we present our top tips to help you do just that.
Create and stick to a routine
The lines between your work and personal time can become blurred and stressful if there are no set schedules.
This of course is comprised of several things to consider, such as:
- Set strict working hours for yourself (keep to your normal office hours as much as possible).
- At the end of your working hours, ignore work emails and calls as much as you can
- Get up at the same time, don’t make the lack of commute an excuse to ‘lie in’.
- During the time you would normally be commuting, do something else like exercise.
Stick to these, and any others you can think of, and the transition will be a lot smoother. We also have a great guide on best strategies to manage your time and reduce stress.
Try to have a dedicated work area
If possible, find a comfortable area away from distractions (including your family) such as the TV.
When you have your workspace get everything you need in there – phone and laptop chargers, paper, pens, printer if you have and need one etc. If possible, close the door.
It is important to be comfortable, too. It can be tempting to sit on your sofa in front of the TV but the fewer distractions, the better.
Make sure your chair and workspace (desk, dining table etc.) are at the right height to each other so you don’t strain anything.
Be sure you have the right conferencing software
This one gets forgotten about a lot but you need video calling software that can handle multiple attendees; it’s no good if your manager wants to speak to multiple people at once and your software can only do 1-to-1.
Some of the better conferencing software includes:
There are lots of others, but we find that these are among the best of them.
Stay connected
Working from home has many benefits, but you also may feel isolated.
There are ways to stay in touch with people though and that can boost their mental wellbeing as well as our own.
Human interaction is important, whether in the office or at home, so rather than email, call them.
Work colleagues probably feel isolated too, so you could reach out to them for a scheduled chat while you both take a break from working for half an hour (always remember to take breaks when working from home).
Another great tip is to take a walk when you have a break, even if it is to the shops.
Getting fresh air is always helpful and we can’t always do that when working at the office so that’s another benefit of homeworking.
There you have it
Hopefully these, admittedly straightforward, tips will help with your transition into working from home – or will help you organise things if you already are out of the office.