How We’ve Been Adapting To A Fully Remote Workspace
If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that as humans, we adapt. At Bench, we are no different. In mid-March 2020, over the span of one week, we went from roughly 400 Benchmates operating out of 3 office spaces, to a fully functioning distributed workforce. Six months later, we are still fully remote and our company and client list is growing every day.
We want to share how remote work-life looks like for us — from our home office set-ups, building work-from-home calendars, to tips on maintaining your productivity, health and wellness at home.
At the end of this article, we’ve also added additional resources on how you can create an optimal space while working remotely.
What is remote work life like at Bench?
Bench wasn’t always a remote first company.
Up until March 2020, we were a bustling office filling 3 office spaces to capacity. But like many other companies at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, that had to change quickly.
In Vancouver, we were fortunate enough to have warning of the pandemic before its arrival and were able to tell Benchmates to be prepared to begin working remotely. With just days notice, we were able to fully distribute our workforce and continue serving our clients from our homes without interruption. Our Environment team (and some incredible volunteers from outside the team) worked tirelessly to deliver furniture and tech to ensure Benchmates could be as productive as possible from their new home offices.
Here we are 6 months later, still remote, but busier than ever.
For most Benchmates, remote work means working from home. But many remote workers will utilize shared office spaces or even public spaces to get work done. While most will opt to work from home—especially now, the beauty of remote work is having the freedom and flexibility to curate your work routine to best suit you and your lifestyle.
Transitioning to remote work
Transitioning to a remote work format can be jarring, especially for those who may thrive off of the bustling atmosphere of an office. It can feel foreign to get into a work mindset, to stay motivated and feel energized and productive.
Plus, commuting creates a barrier that separates your work life and personal life. When working from home, these lines can be blurred and can often lead to overworking and burnout. Remote work can also make it feel more difficult to be socially connected to your teammates.
With digital connection at our fingertips, we know that being social does not always require proximity. Motivation, productivity and socialization are absolutely achievable outside of an office environment. All it takes is experimentation, practice and discipline.
Remote work is about trust, motivation, and communication.
Create a routine, set strict boundaries for yourself and if things aren’t working, don’t be afraid to try something new.
What does an effective work from home set up look like at Bench?
You have complete control over your space. Make sure it’s working for you.
Your work environment encompasses your physical work space, your work schedule, and how you are managing your workload.
In an ideal world, you would have a set “office” space in your home—a quiet space you would only use to work. However, for many of us living in Vancouver (or other dense urban areas), it can be difficult to spare the square footage.
If a dedicated work space is not something you can make work, the most important thing you can ask yourself is “is my current setup sustainable?”
If the answer is no, try to identify what isn’t working and experiment with different solutions.
“The switch from working in the office to working from home was definitely an adjustment! The biggest challenge was the social aspect — not being able to see my team in person every day, or have chats with other Benchmates in the kitchen or over lunch. However, I’ve found that it allowed me to be more focused & productive than I was at the office. Aside from a few bumps at the beginning (two people trying to work full-time from a 600 sq ft apartment, who are on calls for most of the day) having a routine has definitely helped me in my WFH life.
I used to love starting & ending my day with my walking commute to the office. To create a similar routine at home, I’ll either work out in the morning, or take our dog out for a walk along the seawall, instead of rolling out of bed straight into my “office” (aka the living room). When I was working in the office, I’d often just eat at my desk over lunch or do a half-working, half-eating 30 minute break.
What has been nice about working from home has been intentionally working in an actual break at lunch! Getting outside, stretching my legs, or doing something non-work related has really helped me break up my day and come back after lunch feeling more recharged.
I started creating task lists at the end of the day, to be able to ‘complete’ the day, and can pick up everything easily the next morning. It’s been a transition for sure, but setting up a routine and attempting to stick to those every day has really helped me find more balance in my new WFH set up!”
—Samara Green, Recruitment Manager
Identifying signs of burnout
One of the biggest challenges with working from home is learning how to balance your work and home lives when the two now share a physical space.
When you keep telling yourself “just one more thing”, it’s easy to work well into your evening. Overworking leads to burnout, which is detrimental both to your productivity and your mental health.
Burnout works in a cycle: When working from home you can be tempted to overwork. This can kickstart a deadly cycle of stress, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are more productive. This can give you a sense that you need to do more work, which in turn leads back to overworking.
Burnout presents itself differently from person to person, so identifying what burnout means for you is extremely valuable.
Everything from feeling low energy to avoiding projects, to a slip in work quality can be signs that you are experiencing burnout.
Dealing with distractions
It’s a good idea to re-evaluate your routine and work schedule if you begin to feel distracted and less engaged in your work.
Signs of this could be that you’re working through your breaks, feel more stressed and overworked, and feel more isolated.
In his TedTalk, Jason Fried compares focus to sleep. If we are woken up several times during the night, we are exhausted the next day. Being constantly pulled out of sleep means we haven’t been able to reach deep sleep for long enough during the night.
Same goes for focus.
If we are constantly pulled out of our work by Slack notifications or social media, we can’t achieve deep concentration which is where we are most productive.
At home, we are more in control of what can distract us.
