Remote working sounds good, right? Well, it can be hard to get in the groove when you are working out of the office. As many of us start to work remotely more often, you may be wondering how you can make the transition as smooth as possible and how to be the most productive. But with remote working comes challenges, such as distractions, technical issues or communication problems. These tips will help you have the best experience possible whilst working from home.
Here are the top tips to make remote working as easy as possible:
- Don't work in your pyjamas
- Follow the code of conduct for online meetings
- Establish a routine
- Be flexible
- Set up a working area
- Have more syncs
- Invest in reliable online tools
Don’t work in your pyjamas
Yes, it can be comfy to work in your pyjamas but getting dressed will make you feel more productive and give you more energy. Dressing in your work clothes can help you get into the mindset of working and will make you look much more professional if having to do video calls. You don’t want to get caught working in your trackies on the sofa!
Code of conduct for online meetings
First things first, test your microphone and sound prior to any online meetings. Messing around with sound mid-meeting will waste yours and others time and will make the meeting unproductive. Online meeting etiquette is to mute your microphone when you aren’t talking. You can’t control if they start digging outside your apartment but background noise can be distracting and make it hard to hear clearly what the other person is saying, so just mute to avoid interference.
Alternatively, if on a video call try and have a neutral or plain background. If you are sitting with your untidy living room in full view it can divert attention away from what you are saying and make people a lot less focussed. Finally, always be on time just as you would with a meeting in the office. You don’t want to keep external clients or internal colleagues waiting for you to join, so set reminders in your calendar and make sure you are ready and set-up for the meeting.
Establish a routine
You may think remote working means a relaxed Netflix and chill day. But think again. Act as if you are going to the office. Keep your daily routine as you would if you would a normal workday, set your alarm, have your morning coffee and get dressed. If you wake up 5 minutes before you need to begin and start working from bed you’re going to feel lethargic, tired and unfocused and not in the best headspace to be effective.
Plan your day or week prior to it commencing. Having a clear plan of what you are going to focus on, tasks and campaigns to ensure full productivity. Then structure your calendar just as you would in the office. Set times for different tasks and keep on track to make sure you are on top of your workload. By setting aside time for different tasks it helps to make sure that they will actually get completed. Furthermore, keeping your calendar updated can help your colleagues stay in the loop with what you are working on.
Be flexible
Everything might not go to plan when you are working from home or at another location. Being considerate and understanding of your colleagues or clients if the online software or internet isn’t working is crucial. Expectation management is key and being flexible is important when remote working.
Set up a work area
Making sure you have all the prerequisites such as a stable internet connection before you start working from home. Testing it before you start remote working is essential to perform your duties and do your job. Try and set up a dedicated working space to create some separation between work life and home life. This division can help you to focus on your tasks and switch off later on in the evening when the working day has finished.
Have more syncs
It’s true that remote working means you may miss out on that spontaneous talk at the coffee machine and you may feel distant from your team. Making a conscious decision to have more syncs and catchups with colleagues is important to make sure everyone stays informed of what’s happening and that way be a more effective workforce. Using communication tools such as Slack is a great way to have chats with coworkers so that you don’t feel so isolated and lonely whilst working remotely. Not only that but you can easily and quickly send colleagues work-related questions. Over-communication perhaps is key at the beginning to help ensure coworkers have everything they need to fulfil their job role.
Invest in reliable online tools
Using online tools to collaborate and engage coworkers no matter where they are located is a great way to keep productivity high whilst away from the office. You can use Mentimeter to keep employees engaged and interact with them anytime, anyplace. You can find out here how to use Mentimeter for remote working.
Investing in a reliable instant messaging tool such as Slack is perfect to help maintain a strong team culture and transparency within the organization. Creating open channels for different departments allows everyone to share what they are working on and allows the whole organization to be aware of what other teams are doing.
Entering into the world of remote working can at first seem like entering into uncharted territory. You may feel uncertain about what are the best ways to communicate with colleagues, maintain a high productivity level and make sure that you have the tools you need to execute your tasks. But practice makes perfect and establishing a good routine and work set-up away from the office will help you to be as effective and productive as possible.
To find out more about how Mentimeter can be used to work remotely, click here.
