Working from home is great. You don’t have to commute and can wear what you want, while enjoying the comforts of home all day, every day. Overall, you like this setup, but it does come with its own set of challenges.
For example, it can be hard to be productive at home, being away from colleagues can be lonely and finding a solid work-life balance might be a lot more difficult than you imagined.
Thankfully, these issues aren’t anything you can’t overcome. Here’s some advice to help you thrive while working from home.
Designing a Workspace That Works: How To Create a Productive Home Office
Ideally, you have a dedicated room in your home that serves as your office. However, this might not be the case — and that’s okay. No matter what the size of your space, it’s important to keep it neat and tidy, well-lit and quiet.
Exactly how you accomplish this will depend on your space. For example, if your home office is a small desk in a sunny corner of your kitchen, you might need to invest in a pair of headphones to block out the noise in your home. Or, if you’ve turned a room in your basement into an office, you might need to buy a few lamps to brighten up the space.
Staying Connected: How To Maintain Communication and Build Relationships While Working Remotely
When you’re not physically in the office with your colleagues, it can be hard to build and maintain relationships with them. However, it’s definitely not impossible. If you employ the right strategies, you might even be able to get to know your colleagues better than if you worked in the same office with them.
For starters, make a point to always turn your camera on when doing video calls. If you’re trying to hide a bad hair day, it can be tempting to turn it off, but this creates a disconnect. You can also use a chat app — i.e., Slack — for informal chatter throughout the day. This is a great way to keep the office banter going from anywhere.
If you do happen to be in the same physical area as your colleagues, you can also get together in person periodically. Getting lunch or coffee together will be fun and allow you to get the true face-to-face time you’ve been craving.
Avoiding Burnout: How To Manage Your Workload and Set Boundaries for Better Work-Life Balance
Working from home can actually cause you to put in more hours than ever. Therefore, you need to know where to draw the line, so you don’t achieve burnout.
For example, you might log out at the end of the day and let your co-workers know you won’t be available until the start of the next business day. It can also be a good idea to block out time on your calendar for lunch and quick breaks, to make sure you actually get to take them.
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