Although more than half of those working remotely feel more productive, many challenges remain in hybrid and remote work environments. Without face-to-face contact, getting to know your team, your manager, and your job responsibilities are different than face-to-face. Have no fear; you’re not the first to travel on this road. Here are some tips to help you navigate the work-from-home journey successfully. They’re also useful for those working hybrid or only onsite. Many large companies – especially in the professional services sector – have been fully remote for many years and plan on staying that way.
1. Know The Ground Rules
From day one, it’s important to know what’s expected of you on the job. This becomes critical when you’re working in a hybrid or remote workplace. Carefully read your employee handbook and employment agreement if you have one, and familiarize yourself with company policies.
Understanding the ground rules from the beginning helps set expectations and will help avoid confusion and misunderstandings. If you need accommodation for any company policy, you should say something right away.
2. Set Up A Dedicated Workspace
Finding a suitable place for remote work is one of the biggest challenges for many. Maintaining a proper work-life balance is difficult when working from home with limited space. Any quiet place is appropriate, whether it’s a guest room at home, a local coffee shop (as long as privacy is maintained), or a co-working space.
3. Stay Connected With Your Team
As you navigate the work-from-home environment, you may find remote work isolating. Although you’re missing out on the spontaneous conversations that take place onsite, you can use communications technology to stay connected, collaborate, and build rapport.
According to the job site Indeed.com, “Remote team communication is also important for keeping morale high and employees motivated and engaged. The spontaneous and social aspect of workplace communication is often as impactful as the business part.”
4. Don’t Mix Work And Personal Communication
To maintain a work-life balance, it’s important to set boundaries between work and your personal life. A key step is using your company email, messaging, and conferencing systems only for work and maintaining separate accounts for personal communication. Your company policy may already dictate that company electronic systems are for company business only.
5. Protect Your Work
Your company should have procedures to help you navigate work-from-home cyber security and to maintain privacy. While working on a computer that’s connected remotely, you need to keep all files secure. If your company offers cloud services, upload your work regularly. Use secure passwords and secure Wi-Fi connections, firewalls, and any other security measures your employer requires.
6. Use An Electronic Calendar
When you work remotely, you may have a different schedule than many of your teammates. You may even be in a different time zone or on another continent. This makes it easier to lose track of meetings, deadlines, and other important events. An online calendar helps you stay up to date, whether you’re working onsite or from home or another remote location. If your company provides a way to see teammates’ calendars, it makes it easier to check their availability and stay connected. A prioritized list of tasks is another important thing to store online.
7. Make Self-Care A Priority
To avoid burnout, self-care is a necessity when working remotely. Many find that maintaining a regular schedule is helpful, while others enjoy the flexibility of working around childcare and other personal responsibilities. To decrease stress, be sure to take breaks and set an “end of work” time each day. Being accessible 24 hours per day is the quickest path to job burnout.
coAmplifi Workforce Management
As remote & hybrid work becomes more common, new platforms and tools are becoming available to help manage the challenges. One of these is coAmplifi, a workforce management platform that fosters communication, collaboration, and transparency.
If you want to enhance your company’s remote culture and maintain (or improve) your productivity, and work-life balance, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us.
