Working from home has become extremely popular in recent times due to the pandemic. This rise of having a home office has provided both positive and negative outcomes. For many people it was a shock to begin with as they had never worked from home in all of their working years. This article will hopefully give you a chance to assess your working from home situation and try and work on it to make it as best it can be.
Working From Home: The Quick Rundown
This article will teach you different ways on how to be productive while you work from home. Here are a few key points we will be focussing on:
- Your work environment
- Your mental health
- Tips to stay productive
Look After Your Home Office Environment
As soon as people were told to work from home, many didn’t have adequate places where they could get on with their work and push forward throughout the day. Hundreds of people most likely did work in their dining room, or kitchen which brought a huge amount of distractions to them.
One way to create the perfect environment for you is to try and work in a room that people can avoid if there are other people in the house. If you work in a room where people can easily just walk through, this will cause a great deal of distractions, especially if you are involved in a video call meeting. Making sure you are out of the way of everyone and letting them know where you’re working will decrease distractions and increase productivity.
Noise can be one of the most distracting factors while working from home. Even more so if you happen to live on a busy main road with cars going back and forth all day. There may also be dogs barking, amongst a multitude of other noises. One way to combat this is to try and minimise the risk of this noise reaching you. Many people decide to get noise cancelling headphones or listen to calming music which will drown out unwanted noise ever so slightly while also helping you not get distracted and concentrate on your work.
It may be quite a tempting thing for family and friends to reach out to you, whether that’s ringing or calling round when they’re just passing. However, you need to make sure that you let them know that during the hours you work, they won’t be able to distract you like they once thought they could. If you were still in the office they wouldn’t be calling round or ringing you so make sure they know that it isn’t any different now you’re at home.
Your Mental Health While Working At Home
Over the past few years, the talk about mental health has grown and grown and become more mainstream than ever. Making the change from working in a busy office to then working alone at home can affect people differently. Some people do enjoy the change, but a large number of people may struggle.
One of the best things to do is to get fresh air. It sounds simple, but going for a quick walk around the block does seem to help people in relaxing and releasing any stress or tension they have. Being within nature has positive effects on many people. This is a great way to stretch your legs and get some fresh air, both which are healthy for you in general anyway.
Another technique to try is to set up your computer or tablet (or any electronic device you work with) to be able to quickly access Zoom or other video platforms. It may also be a great idea to set up a support group for other colleagues that are feeling slightly lonely. This means at any point in the day, you can all video call each other to speak about work, but to also check how everyone is doing. It may also be a good idea to meet colleagues on a regular basis outside of work hours.
All of these different techniques will most likely help you with being productive at home. The key things to take from this are to keep your home office free of distractions. Also, remember to treat working from home like you are in the office by sticking to the correct work hours. Speaking to friends and colleagues may also help as you will realise you’re not alone which can increase your productivity.
