{"id":151255,"date":"2020-03-13T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2020-03-13T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=151255"},"modified":"2020-03-13T06:11:23","modified_gmt":"2020-03-13T11:11:23","slug":"coronavirus-6-tips-working-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2020\/03\/coronavirus-6-tips-working-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus: 6 tips for working more effectively from home"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the coronavirus taking hold worldwide, and offices being closed, increasingly, employees are being asked to work from home. However, remote working can be tough. Here are some tips and tricks to ease the transition from working at an office. to working from home.<\/em><\/p>\n

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With the coronavirus (COVID-19) recently classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation<\/a>, and with over 128,000 people infected worldwide (at the time of publishing), many countries are opting to close schools and businesses, in order to reduce \u2018community spread\u2019 of this virus. As a result, schools, government offices, and even businesses, are being closed for several days, or even weeks, in the hope that declining rates of infection would be realised.<\/p>\n

However, for many, these closures are not a glorified holiday. The work of an organisation, and even of a country, still needs to get done. So, even if it was not embraced before, many employers are now arranging for their employees to continue working from home. However, although most of us might be thrilled at the prospect of being able to work from home \u2013 albeit without the threat of a global pandemic in the mix (!) \u2013 like many things, it does take some know-how in order to do it well. Here are six tips when preparing to work from home.<\/p>\n

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1. Be clear about the personal resources that you will be using at home<\/h3>\n

In circumstances when remote working is being imposed \u2013 such as to lessen the spread of COVID-19, many organisations may not have fully considered plans or the requisite systems already in place to allow ALL of their employees to work from home. As a result, a lot of things are likely to fall through the cracks, and may be the expectation that essentially, the employees will pick up the slack. A big area where such omissions tend to occur is with respect to telecoms and ICT, specifically, phones, computers and the associated software.<\/p>\n

For employees who already had been assigned laptop computers, the transition tends to be easier, as they would just use those devices at home. However, for those who work at a desktop computer at the office, there may be an expectation that they will use their home computers when required to telework. Similarly, if employees have not been assigned mobile\/cellular phones, are they expected to make \u2013 and bear all the costs for \u2013 work-related calls on their personal phones?<\/p>\n

These are some of the matters that ought to be discussed and clarified before remote work commences, in order to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place, and to limit the chances of employees feeling as if they have been taken advantage of, and left out of pocket, albeit in challenging circumstances.<\/p>\n

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2.\u00a0 Maintain regular hours<\/h3>\n

The discipline of not having to bolt out of the door at a particular time, and beat through the traffic, in order to get to work on time, could give way to a more laissez-faire attitude when working from home. Instead of being at your desk by about 8:15 a.m., as you would do normally, with work officially starting at 8:30, at home, you are now clocking it at 10.<\/p>\n

One of the keys to working from home successfully is being disciplined: respecting the fact that there are prescribed periods in which you are supposed to be working \u2013 unless, of course, other arrangements have been made. Hence, although some flexibility is permissible, even though you might be at home, it is important to still conduct yourself as a professional \u2013 even though you might still be in your pyjamas at 10 o\u2019 clock in the morning!<\/p>\n

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3.\u00a0 Set a schedule, and stick to it<\/h3>\n

Recognising that many of us are conditioned to be in the \u2018work zone\u2019 at work, and leave work behind at home, some kind of mental adjustment might be needed when those two worlds collide. At the office, our days might be quite organised, where we know what tasks we have to complete, the meeting we are scheduled to attend, etc. However, when (almost) everyone might be working from home, things might not necessarily go to plan.<\/p>\n

Also, if you and your colleagues are teleworking, due to COVID-19, it is likely that schools have also been closed, and your children are at home. In tending to their needs and trying to keep them occupied, your work commitments could suffer \u2013 although you are supposed to be on the clock. It is crucial to manage distractions, in order to be truly productive and to be able to show tangible or measurable work-related outputs.<\/p>\n

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4.\u00a0 Set targets and goals<\/h3>\n

When working from home, the days can easily meld into each other, and especially when distractions abound, you may realise that you have accomplished very little at the end of a work day. In order to set yourself up for success, it is recommended that you set targets and goals, These targets and goals can be as granular as you need to keep you honest, such as, targets or goals you want to accomplish: within the hour; by the end of the morning; by the end of the day; by the end of the week.<\/p>\n

It is important to highlight that unlike when everyone is working at the office, where there may be a lot of seamless collaboration and teamwork, in working from home, there can be a sense that each employee is under their own spotlight. Hence, what you have or have not accomplished, and\/or what you have contributed to your team, becomes quite clear, and could affect future performance evaluations.<\/p>\n

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5.\u00a0 Use online tools to meet and collaborate<\/h3>\n

To stave off the isolation that can happen when working from home, especially when one is accustomed to working and sharing space with colleagues, it may be useful ensure that the team remain connected, although everyone might be working remotely.<\/p>\n

Platforms such as Slack, Google Chat, Skype, or even WhatsApp, can be used to for group chats, or even to hold internal team briefing and meetings, or even conference calls with clients. Cognisant that one\u2019s office might closed for several days, the aim is to still foster a sense of normalcy, and to limit the losses to one\u2019s team, and to the organisation, when face-to-face engagement may be limited.<\/p>\n

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6.\u00a0 Mind the munchies!<\/h3>\n

Finally, with kitchen and the refrigerator so close by when you are at home, you are liable to go rummaging around a lot more often when you feel bored or could do with a break. At the office, snacks and the like might not be as readily available, and so you may be less tempted to eat between meals, or just consume empty calories.<\/p>\n

Once again, discipline is necessary. If you are unable to completely resist temptation, you might want to tie your food rewards to work-related targets and goals previously suggested. So for example, by your morning break, you should have accomplished A, B and C, and only then can you have half of the muffin you had been eyeing since breakfast. Hopefully, the last thing you want is to have gained 10 pounds (5 kilogrammes) because you were working from home for just two weeks!<\/p>\n

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Image credit:\u00a0 \u00a0Arek Socha (Pixabay<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

—————<\/p>\n

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