Utilize Slack’s notification pause functions, physically distance yourself from your phone, and try to catch yourself when you’re feeling distracted. If you have roommates (who may also be working from home), try to set boundaries with them such as separate work spaces to increase productivity.
Build a balanced calendar
When working remotely, creating and maintaining a work structure that works for you is a challenge, but one that has a huge pay off.
Experienced remote workers say the key to successful remote work is routine. It may seem tedious, but organizing and committing your time in advance is important.
Schedule everything. Yes, everything.
Schedule your wake up times and morning routine (yoga, dog walk, chores, etc.). Schedule your breaks and your lunch like you schedule meetings and calls — mandatory. Schedule large chunks of distraction free deep work, as well as free/flex time so you’re able to adjust in a pinch.
And most importantly, schedule when you are going to stop working.
Simply setting up a reminder to shut off your computer for the day, to leave whatever you were doing for tomorrow, can do wonders against burnout. This helps train your mind to ‘shut off’ when the work day is done.
Some remote work experts have an end of day ritual — something as simple as taking a walk or making your favourite snack to separate your work day from your personal time. This allows you to get out of the work mindset. It replaces your commute home, and can stop you from overworking yourself.
“In order for me to feel refreshed each day “going to work” (i.e: going downstairs to my basement), it’s important that I have a designated area that is for work only.
Drawing a clear line between my home and work life has really helped keep me motivated during the months of WFH. I’ve also found it helpful to fully shut down my computer at the end of each work day. IT loves it, and it is a great signifier that the work day is over and it’s time to enjoy other aspects of my life!”
-Ayla Geber, Recruitment Specialist
When you’re finding your workload overwhelming, use prioritization strategies to help you get through your work in the most efficient way possible.
Strategies like the Eisenhower Matrix or Eat The Frog are popular ways to prioritize tasks and manage time.
Eisenhower Matrix:
A template to help you organize your tasks by importance and urgency. Think critically about where you place your tasks on the matrix. It’s not helpful if you put the bulk of your work in the important/urgent section.
Eat The Frog:
The name of this tactic (allegedly) comes from a Mark Twain saying,
“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
Simply put, this tactic asks you to schedule your tasks from most difficult to easiest.
You can get the harder, more daunting work out of the way at the beginning of the day (when you have more energy), and finish your day with easy, more appealing tasks.
Build a routine
Maintaining work/life balance, adhering to a routine and taking personal time when needed are great ways to address burnout. But how do we prevent ourselves from getting burnt out in the first place?
Routines are integral to remote work.
They automate discipline and help you effectively manage your time. Learning to stick to a routine is challenging and it takes practice to find a routine that works for you. Whether you are new to remote work, or you are a seasoned veteran, it’s never too late to start building good habits.
Be open to this new learning experience.
You aren’t going to find your perfect work from home routine overnight. Share your struggles and wins with your team and be patient with yourself. Building good habits is a slow process, but one you will be embarking on with your team.
Maintain your wellbeing
Physical, emotional and mental wellness are just as important. They are 3 parts of one system and they rely on each other to work effectively.
You can help maintain your physical wellness by exercising and eating nutritious meals regularly. Food is fuel for both your body and your brain — and the quality of that fuel matters!
Sleep is one of the most important things we do for our bodies and minds. When we are in deep sleep, our brains and bodies are actually incredibly active. Sleep is a “housekeeping” period and making sure you give yourself at least 7–8 hours of sleep for maintenance and recharging every night will make a difference to both your physical wellness, your focus and your mental and emotional health.
To keep Benchmates engaged in maintaining their wellbeing, we send out a company wide newsletter called “Motivation Monday” with links to resources and articles on various topics surrounding motivation, mental health and wellness. Additionally, we have started Tuesday afternoon Yoga sessions led by resident Bench yogi, Anna Martin.
Stay Connected
Feeling socially fulfilled and connected not only aids your mental wellbeing, but it also ensures you have a support system in place when you need it.
Have weekly social meetings with your team — a time that specifically isn’t for talking about work.
Our main communication channel is Slack. Through this, Benchmates are connected to many #social channels for a variety of topics of interest. P
opular channels are Bench include: #social_dogs, #social_cats, #random, #social_bookclub as well as team-specific social channels!
We also have #social_meetforcoffee which uses the Slack app Donut to match up random Benchmates for a 15–30 minute coffee chat once a week.
Now that Bench is more comfortable in its new remote position in the world, the Environment team has been planning remote social events to connect Benchmates!
From educational based lunch & learns and fun PechaKucha events, to remote movie and game nights, we want Benchmates to feel like they are a part of something greater than the (amazing) work we do here!
Looking for more information on a specific topic we covered? Check these out:
Maintaining wellness:
Bench’s Mental Health Guide: https://bench.co/resources/docs/BenchMentalHealth.pdf
Remote work:
Managing your remote work expectations (Doist): https://doist.com/blog/remote-work-habits/
WFH set ups:
Secondary work spaces (Zapier): https://zapier.com/blog/beyond-your-desk-secondary-workspace/
Building calendars:
Remote time management (Zapier): https://zapier.com/blog/working-too-much-remote-work/
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