Ready for a little Who Gives A Crap trivia? Our company started with all of us working remotely. In fact, it wasn’t until about two years ago that we settled into permanent hubs to make cross-team collaboration a bit easier.
Before we worked in person, we did our jobs in some pretty weird places – boats, farms, McDonald’s ball pits. In some ways, our homes were the weirdest places of all. It can be pretty disorienting to take conference calls from the same place you shower, eat, sleep and watch The Bachelor.
As quarantines make remote work the new norm, we know many people are enjoying the freedom of working from home. But maybe also feeling some of the confusion? Or worried about not being as productive?
Even with our new hub structure, we still work remotely part of the week, so this set up is old hat to us. Some people (us, for example) might even say we’re experts at remote work. We wanted to share this knowledge with you, so we surveyed the team for the top tips to work successfully from home.
1. Have a morning routine
Separate workdays from weekends by starting your morning with something that signals, “I’m at work today.” It can be as simple as setting up your coffee at your workspace or doing some stretches. Just remember to include brushing your teeth.
2. Wear real clothes
If you don’t take a virtual meeting in your pyjama bottoms at least once, you’re not working from home. Just don’t let it become a habit. Wearing sweats every day is just going to make you feel icky after a while. Remember to show some love to your pants that zip.
3. Work at a table
Working from the couch (or under the covers...) can be really tempting, but you’ll probably be a lot more focused at a proper workspace. It’s super grounding to have your feet on the, well, ground. Plus it’s much better for you posture (if you’re into that sort of thing). Bonus points if the table is only used for work – oh the luxury!
4. Get fresh air
Just standing outside for a deep breath is a great way to keep you from feeling like a hamster in a cage. Go for a walk around your block, or simply open a window. The important thing is that you remember what the breeze feels like.
5. Exercise
Do jumping jacks at your desk, dance in the kitchen - try anything to get your blood pumping. You might be used to sitting at a desk all day, but when you take a commute out of the equation, your daily step count could hit the low triple digits. It’s happened to us.
6. Set meal times
Taking the time to have a proper lunch provides a nice mental break, but it also deters you from continuous grazing throughout the day.
7. Procrastinate with productivity
Block Facebook and other social media sites from your browser. Otherwise, you’ll end up 3 years deep on your cousin’s tagged photos and you won’t know where the last 2 hours went. Procrastination happens (and can be helpful!), but try to fill those brain breaks with things that are useful. We like to take out the trash, put dishes away or water the plants.
8. Know when you’ll stop
It’s easy to let “work time” bleed into “home time” when it all happens in the same place. Be diligent or you’ll type your little fingers to the bone. Shut your laptop when you’d normally leave the office and don’t look back.
““At the end of the day, I always call my wife to tell her I’ll be home soon and then walk into the next room. I’m pretty sure she loves it and thinks it’s hilarious.””
9. Overcommunicate at every turn
In an office, lots of information is conveyed through a quick shout across the room, or even just listening in on conversations. That kind of casual communication doesn’t exist when you work remotely. You need to actively make sure everyone’s on the same page. On everything. Every time. Just trust us on this one.
10. Start calls with a little crap talk
Give yourself time for a bit of socialising at the top of meetings. Ask people how they are doing (really doing), tell a joke or show off what you made for lunch. Part of being a successful team is making sure you treat each other like people who live outside of a screen. Sometimes humans need to shoot the shit. Look at that, we said shit. See, we’re people too!
11. “Get classy trackies that are fashion enough for work but comfy enough for home”
That one came from our CEO and, honestly, it’s very good advice. For those of you outside of Australia, he’s talking about a nice pair of track pants.
Are there other WFH tips that you swear by? Share them in the comments!