Over the last year, many businesses have shifted from in-office hours to working remotely from home. Working from home offers many great benefits, especially in terms of staying safe during unprecedented times. However, maintaining productivity levels and motivation can be challenging when not in an office environment.
Here’s a closer look at our top tips for boosting productivity while working from home.
1. Maintain Your Morning Routine
The mindset you carry throughout your work day starts with your morning routine. When traveling to an office, your morning routine was a preparation for the day ahead of you—waking up early, drinking coffee, getting your body moving and getting dressed in your work clothes. When working from home, it’s easy to roll out of bed and get right to work, but that doesn’t foster a productive mindset.
As you start your day, follow a similar morning routine that you would if you were actually traveling to the office:
- Wake up at least an hour before you would normally leave for work
- Get your body up and moving
- Put on work clothes for the day
Of course, you may dress more casually than if you were at the office, but maintaining the routine of preparing for work each morning will help boost productivity.
2. Organize a Designated Work Space
Another way of maintaining good habits and boosting productivity is organizing a designated work space at home. Carrying your laptop from room to room can be distracting and weaken motivation to keep working. Choose a designated location for your computer and organize so that your space is free of clutter and filled with everything you need to get your work done. This way, you can draw a healthy boundary and maintain work-life balance at your home office.
3. Take a Break
In the office, taking breaks to check in with your peers or grab a snack are a typical part of the work day. While you may not be able to chat with your coworkers at home, it’s still important to take scheduled breaks throughout the day to maintain productivity. Get some fresh air away from your computer or take a walk around the block to allow your brain to recharge and refocus.
4. Get the Most Important Work Done First
As humans, we easily distract ourselves away from important tasks by checking notifications from our email, messaging apps and smartphones. This drastically reduces focus and productivity throughout the day. To avoid starting your work day off distracted, try dedicating the first two hours of your day to completing your most important work. During this time, silence your phone and notifications, choose the most urgent deadline or hardest task and accomplish it right at the start of your day. Not only will this leave you feeling accomplished, it also promotes greater productivity for the rest of the day.
5. Don’t Lose Your Company Culture
For many people, working alone in a home office is a completely new environment. With no coworkers to chat with, a lack of hands-on leadership and less time spent working together as a team, it can be easy for company culture to be pushed to the background. However, a positive company culture is key in keeping employees engaged and productive in their work.
To maintain your company culture, consider:
- Holding weekly team meetings that give employees a chance to connect with their peers and maintain strong team relationships
- Continue training online through webinars and virtual talks to keep employees engaged in the industry
- Leadership should continue to check in with employees frequently to ensure productivity levels are maintained
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