Working From Home

An informal daily huddle where everyone is face-to-face in a virtual meeting, holding a fresh cup of coffee is a great way to start the day with purpose and energy. It requires everyone to wake up early, get dressed and make a cup of coffee.

A morning routine is great for productivity too.

Infusing music and dance in your breaks can add a sense of pleasure in the otherwise dull and drab routine, enhancing the immediate virtual surrounding of the extroverts.

• Angry outbursts, irritability, or frustration, even with unimportant matters.
• Loss of interest or happiness in activities such as sex or hobbies.
• Sleep disturbances, including insomnia and sleeping too much.
• Tiredness and lack of energy for even the smallest activities.
• Increased cravings for food.
• Anxiety, agitation, and restlessness.
• Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions, and remembering things
• Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches
• Avoiding people.

...while working from home:

• Create a schedule and stick to it. Scheduling your tasks (and breaks) will help you to mentally prepare for the day.
• Have a dedicated comfortable workspace, with a door that closes, preferably.
• Fight the urge to stay sedentary and schedule active time to get your heart pumping.
• Foster social connections (on the phone or via the internet, if physical contact is not possible).
• Learn to say no. Know your limitations, set boundaries based on your schedule and workload, and don’t extend yourself beyond them.

Working from home does not mean you are a remote worker. For a lot of people “working from home” is synonymous with not really working, but instead sitting at home in comfy clothes and doing anything but working. Because no one is really watching you.

• Assume remote, even if you have only 1 person that is not coming to the office. So make sure to share all the information from meetings in a written format.
• Have a private, quiet, dedicated space for working in your home. Preferably with a door that closes.
• Have the right digital equipment.
• Over-communicate.
• Make sure you get to actual meet your colleagues face to face.
• Have a time overlap with your team.

For many of us, the office becomes a fun place due to a sense of community, purpose and fun interactions that make up an office day. To try and mimic your office culture virtually:

1. Set up Slack channels for water cooler conversation
2. Schedule virtual movie days, when the same movie is streamed with the chat option on.
3. Try to recreate virtual versions of what employees miss the most in office, like a coffee break, for instance.

Being social at office lubricates official conversations and the work itself. The more we spend time with colleagues having non-essential chatter, the easier our work becomes with them.

It helps to be creative and infuse fun into a virtual interaction. Any official conversation, like a manager meeting his subordinates in a one-on-one meeting, can start by asking about the person’s life (something unrelated to work), so that a connection is built.

• Loneliness was reported as the biggest downside for 21% of remote employees, and one of the reasons that makes them more likely to quit.
• Most remote managers say they’d be more inclined to stay if they had more friends at work.
• Individuals who have 15 minutes to socialize with colleagues have a 20% increase in performance over their peers who don't.
• Positive social relationships are correlated with better life expectancy.

If your icebreaker questions are intriguing, cheeky, humorous – the answers you receive will be, too.

Many remote teams will kick off their weekly meeting with an icebreaker question or insert it during their morning stand-up meeting. Even more popular is asking a series of icebreaker questions during the onboarding process when hiring someone.

Studies on long term work-from-home workers found that lack of interaction with colleagues and the lack of an office vibe can result in a disconnection from the outer world, leading to isolation.

Pitfalls of working from home: 

• Mental health disorders like anxiety, stress, and depression
• Feeling isolated
• Less self-discipline
• Lack of exercise
• Unable to keep the boundaries between work and life.

• If you know you’re more likely to work from home, invest in comfortable furniture; you feel good it will inspire you to get work done.
• If you want to join a local co-working space but are intimidated by the price point, ask about smaller memberships to start.

Don’t let your skepticism about productivity hacks get in the way of finding a technique that suits you and helps you get things done.
If you’re still having a hard time identifying priorities, try working backward by identifying work that’s definitely not a priority. Eliminate those items and assess what’s left.

Independent work styles are efficient, disciplined and productive. They like to follow their instincts and see where they take them.

Visionary and entrepreneurial types often have an independent working style. This type is also often found in creative or scientific fields.

Those that identify with this style are organized, strategic and collaborative. They are diplomatic and are typically excellent communicators.

They are often found in relationship-oriented roles like human resources and in leadership roles. Account executives, HR directors, and project managers are often known to have a cooperative business style.

The key to working from home is clear communication with your boss. Your manager might not be used to managing people virtually or may not have a ready-to-go suite of tools for remote workers.

To prevent a breakdown in communication, you need to know exactly what's expected of you from day-to-day. Ask your boss for a 10-minute video call to start and end the day. Reach out to coworkers and managers regularly so that you won't get forgotten.

• Don't lounge around in your pajamas. Treat it like a real job.
• Create a space exclusively for work that is removed from distractions, just like you would at your office desk.
• Create boundaries within your home that your family members understand when you're 'at work.'
• Bookend your day. If you can't enter and leave a physical office that creates more precise boundaries, use psychological transitions like a 20-minute coffee in the morning, then exercise right after work.

Set a timer once an hour to remind you to move. Get up and move your body, walk up and down the stairs, or take a brisk loop around the block.

The movement needs to be reasonably active and needs to get you out of breath. Afterward, you will feel more productive.

Most people can find an activity that they enjoy. It could be walking the dog, doing pilates, or playing in the garden.

Find the activity you like and get value from and do that.