Having worked a full-time career for almost 16 years in Travel & Retail industry it was a great experience to shift (or rather forced to) Working From Home since almost a year now.
Though I am sure each person will have her/his own right perspective I am suggesting a few methods which worked for myself during ‘WFH’ phase as it is sweetly called these days. Before the pandemic we had our mailboxes flooded with mails asking us to just spend 2 hours per day and earn record figures which majority us never opened as we seldom took it seriously.
But now that we all have gone through the Work from home some time from the last March 2020 and at the moment not sure when this might end have compiled a few tips which might be useful to all.
Communication is the key to any professional role and this is never truer than when working remotely. Since it is not the office ambience and in hand reach or intercom reach of your colleague we would need to organize online check-ins where you can catch up on targets, projects and goals.
Also it is important to give regular updates on the status of each project you are on so that your supervisors have a real time status on the projects in case if they need to update
The best person who know how to execute a task is always you as you know your strength and weakness netter than anyone else. You might know which part of the day is noisy due to external environment or you lose focus so plan accordingly .
Also health is the priority as you might be expected to work for different time zone you could mandatorily give your body and especially mind the break it needs to recharge back to full zeal.
Always make sure to create a small area at home that’s a dedicated space for work. This will help you to have clear midframe while working and exclude from the internal happenings
Remember to leave the office each day and create a space for your personal life and family as the real purpose of each career is adding values to the organization and thereby enhancing your standard of living and financial freedom
Weather it is amongst your colleagues or your clients it is very important to be extra alert on communication as unlike observing you from the cabins or from the CCTV’s the employees usually trust the employees these days that the employee is sincere and would pro-actively get involved in each task assigned to ensure that the bottom lines keep ticking for your company during this tough phase. So it is very important to be communicative ,handle arguments better; thinking about the other clients emotional situation during the discussions .At times it might not be you or your actions but internal disturbances or the feeling of lacking the old freedom, a new travel update ,or change in business timings from the government that might be irritating the client.
During this period we all learnt to be effective counsellors for our collegues,superiors,clients or everyone we know so keep reminding yourself may be on the other side they might be having a tougher time than you .
This may seem odd as an advice but I have felt many times that vital element missing from the real office is the Good time we had at office with our colleagues that Quality circle discussion you had about your career dream, industry updates or current affairs. As we are not travelling and being productive even during that time too no harm in just having a casual talk with colleague .I Miss the birthday parties or even the privilege to share the important days of our colleagues.
The best way to do this I found while working is by logging in early to official meetings or having a small chat post the meeting .
Unlike at office it is the way you do it the right way for your reporting manager you might be involved in different roles for the same company and Human brain has its own limitation .using tools like Jira, Google sheet etc. will help you organize your work and priorities .
Also most important is to report your tasks in a systematic way that your higher ups understand how you used the productive hours .Always remember its not how many hours you spent but the value your efforts are adding each hour that matters to the company
Although it may be the first time for many, and this can be daunting at first, the perks of working at home rather than in an office are undeniable. You might be able to work on a project in an entirely different region of the globe where the culture, the work environment the expectations of the client might be totally different than what you are used to. Take it as a challenge and polish your skills to adapt to any work culture as the future is for such Easily adaptable team that could work Globally and execute Locally
Also it is a new way I found to be engaged post your retirement for those want to be busy as long as you are healthy
Does not matter what you have but make sure you take a breathing breaks.
When working from home, plan breaks into your day and don’t take lunch at your desk. If you can, a midday change of your place you are siting for a few hours or stretching yourself can help. At times you might feel loaded with much more than you could handle it just means the brain needs a break recharge and start once again one by one.
Be sure to give yourself a time that you’ll log off each day too, and turn off any work-related notifications outside of those hours as brain needs to switch off .
Keep communication timely and valuable, and make sure everyone on the team is on the same page regarding availability, eg if you’re heading for dinner/lunch, or going out for an emergency let your team know when you’ll likely be back.
I would request all to have a focus on this area as from my personal & the experiences from the people I have interacted .Was really surprised to note the way your 4-year-old child would whisper to her mom during your zoom calls for even something that is important for her, waiting for you to be free to share her/his little joys and curious questions. I would say had it not been the support of the families or your room mate you could not be confident enough to log on every new day
Use the spare time to upskill yourself as going forward the job market is going to get more competitive than we all could ever think of. Most of us have tried to learn more skills, as compared to before the pandemic period for reasons like being competitive ,had spare time or re-designed your career to a more interesting industry .
So we have all passed through this toughest phase where everything expect time was unpredictable spend each day in a memorable & enriching way that you could guide your next generation on how to handle the challenges in life.