According to a World Economic Forum survey, most employees prefer to work from the comfort of their home. 64% said working from home increased their productivity and only 50% missed their officemates. However, working from home isn’t without its share of challenges. For one thing, no one’s watching, so if you’re easily distracted that can be problematic. Another issue is connectivity. Without reliable internet and a strong signal, your work can be jeopardized. Here are five tips to get the most out of your WFH experience.
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1 – Start your day with a Virtual Commute
With WFH taking-off, people are getting in the not so healthy habit of jumping out of bed grabbing a coffee and immediately sitting down to work without taking the time to ease into the workday and taking the time to get geared-up for a productive day. Before WFH we used to go to the car/bus/train/subway which involved walking, then often listening to music, podcasts, taking in some news on the radio/web, checking social feeds, and then walking from the parking lot or the transit station to the office.
You can mimic this with a similar routine by implementing a “virtual commute” for the first 30-60 minutes of your day before your scheduled start time. Walk around the block, take a short bike ride, do some yoga, stretching, or other regular exercise. Listen to a podcast, take in some news, maybe even meditate, and you should be in a more relaxed and better-informed state of mind to kick-off your work day.
2 – Set start and finish time and take breaks
You would think work-life balance would improve by working from home, but that’s not often the case. Work time can blend into personal time so set an alarm that will signal when your workday should end. It can be easy to get so caught-up in your work that you avoid breaks altogether. Breaks will help you recharge and make you more effective. Rather than staying at your computer and watching YouTube or scrolling through Facebook, get up and take a little walk, get some fresh air or play with the dog.
3 – Make sure your technology is up to par
There is nothing more frustrating than being on an important video conference and having the video freeze or drop out altogether. Improving connectivity is key for any business that relies on the internet so their employees stay as productive. Utilizing enterprise-level networking solutions like RabbitRun Technologies while working from home means never having to worry about losing connectivity with important clients. RabbitRun’s SOHO SD-WAN solution provides multiple features that one would expect in a corporate office setting, including: prioritization of business applications, and redundant internet connections with built-in automated fail-over backup. In the event of an internet outage, it instantly jumps over to backup broadband or 4G LTE (wireless cellular) so there’s never a dropped call or meeting.
4 – Talk to your colleagues
While working from home, it’s important to interact with colleagues. While you may not miss the small talk, connecting with others on the team is an integral part of keeping the company mission on track. Reach out through Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, Slack, What’s App or however else your company communicates.
5 – Talk to your employer
You don’t want to risk being out of sight and out of mind. Keep the lines of communication open with your boss. If you love working from home, and have demonstrated you are productive in this environment, but your employer is asking people to come back to the office, talk about the option of working remotely a few days a week. The hybrid home + office combination is a popular middle ground for both employees and employers.
