Working from home can be a big transition

CoRE Educational has put together a list for being productive whilst working from home.

Self care

This still applies when working from home, it’s important to cut yourself some slack, as the transition may make you feel anxious, lonely, isolated, and definitely frustrated when it isn’t as easy as it seems.

  • Take scheduled breaks – you wouldn’t work for 8 hours straight without a break in the office so don’t be tempted to overwork yourself whilst at home. Try setting regular alarms to remind you to take a break especially when working from a screen.
  • Don’t eat lunch at your desk or any working environment; it isn’t a break if you’re still facing your emails and paperwork. Breaking up the day like this can boost productivity and morale.

Protect your time and your workspace

Many managers have this concern about their employees working from home; they worry that employees are watching Netflix or doing the ironing. However, people tend to work harder from home as it is hard to switch off once you have completed your working day and it’s harder to ‘leave’ the work behind.

  • Protecting your workspace is critical to ensuring productivity whilst working from home. Talk to the members in your household and establish ground rules during your working hours to minimize interruptions.
  • A simple “Do not disturb” sign can help with this.
  • Hands-free headsets are great for cancelling any background noise and work well for conference calls.

Communicate

Just because you are not in the office doesn’t mean you are not part of it. Keep up communication with colleagues frequently and stay up to date with any progress you make. There is no such thing as over-communicating.

  • Ensure you have a system for sharing documents such as Google Docs, Box, or Dropbox to consolidate access to files, making it easier for communication between colleagues.

Keeping up morale

  • Dress and groom professionally. As tempting as it is to work in your pajamas, it doesn’t put you in the right frame of mind when working professionally.
  • Keep in contact with your colleagues; just because you can’t partake in water-cooler chat doesn’t mean you can’t interact with them as you would if you were office-based.
  • Getting feedback from colleagues, managers, and customers on your remote working can boost morale and provide valuable insights into how to improve your work.

Most importantly, remember you are still a valued member of the workforce.

Here at CoRE Educational, we want to assist in any way we can with remote working during these uncertain times we are facing. If you require remote IT support for your school, business or simply hardware to allow your employees to work from home, we can assist.

To contact our account manager: