By now, we’re sure you are posted up in your home working remotely in efforts to keep yourself and your team healthy through this pandemic. We don’t blame you, we are too! Some of us though are not experienced in what it takes to be effective at working remotely, and that is why we reached out to a couple of people who we know have done it well. We wanted to get their advice and share it with you all in hopes that their knowledge can help you through this tough time of isolation.
One of our team members, Reese, has had a lot of experience in the past with working remotely, while he doesn’t do it on a day to day basis for his full-time gig, he does work remotely for us and it has turned out pretty well. Ben Stineman, on the other hand, has 12 years of consistent experience working remotely for some of the biggest companies in the country. Below are a few tips from each of them that we thought you could use to help you out a bit. There is some overlap, and we left it in there intentionally to reinforce the importance of the tip when both of these guys are referencing it in their own experiences.
Tips from Reese
- Utilize presence effectively. If you are at lunch…say so.
- Have a dedicated space to work.
- Get up. Shower. Put on real clothes. Have a cup of coffee. Eat breakfast. Stay in your normal routine. Working in your pajamas is great for a day. For a week, it can be a problem.
- Communicate with the group as if you were there in person. If you have a one on one conversation but your intent is to have that conversation be heard by others, they won’t hear you unless you bring them into the convo.
- Set an hourly timer to get up and take a break. It is easy to get sucked into work for the day. You need to step away for a few minutes every hour.
- Take a lunch break away from your desk. Again, it is convenient to work through lunch but it isn’t healthy.
- Do your best to socialize outside of work. If that means playing an online game with friends, do it. If it means movie night with your roommates, do it. Force yourself to keep a social life.
- Be available during normal work hours.
Tips from Ben
- When you get up, do a morning routine as if you were going to leave where you live and go to work. Take shower (if that’s a morning thing for you). Put actual pants on. Get a coffee. etc.
- Don’t work from the couch – have a desk or sit at the table if that is what you have.
- Try to isolate from your housemates / family / SO – if that means setting up a small table in a bedroom, do it.
- Slack is great for communication, but it can also be distracting. Try to resist the habit of responding to everything immediately so you can have blocks of concentration time.
- That being said, communication as a remote worker takes more effort for some people. If you need something, say something. Also, if you need to step away from your work area, let people know. Have a dedicated OOO/away slack channel for this.
- Resist the urge to do things like watch Netflix or play games – be an adult and control yourself. You are being paid to be productive for the objectives set forth by the people that pay you, not play/chill.
- If you spend time on video conferencing or do anything network intensive, get ethernet cable from your router to your computer – wifi will let you down, consistently.
So what do you think? Are you up for the challenge of working remotely? Will these tips help you through the Coronavirus pandemic? Let us know in the comments below what you think. If you have any of your own tips, drop them down there as well.
TL;DR:
- Elevate your communication game
- Create a dedicated workspace
- Set a schedule and stick to it
- Focus on your peak hours
- Identify your weaknesses
- Dress for Success
- Don’t be a loner
- Remember to take breaks
- Opt for an occasional change of scenery
- Separate your professional & personal lives
Bored in quarantine? Head over to our recent blog post that analyzes a quote from an amazing inspirational mind: Advice From Those Who Did It Before Us- Angela Bassett
To see more about how we’re working during this time check us out on our socials!: Linktree!