Coronavirus: How to work from home
Many employers are switching to the home office because of the corona virus. Are you one of them?
Your company sent you to the home office? Good start, we are in all this together and we need to take care of each other. In order to stop coronavirus spreading so fast, #stayathome, for now.
Being at home all the time can make you anxious and there are many traps lurking behind every corner, like laundry which needs to be hang up, pet which is so happy about you being at home and wants to play all the time, dishwasher which is waiting to be emptied out and many others.
We totally get you, that’s why we want to share some tips & tricks and why you should make a plan of your daily business at home too and maintain them for the sake of you.
Stay positive and productive while working from home with these 6 tips:
1-Maintain fixed working hours
Sleeping till late, drinking coffee, reading the news and starting to work around noon it’s a very bad idea! It is super important you keep your fixed working hours at home office too. Set up your alarm as usual, set clear boundaries and control your schedule otherwise you will feel lost.
2-Start the day with exercise
From bed directly to your desk? Try avoiding it. Instead, open your windows, let the fresh air in and make a stretching or any other exercise (like yoga), there are plenty of YouTube videos about it. If you are lucky to have a balcony or even garden, set up your exercise outside! Stay FIT.
3-Away with the training pants
Although you are working from home, make some dress up effort, you will feel better, be more motivated and more confidence. You don’t need to put on a suit on but avoid the dirty & worn out clothes. Tip: Make a daily morning video call with your colleagues, set this call as motivation to make yourself decent.
4-Adjust your workplace as best you can
The place of work should be set up as well as possible. First of all, put away everything that could distract you, try to maintain clean desk policy and clean space around you. Choose the bright place in the apartment, preferably with daylight, planet earth will be thankful if you can avoid using the lighting all the time. Make sure you do not work with your back to the window, screen contrast could cause headache. If you don’t have a screen at home and you work only with a laptop, you should be particularly careful. It is advisable to work with an external keyboard, distance to the screen should be an arm’s length and the edge of the screen should be at eye level. The best way to adjust the height of your laptop is to put books under it. Make sure you change your positions, try working standing too, your back will be thankful. Also be sure you have all tools (like Slack, Trello, Google Docs or access to company’s server) set up to work from home.
5-Communication
Communication is the most important now. Do daily calls with your colleagues and teams to be sure you are on the same page and to avoid unnecessary mistakes. Follow the Rule of Seven, which states that people need to hear a message seven times before they’ll internalize it. Even everything is clear with your daily work, call your colleague and make sure she/he is doing fine, some of them are far away from their hometowns and families.
6-Take breaks
Breaks are important in the home office too. Use them smart, make yourself a home cooked lunch, do your dishes, laundry or a 5-minute stretch!
Due to the current circumstances, we wanted to let you know we care and we are taking the current issue of coronavirus (COVID-19) very seriously.
