How do you set boundaries when working virtually?

With the technology in palm, it is easy to be available all the time but in my experience it is important to set consistent schedule and keep your colleagues/team informed about your work schedule n geographic location. In addition, the managers as leaders should be an example to their teams by not scheduling calls or sending emails at odd times / do not expect immediate response from their teams.

being reachable is a common ownership trait most people think its something “good to be” however it does bring the balance out when you consistently provide the availability that would lead to being paranoid to every texts read. But some try to “mark as unread” and prioritize the need to reply based on urgency as well.

Defining availability is critical whether you in the office or working remotely. It allows you to maintain focus and high productivity slots for value creation and sets zones for collaboration time. Both activities are quite important, so important to dedicate time to both.

Defining availability through a well defined schedule should be part of any team manifest. It is important to understand when a red line shouldn’t be crossed. There are emergencies that sometimes happen of course, but even under this scenario, there should be a protocol to follow.

While working from home may seem a great solution in terms of work safety during a pandemic (and heaven for extreme introverts, pandemic or not), it’s not all roses either. Without some serious work-life boundaries, working from home means that work can easily seep into the rest of your life, result in burnout, and affect your mental health. In order to stay sharp and happy working from home, it may help to institute some home office rules and routines to make sure you develop healthier and better boundaries.

I started working remotely over 15 years ago with IBM in Canada. I think as important as setting boundaries, one should set routines and habits that help them set their minds to "work mode". For me, it was maintaining a business casual dress code even when working from home. Also, always working from my home "workspace". Sticking to those habits allowed me to easily transition to work mode.

I have a dedicated workspace that I use only for work. I get up in the morning and "go to the office" and then at the end of my day I "go home". This helps me to keep a balance between work and personal life. That helps prevent burnout. If you decide to work from the couch in your living room, it becomes to easy to sit there and work long hours. Just because you work from home does not mean that your home has to be your workplace.

I've been working remotely for 14 years, and the single most important thing has always been setting up a proper working space or office at home and respecting the office “rituals” as if you were to really go to the office. Also, use your home office space only for work.

This is crucial since being virtually accessible does not always imply that you are always available. As a professional, you must also avoid multitasking as you will ultimately end up working for hours on just one task. In this virtual environment, it's also essential to learn how to initiate things and finish them without wasting valuable time.

Managing your workload is the most important remote work skill that need development. You can be “always-on” or super detached. Establishing clear priorities on work and moments during the day to perform based on your work preferences and capacities will help. Some people are more communicative during the morning when they should schedule calls. Others are more creative towards the evening when they should schedule presentation and writing work.

I’ve found that we often over complicate our tasks, or try to fit too much into a single line item. By keeping it simple and to the point it ensures that we are clear about our outcomes. Also don’t underestimate the power of seeing something marked as complete. Psychology it gives you a massive boost and puts you in a winning mindset. Continually revisit your goals, update and amend as needed.

Managing workloads, I feel, is very underrated in a remote environment, especially with salaried employees. I often see co-workers ending emails seemingly at random: 10pm on Thursdays nights, 6pm Sunday nights, 5am Tuesdays mornings. I always think "When are you NOT working?". This always leads to burnout in my experience. Working too much will just make you less productive and enthusiastic, and then one day you'll be so demotivated that a week will go by with nothing to show for it. Even salaried, set hours and stick to them. Schedule downtime and play into your calendar if you need to. Work-life balance is more important than some people realize.

Your workload should not be any different than what you would be doing if you were in an office. Many of those people that send the late night/early morning/weekend emails would be doing the same thing if they were working in an office. For most of them, their work never ends. However, I do know of a some people that will do those kind of hours on occasion so that they can get some flexibility to do some personal things during the "normal workday".

The use of camera in meetings is key to creating and maintaining connection and establish trust. If you are uncomfortable with the use of camera or you have many meetings it can be tiring to have it on for long. In that case minimise the screen so you don’t see too many faces and give yourself some breaks by switching the camera off in long meetings. Always have it on in the beginning and end of the meeting and remember to be smiling, natural and show more than your face so you can use gesticulation to emphasise your points.

One of the things that usually work for me, is always communicating in voice and then documenting in text. Voice communication limits confusion and misunderstanding of tone and such. Documentation by email and summarizing outputs ensures knowledge and actionable is retained (and reviewed/amended) if required.

For successful teams, this happens even if everyone is sitting in the same room. Why would it be any different if people are all in different rooms? Setting expectations and boundaries has nothing to do with remote work. It has everything to do with a team being successful at achieving a shared objective. The place people work from is not what makes success. The way people work together is what creates success.

Setting expectations and boundaries is an essential part of communication, regardless of work setting. For remote teams, this practice is even more imperative. This works best when there are established company-wide norms or at minimum, consistency amongst working teams. If you're starting from scratch, a great first step is scheduling a kickoff/alignment meeting for project stakeholders in order to get everyone on the same page.

Keep a professional outlook even as you work virtually. Get up early, prepare yourself as if you were heading out to your physical office, and check into your dedicated work space. Don’t be too casual about your work just because you are probably working from home. Put in the dedicated hours as expected. Create clear breaks such as lunch breaks and stick to a structured calendar.

After working remotely for 18 months, i found it very useful to create an achievable routine. Dress for your day, meetings, look how you want to be viewed, no meetings wear casual. Have regular screen breaks. Take a lunch break..mine became a pilates/lunch break! Feeling isolated, reach out to your team or peers, even a brief chat helps. Say good morning and good night to those online. Most of all enjoy what you do.

Two things I did this year: 1. I got a separate dedicated phone. It allows me to keep calls dedicated to work there. 2. I created two profiles on my computer. It allows me to even be in vacation on the same computer and keep out of work.

Working remotely should not be any different than working co-located. You are still being paid to accomplish some specific things. You will most likely need to work with others in accomplishing those things. Even before remote work was common, working with people at multiple corporate locations happened all the time. And you frequently worked with people different companies. Why do people think that working from home makes that any different. Working with people that are remote has been around for a VERY long time. Long before technology made it easier. Stop trying to make this more difficult than it needs to be and focus on what you are trying to do. Do what is needed to make everyone successful.

1. Create a dedicated workplace 2. Define your availability and break time on your calender 3. Set up your timeline for different types of work 4. Get feedback from your line functions 5. Set up your goal for further improvement