How to Handle Remote Work Like A Pro
As COVID-19 puts the business world into a tailspin, many employees find themselves working from home to keep business going. For some, the transition comes as a much-welcomed change. For others, shifting into new work patterns comes with several new layers of complexity, both for employees and their supervisors.
If this is your first venture with remote work, you may find it’s not as easy as other companies make it look. The following tips can create a smoother transition and help you embrace the unanticipated jump out of the normal office environment.
Anticipate an Initial Drop in Productivity
As a general rule, the majority of remote employees say working from home makes them more productive. One study found that remote workers end up working about 1.4 extra days per month, which equals roughly three extra weeks!
Don’t expect such a boost immediately. There’s a learning curve to working from home as you navigate ways to overcome distractions and find your groove. It’s a good idea to expect a decrease in productivity at first, so don’t be too hard on yourself during the first few weeks if you’re not accomplishing as much as you’d hoped.
Stick to a Schedule
One of the easiest ways to transition to a work from home job is to acclimate yourself to a schedule and stick to it. Sure, you might not have to punch a time clock, and there aren’t any witnesses seeing you sneak into your office 10 minutes late, but that’s no excuse not to keep a regular work schedule.
Ideally, you can stick with your same working hours as you did when you had to go to the office. This will make it much easier to transition back into an on-site role after the pandemic is over.
Create a Designated Workspace
If your productivity is suffering while working from home, your workspace (or lack of a workspace) could be to blame. You should have a designated area to do your work to minimize distractions and help maintain a work/life balance.
If you don’t have a whole room in your home that you can dedicate as an office, try to shift some things around to make your space as private and “single-use” as possible. This is especially important if you have kids or roommates in the home, as you can use this space to let others know not to bother you while you’re there.
Leverage a Virtual Office
A virtual office is a service that enables remote work. Rather than have a physical office space, companies, freelancers, solopreneurs, and employees can work via a virtual office that offers live answering, a physical address, mail service, and even online meeting rooms.
Many companies use virtual offices because they want to be in a specific location without having to move there (i.e. you can have a San Francisco address while working from home in Florida).
Find the Office Evolution location nearest you and discover how a virtual office lets you work from home like a pro!