Homeworking, and how to survive it

How to survive working from home

I asked my team of Consultants for some ideas for blogs and the Newsletter. Philippa, the newest member of the group submitted this article

Working from home – an exciting concept and something that always sounds way better than it is. Like travelling for work or working abroad. The reality is never quite as you expected. My expectations are it’s just like a holiday with a few bits of work thrown in.  The truth is it is a typical working day with more time spent travelling, you are without your creature comforts and sleeping in a strange bed.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have jobs where home working was an option, and I thought I would share my experiences with you and let you know what worked for me. Please feel free to adopt any of these technics or to develop your own.

The first thing to share is I like order and to know what is expected of me. With home working, this can often be a bit fuzzy as there is more flexibility in hours, location, supervision etc. For this reason, I structure my working from home day.

First I set my workspace, I’m lucky to have a separate office space, but I would recommend that you select an area where your desk can be left set up at the end of the day, and the door can be closed, this helps me separate my time working from my time relaxing.

The next thing I do is set a morning routine,  for me this tends to be the same as my regular morning (In my case this does include getting dressed, I find it puts me into the right mindset) when I would be heading out to work, all be it a little later as there is no commute.

One of the first things I do when I log on in the morning is to open Microsoft teams which I use to keep in touch with my colleagues. This is great as it feels much less formal than an email and can stay open while your working so you can keep connected.

I share my working from home hours with my colleagues; this prevents any confusion or calls after I’ve completed my workday. It’s also an excellent way to keep in touch with those you would typically be seeing regularly.

Each day I spend some time thinking about what I am planning on working on over the next day or so, this allows me to speak with anyone I need to and or get the information I might need before starting any work. By planning the job, it also allows me to break from one item to another if I feel the need.

I struggle with this one, but I try to make sure I take regular breaks, I use the alarm on my phone to remind me, I make sure to take a lunch break, this is a chance to get out into the fresh air, have a walk etc.

One last thing: music. By having it playing low in the background, it helps me accept days in the office on my own. The volume is set low to prevent the music from interfering with what I am doing. I choose to play the music off my phone and keep it by me and turn the music off before answering calls etc.

I hope that this has made you think about working from home differently. My office is on the top floor of the house, and I still announce every night when I commute down the two flights of stairs to the kitchen, I’m back from work?