Remote working has become an abrupt reality for many workers throughout the nation who may be inexperienced with the concept. However, this is not a reality that is likely to go away too soon, with many people even predicting that Covid-19 could cause a permanent shift towards remote working throughout the UK.
To help ease firms and employees alike with a seamless transition into working from home, we have compiled a list of 5 effective and simple remote working tips for those who aren't experienced with producing successful results from the comfort of their own home.
1. Choose Your Office Wisely
For those who aren’t accustomed to working from home, it can be very tempting to slip into the habit of lounging about on the sofa all day with your laptop or responding to your emails from the comfort of your duvet. However, it is absolutely vital for both your long term productivity and mental well being to choose a designated office space to get into “work mode” in.
If you are working in a remote location with others around, such as a family home with children, then it is also important wherever possible to choose an office free of distractions where you can get your work done in peace. Ultimately, your office space should be somewhere which signals a clear distinction between “work” and “play”.
2. Over-Communicate with Your Team
A breakdown in communication between team members is one of the biggest risks of all when it comes to remote working. Now you are no longer a few desks away from your co-workers, it is vital that you maintain regular, preferably daily communication with your team.
Firstly, communication needs to be over-emphasised from a remote location in order to maintain standard business operations and productivity levels. Email, phone, video call and messaging services (e.g. Slack) are your go-to here.
Secondly, regular communication needs to be maintained throughout a healthy workforce in order to support team morale. Many employees will most likely spend the entire working day in solitude, therefore, making a point of having regular whole team “catch up calls” can go a long way to nurturing the mental wellbeing of a remote worker.
3. Maintain Business Operations Wherever Possible
It can become very easy to postpone, neglect or even cancel certain business operations due to them seeing impractical or unfeasible from a remote working premises. However, it is absolutely vital to maintain standard business operations wherever possible when working from home, in order to maintain the same levels of productivity and provide the same service for your clients or customers.
Due to the wealth of software and applications available in our digital age, the likes of business meetings, conferences, sales pitches, and even networking events have the potential to be carried out online. Online sales pitches and training sessions are particularly effective through join.me, as you can easily share your screen with multiple participants whilst you talk them through what is going on.
SMEs generally seem to favour Google Hangouts to carry out their online client meetings, as they can be easily set up through Google Calendar invites and Gmail. However, it is important that you and your clients already have a Google Account setup in order to maximise on the benefits of Google Hangouts.
4. Get the Right Tools for the Job
This one sounds simple, but ensuring that yourself or your employees have all the right tools to complete the job as would be otherwise is crucial for remote working. If you can’t have all the tools in your remote location to get the job done, then you should really be questioning if you can actually work from home?
Of course, different job roles will mean you will require different tools. However, generally speaking - alongside a strong Wi-Fi connection - here are some other pieces of equipment which we advise for many people in remote working to have at the ready:
- Noise-canceling headphones
- Two computer screens
- Wireless keyboard
- Wireless mouse
- Webcam
- Ergonomic chair
5. Be Strict with Logging In and Off
One of the biggest dangers of working from home is that the lines can blur between work and play. Striking this correct work-life balance is absolutely vital to successful remote working.
Just as when you are working in the office, it is vital to get into a strong routine of getting up at the right time and being ready to work at the same time each morning. Being 5 minutes late to begin work from home every now and then can become a slippery slope of causing detrimental damage to your productivity and falling short of your work objectives.
Likewise, it is also essential for long term productivity and a healthy work-life balance to be strict with an official "logging off" time each day. It can be tempting to push this back due to the highly connected world we live in, where sending an email or work message can be done at the click of a finger from every location. However, to maintain productivity and motivation during the times you are "logged in", it is important to set clear times apart for working and unwinding in this regard.
Optimise Remote Working Results with Made in the Midlands
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