Amidst the Coronavirus Outbreak, companies have rolled out mandatory remote work for its employees to maintain social distancing and minimize the impact of the deadly virus. Even if you are a veteran or newbie for Work From Home in Coronavirus, here’s what you need to do to remain successful. And it’s logical to assume that for a while, switching to the ‘home office’ would become the new standard for many of us, regarding the World Health Organization’s declaration that coronavirus has officially reached a ‘pandemic’ status.
For the first time, some workers will be working from home, which means finding out how to stay on the job in a new environment, which does not lend itself to efficiency. Yet there are ways to produce results and stop going stir-crazy, from building an excellent workspace to talking to your team.
Listed below are few tips to work from home and stay positive!
Crank up the Communication
Coronavirus or not, the trick to working remotely is to communicate clearly with your employer and know precisely what you’ll be doing. Many people spend their days with their boss close by, which ensures contact is convenient and effortless. But with remote work, that’s all out the window, and contact disruption is much more possible if the workplace isn’t used to remote work. For example, your manager may not be used to handling people remotely, or your organization does not have a ready-to-go suite of resources for remote employees, such as the Slack chat app or the Zoom video conferencing app.
Yet even for those who are used to it, working from home may feel lonely and unstructured. Loneliness can make humans feel less driven and less efficient. And when you work from home with your boss and friends, it helps if as much of it as possible can be “accessible” face-to-face and instant contact, including video calls via Skype, Zoom. Out of sight, remote employees can have a real issue in mind. The best remote employees will frequently reach out to colleagues and managers through a variety of resources.
Regard it like it’s an Actual Job
There are some enduring tips for WFH to rely on as well. Just because you can lay around in your pyjamas, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Dress up and take a shower and real it like it’s an actual job. When you don’t have a home office, just do as much as you can to build an ad hoc, tailor-made room for work only.
Not getting a well-equipped home office space when people begin working remotely can lead to temporary decrease in productivity. So do something more deliberate instead of lying in bed with a laptop. This remedy might be as easy as putting a nightstand into a corner far from distractions, plopping down your monitor, and sitting in an upright chair, as you’d at your office desk. With a designated workplace where you can concentrate, the advantages of remote work become more comfortable to access.
Don’t Feel Alienated
Still, the imposed and sudden nature of the transition from an office to a home setting could leave some scrambling to get used to the change, even with the available resources. The coronavirus threat is driving everyone into this form of intense working from home. There are two forms of work from home: short-term or intermittent work and regular or full-time work from home. The latter is still very rare, and it’s not clear how long people will be at home with coronavirus, which poses more complications.
In addition, prolonged isolation may potentially affect morale and productivity. That’s why it is recommended that teams try to preserve a sense of normalcy and camaraderie in unorthodox ways, such as virtual pizza parties or remote happy hours, where people call in and share a drink via video conferencing. Make time for casual conversations and give public praise for goals reached and projects completed.
Keep Hopes Up
These are stressful times, negative headlines, and worry about your near, and dear ones might put answering your work emails on the back front. The more effort you put into interacting with friends or colleagues, the higher the chances of reducing feelings of loneliness that can lead to depression.
Apparently, a short period of two to four weeks full-time work from home will be economically and emotionally tricky, albeit bearable, whereas a longer duration of two or three months full-time work from home can result in high economic and health costs. The that solutions to these include as much face-to-face online contact as possible through video calls, frequent manager check-ins–particularly for those workers who live alone and may feel more lonely and regular meetings with no agenda, such as coffee grabbing or a drink. It is essential to make clear and concise communication to keep morale high.
Make your Workplace a little funky!
Choose furniture that will suit your purpose. Don’t make any compromise on a decent chair. Show yourself some love while choosing a well-designed, ergonomically-correct chair because you don’t want to end up feeling tired and getting backaches.
Who says work isn’t supposed to be fun? Feel free to choose accessories that make your home office feel more relaxed. Coffee mugs, popular notepads, and sticky notes are all perfect ideas to make you happy when working. In reality, while you are working, you should feel fantastic, particularly when you have the privilege to design your home office. Creating a homely environment will give your work a sense of familiarity and improve its performance.
Working from home can make you a bit lazy, especially if you’re not used to it. Prepare for the day a ‘to-do list’ that will help on the productivity front. Use a pin-board if you have one, or put a few sticky notes over your desk with some motivational quotes with regular to-dos; it definitely helps in the front of productivity. Add potential goals in the form of pictures and messages.
