Tips on ensuring your home environment is the perfect base for a day’s work.
As the country gets used to lockdown and the majority of people are now working from home (WFH) we at Rare have come up with some tips to make the transition as smooth and productive as possible.
Set up your designated workspace
This is crucial. Make one space in your home your new work environment, this could be your kitchen table, a desk in a spare room or perhaps you already have a home office. This allows you to have other spaces in your home that are work-free zones. Having one space that is your new office allows you to stay focused, it limits distractions and keeps your home feeling like a home. Allow time to set up a space that feels comfortable and productive and try to avoid having any distractions like TV’s, game consoles and if possible, children and pets.
Stick to your working hours
It may seem tempting to have a lie in or change your normal working hours but it’s best to stick to your normal routine. By sticking to your normal hours you stay motivated, connected and in control of this temporary situation, ready for life to return to normal. If you work 9-5 then make sure you are at your home desk for 9 and logged in. Set a morning meeting with your team or a colleague to create a routine and stay motivated. Make sure you take your lunch break away from your workspace and if you normally finish at 5, log out, leave work.
Take a break
It’s good to take a step back and take a moment. When you are confined to your house it can at times feel overwhelming and you can start to feel restless. The Government is allowing everyone to take one form of exercise a day, for example, a run, walk or cycle. Use this opportunity to break up your working day or to help start or finish it. When you do take a break, leave your home/work environment and go into a different room or space, leave the emails alone and really have a break.
Use technology
In all honesty, it’s never been easier to work from home. We are in the age of technology, it feels like every week there is a new app or piece of must-have software. Even now in lockdown everybody is downloading and using the Houseparty app to stay connected.
Here is a list of the ones we at Rare are using to help stay connected and productive.
- Teamwork – Managing our accounts, projects and team
- Adobe Creative Cloud – Sharing designs across the team
- Mircosoft Teams – Internal communication
- Zoom – video calls with clients and colleagues
- Outlook – good ‘old fashioned’ emailing
- Telephone – we have diverted our line to our mobiles, if you call we will answer
Use this time wisely
Take advantage of this time. Take a look at your company or business and take stock. This is a great opportunity to see what you could improve, what is working what you would like to do differently. Make lists, have team meetings and be honest. Use this time to make plans.
If you need any advice or have a future project in mind but need a little help to get it off the ground, then please get in touch.