3 Tips to Making Remote Work Effective ⚡️
What a lot of organisations and workers new to remote work have quickly come to realize, is that working from home is not just about skipping the commute and switching an office desk for a dining table. It is possible to be in the comfort of your home and be very uncomfortable with your work.
Remote work has been around for a while, with its popularity growing mostly within the tech ecosystem and across developer-focused roles. However, with the government-enforced lockdowns in 2020 came a wave of commercial-facing roles within tech that also switched to remote work. Additionally, more traditional organisations are now looking to remote work as a way to keep their workforce engaged during the now year-long pandemic.
What a lot of organisations and workers new to remote work have quickly come to realize, is that working from home is not just about skipping the commute and switching an office desk for a dining table. It is possible to be in the comfort of your home and be very uncomfortable with your work.
Here are a couple of reminders of things you can do to make the most of your remote working experience:
Consider your workspace 🌱
No matter the activity you are undertaking, it is great to first start by having all the tools you need at hand. Applying this same mindset to your workspace is key to getting the most out of working from home. Whether it’s a room, a desk or balcony, create a separate space that you can instantly associate with work and disassociate from the rest of your home.
Besides creating this space and having all the resources you need closeby, the quality of your workspace is also vital to productivity. From a comfortable chair to a table at a proper height, to decent lighting and good ventilation — make sure you do some research on how to make where you’ll be spending a significant portion of your day the best it can be with the resources that you have (even if it means diving into some DIYs).
Time Management, Scheduling & Prioritization ⌛️
“one of the first things to go when you work from home is a routine/schedule, and this can lead to you working round the clock or losing track of important things due to lack of structure”
Time management is already one of the most common issues in the way of productivity under normal circumstances. When you factor in working from home during a pandemic, it becomes that much more of an issue.
One way to get in front of this is to create and keep a schedule. This sounds pretty simple, but often one of the first things to go when you work from home is a routine/schedule, and this can lead to you working round the clock or losing track of important things due to lack of structure. It is important to set boundaries with yourself and with your boss, coworkers and clients. Establish set working hours that align with what you’re expected to do and stick to them. Make sure to schedule breaks as well.
Communication 📞
“with all the instant communication tools available, the expectation of an immediate response has become the new normal — one which has a huge impact on how much focused work you can get done.”
When it comes to remote work, the common piece of advice shared is to over-communicate. This is usually emphasized because when working from home, it is sometimes difficult for your managers, clients or co-workers to know if you are doing what you are supposed to.
One of the downsides to this, however, is that with all the instant communication tools available, the expectation of an immediate response has become the new normal — one which has a huge impact on how much focused work you can get done.
A better way to handle this is to build weekly check-ins into your schedule where you can provide updates to your team and get non-urgent feedback on the work you’ve been doing. Each time you have a non-urgent request or receive a non-urgent message, you can mark such messages and make sure to address them during your updates.
The important feature here is that the calls are regular, predictable and a forum in which you and your team can consult with one another, meaning that concerns and questions will be addressed.
Instant communicating has its way of making everything feel like an emergency even when it is not. Therefore, being aware of a time set apart to provide such updates or ask non-urgent questions can significantly improve you and your team’s productivity.
We hope these three quick tips will help you improve your experience of working remotely.
Let us know in the comments any other hacks you have come across or been practising to be more effective when working remotely 👩🏾💻.
