As the COVID-19 pandemic gradually recedes, it has left the question: will the traditional office ever quite feel the same again? 70% of respondents to a survey reported by BBC News opined that workers would “never return to offices at the same rate”.
Meanwhile, most workers indicated their preference for working from home either full-time or at least some of the time. If your own boss is giving you the option of working from home permanently, how could you solidify this shift? Here are a few ideas you could act on…
Decide on a daily routine to follow
This includes following normal sleep and work patterns as closely as possible and adhering to a consistent schedule throughout the day.
For example, you should be careful to wake up in the morning at the same time every workday – and, as 9am beckons, switch from nightwear to a more ‘work-ready’ getup.
Furthermore, once your formal work hours have elapsed, you should make sure you genuinely wind down – such as by keeping away from your work emails and settling down to sleep at the right time.
Take regular breaks from your work
If you sometimes feel stress setting in the longer you work, one possible culprit could be a failure to spend time away from the screen ‘little and often’.
The NHS claims that even just 5 to 10 minutes of short breaks every work hour can bode immensely well for your productivity. Don’t forget to take your lunch break, too, rather than just shove a cereal bar into your mouth while leaving your eyes continually fixed on the screen.
Stay connected to your work colleagues
One risk of working from home in the longer term is leaving yourself feeling somewhat isolated from those members of your team still based in the usual office.
So, rather than just sending emails, which can lack something of the personal touch, you could schedule video calls with your co-workers or even just phone them. If your job involves training employees, you could occasionally hold a webinar to let workers both see and hear you.
Reassess your current work-from-home space
There can admittedly be a lot of trial and error involved in figuring out how and where to set up your work-from-home workstation. However, if you have now been remote working for a while, you could have a good idea of exactly where room for improvement remains.
For example, if you have long worked in a somewhat chilly room, could you find a different, more fitting part of the home for your WFH space?
Find a dedicated space for your home office if you haven’t already
In one survey mentioned by Fast Company, 43% of employees said that working in a dedicated workspace boosts their WFH productivity.
So, if you have long been ‘getting by’ through working at the kitchen table or in your bedroom, switching to a more private, self-enclosed space – your loft or garage, perhaps – could prove an easy win for your own corporate output in the long term.