“Breaking the myth”
“We are in the process of moving from “working from home because there is an emergency” to “working from home because I prefer to, because I have made the necessary arrangements to make it comfortable, and because I can still enjoy the benefits of an office when I want or need to.””
-Enrique Dans
What started as an emergency measure because of a global pandemic is becoming a sort after change in the work life of every individual that has tasted the advantage and comfort of working from home. Multinational companies to local Startups and businesses shifted there major workforce from tangible real working space to virtual working space. People started working from the comfort of their homes and had a virtual presence at work. There have been many studies after the onset of Covid and virtual working related to the productivity of the employees. There has been an assumption that the productivity of people working from home is a less than people working in office. This conception has been proved widely wrong as many studies clearly show the increased productivity of employees as they shift their work desk from offices to their home.
“A California-based company has tracked a 47% increase in worker productivity. Based on non-invasive technology that doesn’t grab user passwords, credit card info or other sensitive data, an eye-opening survey shows that smart companies are gaining ground by having workers work from home. What does the data tell us about how employees and team leaders can maximize output during the new normal?
Work life balance has been shattered for many, but savvy employees are putting the pieces back together in innovative and surprising ways. According to survey data compiled from 100 million data points across 30,000 users, here’s how team members are making the most out of their home office:
- The average worker starts work at 8:32 a.m. and ends work at 5:38 p.m
- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the most productive days, in that order
- Telephone calls are up 230%
- CRM activity is up 176%
- Email is up 57% and chat is up 9%
“The common assumption is that remote workers are less productive than those who are in a traditional office. But our ability to capture, integrate, and analyse workplace data shows otherwise,” said Crisantos Hajibrahim, chief product officer at Prodoscore .”
-Chris Westfall, Forbes.
The comfort of working from home and the guilty conscience of not doing enough make a person perform more than their regular performance. Being at home and working from a comfortable environment increases productivity and creativity and the idea that we are working from home ingrains a thought in our head that we are not doing enough, not delivering what is expected of us; more often than not this leads to working more and overcompensating.
As important as it is to take responsibility and accountability for your work it is also important to disconnect from work on the right time. Working from home has blurred the lines of office hours to an extent that the work day does not seem to start or end just continues! While surfing through the net reading articles about the new working environment one line struck to me the most “Working from home or living at Work”. It has become hard to differentiate between them both, working has merged with our life and our life with work. This has seriously disrupted the work-life balance, in order to create some normalcy and to achieve a stable point every individual working from home should work under some specific guidelines that they need to build for themselves.
An article in Harvard Business Review highlights some of the points that should be kept in mind to work more effectively from home.
Maintain a regular schedule
“Without supervision, even the most conscientious of us can slack off,” says Hallowell. Setting a schedule not only provides structure to the day, it also helps you stay motivated. Start the day as you would if you worked in an office: Get up early, get dressed, and try to avoid online distractions once you sit down to work. Whether you just started working at home or you’ve been doing it for months or years, take a few weeks to determine the best rhythm for your day. Then set realistic expectations for what you can accomplish on a daily basis. “Make a schedule and stick to it,” says Kramer. Make sure you give yourself permission to have downtime. If you have to work extra hours on a project, give yourself some extra free time later on to compensate.
Set clear boundaries
When you work at home, it’s easy to let your work life blur into your home life. “Unless you are careful to maintain boundaries, you may start to feel you’re always at work and lose a place to come home to,” Hallowell says. That’s why it’s important to keep the two distinct. One way to do that is to set aside a separate space in your home for work. You also want to make sure your friends and loved ones understand that even though you are at home, you are off limits during your scheduled work hours. “If the doorbell rings, unless I’m really expecting something, I’ll ignore it,” says Kramer. That not only helps you stay focused, but makes it easier to get out of work mode at the end of the day. “Schedule your time with your family, and with yourself,” says Kramer. “Put those on your daily calendar as seriously as you would your work.” And don’t worry about stopping for the day if you’re on a roll with a project. Pausing in the middle of something will make it easier to jump into the task the next day — a tip that is valid for everyone, but especially those working from home. “Ernest Hemingway would try to leave in the middle of a paragraph at the end of the day,” says Kramer, “so when he sat down again, getting started wasn’t hard because he knew where it was going.”
Take regular breaks
It may be tempting to work flat out, especially if you’re trying to prove that you’re productive at home. But it’s vital to “take regular ‘brain breaks,’” says Hallowell. How often is best? Researchers at a social media company recently tracked the habits of their most productive employees. They discovered that the best workers typically worked intently for around 52 minutes and then took a 17-minute break. And these restorative breaks needn’t take any particular form. “It can be as simple as staring out the window or reading the newspaper,” says Hallowell, anything to give your brain an opportunity to briefly recuperate. “The brain is like any other muscle. It needs to rest,” says Kramer. “Go for a walk, get some exercise, stretch. Then get back to work.”
Stay connected
Prolonged isolation can lead to weakened productivity and motivation. So if you don’t have a job that requires face-time with others on a daily basis, you need to put in the extra effort to stay connected. Make a point of scheduling regular coffees and meetings with colleagues, clients, and work peers. Get involved with professional organizations. And use online networking sites like LinkedIn to maintain connections with far-flung contacts. Since visibility can be an important factor in who gets promoted (or scapegoated) back at the office, check in as often as you can with colleagues and superiors. “Tell people what you’re doing,” says Kramer. Share some of the tasks you’ve accomplished that day. “It’s critically important not just for your career, but for your psychological well-being,” he says.
Celebrate your wins
When you’re working on your own at home, staying motivated can be difficult, especially when distractions — Facebook, that pile of laundry, the closet that needs organizing — abound. One smart way to maintain momentum is to spend a moment or two acknowledging what you have been able to accomplish that day, rather than fixating on what you still need to do. “Take some time at the end of the day to attend to the things that you got done instead of the things you didn’t get done,” says Kramer. You might also keep a journal in which you reflect on that day’s events and note what you were able to check off your to-do list. The daily reminder of what you were able to finish will help create a virtuous cycle going forward.
Principles to Remember:
Do:
- Make a schedule and stick to it
- Focus on what you’ve accomplished at the end of each day to keep yourself motivated
- Create a dedicated workspace and let your family know that you are unavailable during work hours
Don’t:
- Try to work all day without regular breaks — your productivity and motivation will suffer
- Isolate yourself — go the extra mile to meet up with colleagues and peers to talk shop
- Neglect to check in regularly with colleagues and bosses — it’s important to make yourself ‘visible’ even if you aren’t in the office
” -Carolyn O’Hara, Harvard Business Review
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