With the risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19), companies are asking their employees to work from home. This may create a shift in remote work. Maybe not. It’s possible companies will blame remote work for decrease in productivity and not the virus. It’s hard to say now.
Stripe, a payment processing company, is building out one of its engineering hubs with remote engineers. This is promising!
For the past 6 years, I’ve worked remotely at TheraNest and Therapy Brands. During my tenure, I’ve learned what works and does not work for me.
I’ve included what I’ve found important for successfully working remotely.
Table of Contents
Dedicated Work Spot
You must designate a work spot.
An office works the best. However, it’s not required. I’ve had success at a side table in my living room and a spot at my kitchen table. The kitchen table can be tricky since in the evenings you will transition from work to dinner without moving much.
A benefit of working from home is the flexibility to move around your home. You can start your morning on the couch responding to email then transition to a desk for your deep work and meetings then back to the couch or sofa chair to end the day. Remote work gives you a lot of flexibility.
Set Start and End Times
Remote work is not less productive than in-office work. It all comes down to the person and a little about the work. Some people can not produce quality work in the office and others can not make themselves work when at home.
It’s helpful to set a starting time and an ending time similar to that of an office environment. While working at home, you will not have the office queues of the day wrapping up since you will not see co-workers leave.
For those that are independently productive, you’ll likely struggle to stop working. It’s much easier to keep working if you don’t have to worry about getting home at a reasonable time. Starting is the same way.
I still have trouble with this one but having a kid helps tremendously.
Continue to Communicate
Did you receive / send updates weekly by desk “drop-ins”? Continue but move to text via email or Slack. Not the best strategy but I’m not judging.
Get Outside
It’s easy to do this when you commute to work. Everyday you step outside on your way to work and again on your way home.
As you’ll find out, it’s easy to stay inside all day when you work from home – minus if you have kids that have to go to school. Kids save the day again.
Move
You’ll quickly notice how little you will move while working from home. Your work and meetings are on your computer.
You don’t have meetings you need to walk. It’s easy to look at the clock and 4-5 hours have flown by without you standing.
Standing desks are a fantastic solution. Stand in the morning and sit in the afternoon or vice versa. They are getting more affordable too.
Music
One of my favorite things is playing music on the speakers versus headphones. A Google Home was the best purchase for my office. Not a bad speaker either.
There are many articles out there with other strategies for working remotely. Shoot me an email if you have any questions.
Photo by Tom Winckels on Unsplash