Over the past two years working from home has become a prominent trend. While the sudden and drastic increase in remote work has been in large part due to the coronavirus pandemic, remote work seems to be here to stay.
For example, nearly 70% of full-time workers were working from home during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, 92% of those workers expect to be working from home at least 1 day a week, and 80% of those workers expect to continue working at home for at least 3 days.
Even prior to the coronavirus pandemic, workers have been increasingly searching for and accepting remote job opportunities. A study by Stanford has shown a 22% increase in productivity from at-home workers and finds that a person saves anywhere between $500 to $2000 a year from working remotely. In order to ensure a productive environment, it’s important to establish a healthy work-from-home routine. Below, we’ve put together five ways you can do so.
Switch Up Your Environment
A change of pace is good in any setting, but especially when working from home. While you’re home it’s important to have a designated space for your work area, maybe a nook or desk in the corner of your living room or a spare bedroom you can transform into your new office.
It’s also important to utilize the perks of working from home, and a good way to do so is by working outside your home from time to time. Go to a coffee shop, rent office space for a day, or work outdoors on a nice morning. Switching up your work environment will help keep your mind fresh and your days interesting while you work.
Establish Boundaries
Boundaries when working from home is a must. And it’s important to establish quite a few of them. Start with your personal search browsers and social media sites. Set a boundary for when you’ll use these throughout the day, if you have a hard time staying focused without checking on extra-curricular activities, you can install plug-ins that block websites for however long you set the timer, so you can’t access your favorite social media sites during your work hours.
Make sure the people in your household know your work boundaries when they can come and chat with you versus when you need to be left alone to concentrate. Ensuring and maintaining your boundaries will help establish a positive environment for working from home.
Get Dressed For Work
One of the biggest mistakes people make when working from home is treating it like one big sleepover. While of course, it’s fine to have a lazy day every now and again, try to change out of your pajamas and into some clothes you are comfortable working in. Just showing up for yourself a little is really important. Have a morning routine, maybe take a shower to get your day started, have your breakfast and coffee.
Communicate
Communication is key when working from home. Whether it’s a question about a project or just an update about your daily status, over-communicate your wants and needs. If you have a question, ask your supervisors or coworkers. Many businesses that have moved to a work-from-home setup have email chains and online chat platforms such as Slack where you can find information and pose questions to the group.
Make sure you know who and where to go when you have questions. It’s also important to keep morale high whilst working from home. Setting up time for coworkers to mingle outside of the “office” space is a great way to get out of the house and encourage team building.
Set Daily Goals
Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean your organizational skills need to be shelved. If anything, you’ll need to hone in on them even more so. Go through your weekly projects and needs, and section them into daily goals. Setting goals daily can help ensure you meet your deadlines with time to spare. You can also set goals for outside of work goals you have, for instance, maybe you want to try a new meal prepping recipe this week or have been aiming to finish a good book. Working from home gives you the luxury to plan each day
