7 Tips For Working From Home

Most of us have had to get acquainted with working from home over the last few months and despite getting into a routine, it’s easy to struggle with getting that ‘work/life balance’ down to an art.

To help iron out the creases, we’ve put together our own top tips for what, we’ve found, helps to create a more-efficient and less-stressful work from home set-up:

1. Dedicate an area for work.

Preferably an area that you can walk away from, ideally with a desk and good chair! Working from a sofa or a bed can be a bit awkward and typing anything seems to take twice as long. Separate your workspace from your homespace where possible. The psychology of the space you’re in makes a huge difference.

2. Take regular breaks.

Just as you would do at work. Lots of us feel chained to the laptop at home, in case we miss anything but you’d go and get a coffee or take lunch when you’re in the office, so make sure you break up your day by stepping away from your workspace. It’ll make the time spent at your desk much more productive - and your concentration will definitely benefit.

3. Keep away from the latest episode.

Your new favourite series is probably the first thing you should stay away from if you want to be productive and also, if you actually want to enjoy the episode after work. When you haven’t seen something before, it’ll be nearly impossible to keep your eyes away from the screen, so both work and free time will suffer. Try putting the radio on to keep the energy up, you can tune out and it’ll cause minimal distraction.

4. Keep in touch.

We’re social creatures at heart and this aspect of being in the office is missed by most, if not all of us. Keep in contact with your colleagues, the work Whatsapp group is more important than you may think! Feelings of isolation will affect your productivity and it can really bring you to a full standstill. You’ll get a lot out of engaging with other people, just as you would if you were in the office, face to face interaction is a mood booster so try not to miss those Zoom calls either!

5. Stay Active.

Go for a short walk around the block at lunch to get your blood circulating. This will help to elevate your mood, have a positive impact on your overall health and improve productivity while at your desk. Even your daily commute to and from the office means you’d be getting some extra steps in and some of us have already started to notice the consequences of not doing it. We’ve even started doing walking meetings with headphones - just make sure you aren’t looking at any screens whilst walking!

6. Be Consistent.

Make sure you have your work hours set and you’re consistent with it. This will help you to get into a routine and will drastically improve the way you work. It’s very easy to drag things out and over your working hours when your office is right there - in your house. You’ll find it very helpful to give yourself deadlines and stick to them. You can then be satisfied with your progress in your allotted hours and there’ll be no worry when you switch off for the evening.

7. Don’t suffer in silence.

This is perhaps one of the most important things, reach out if you’re struggling. Your colleagues are all in the same boat and it’s almost certain that others are having their ups and downs too. Your managers will want to know how they can help you get used to this new way of working and they’ll definitely want you to be at your usual best. Don’t suffer in silence if there’s something that isn’t working. Keep in touch with the people that want you to be happy and successful - they’ll know you well enough to be able to help.

We imagine there’ll be at least a little more working from home to come over the next few months, so if you’re not quite there yet on your set-up, we hope our top tips will help. If you have any useful tips of your own, we’d love to hear them!