Home is where the office is: Are you ready for remote working?

Did you know that working remotely has been around since the 1980's?

But up until today, the majority of us still have our daily commute to and from the office, with the occasional day where we work from home at a manager's discretion.

For someone who's had wonderful managers in companies which promote flexible working, it's surprising that even with all the technology available to us, businesses large or small have not fully embraced the benefits of remote working.

With the #COVID19 pandemic in full swing, employees and business owners are now thrown into a new way of working without being completely prepared.

It can be an overwhelming change and requires a different level of discipline.

If you're struggling to manage work responsibilities, home chores and home schooling the kids, we've listed our top five strategies on how to stay focused and productive like a pro.

Get up, Get showered, Get Dressed

You're probably reading this and thinking "Really? You call this a strategy?!"

It's OK, we won't take offence :)

But it really is. If you drag yourself from bed straight to your desk, the chances are you'll feel sluggish and half asleep.

A PJ day is great, but we're pretty sure that participants of your upcoming Zoom or Teams/Skype call won't appreciate your Disney nightwear as much as you think they will.

No need to pull out the three-piece, but dress into something comfortable and day-appropriate.

Get up at a set time, shower and dress as if you're heading out of the house to work. We guarantee starting the day fresh will make you more focused, more positive and much more #productive.

How we do it: The best thing about no commute is that we can get up at 7.30 am instead of 5.30 am. Our alarms are set every weekday. Like clockwork, the first thing we do is tidy our beds, hit the shower, dress into our jeans and tees..then head straight for our coffees and relax for a few minutes in the lounge until 9 am. Let the work day begin...

Routine, Routine, Routine

When you work from home for the first time, you might be tempted to treat yourself to a lie in. Don't.

Keep yourself to a structure as if you were going to work. Set your alarm for the same time as you would if you were going into the office.

Schedule your day so that home chores can be incorporated at set times which complement and don't conflict with your work.

Wind down time is key. Set a time by which you will log off, it's the easiest thing when you work at home to just continue until you realise everyone's gone to sleep and left you to it. It might differ each day, but make sure you have a cut off point which gives you the evening to rest, relax and enjoy.

How we do it: We use our outlook calendar to put meeting time in for breaks, lunch and home chores. The polite ping from the reminder 5 mins before the meeting starts keeps us in check.

Create a Workstation Haven

Never seen the word work and haven in one sentence? We actually did say that.

It's really important that your work space or room is somewhere clean and uncluttered so you can focus without distraction.

Where possible, get a decent desk and chair so you're comfortable during working hours. And where space is a challenge, try switching your position to facing another direction and family know when not to disturb you.

Keep it separate from where you eat, sleep, and from where you watch the next season of your favourite series on Netflix.

How we do it: Ideally, we would have a "hotel chic" dedicated office space. In reality, our dining table is our temporary work home until we start build. We keep it tidy, we face towards the window overlooking the garden. Our monitors and laptops are laid out for each of us, and we've kitted ourselves out with ergonomic chairs, keyboards, and headsets. (p.s. in case you were wondering, we eat in the lounge, watching the next season of our favourite series on Netflix).

Have a Break, Have a Chit-Chat

Regular breaks in addition to lunch will keep you sane and productive.

It's easy to get distracted from the latest forward or group gossip on Whatsapp (Guilty). Scheduled breaks means you have dedicated time to stepping away from work and catching up with friends and family. If you don't, you may find yourself lagging behind on your work and working until the early hours.

Try to prep your meals before hand so all you have to do is sit down, relax and enjoy a proper lunch break as well. Eat away from where you work and give your eyes a rest from the screen.

How we do it: We prep our food in the mornings before work while we're making dinner. We have a block in the diary for lunch and breaks but move the blocks around to accommodate our client meetings. Structured but flexible is the approach we take.

Energise with Exercise

When your body feels better, so will your mind.

#Remoteworking can often mean being tied down to a chair for the bulk of the day. Make time before, during or after your working day to stretch and get some steps in.

Physical activity relaxes the muscles and relieves tension in the body and mind. It doesn't have to be a marathon and it doesn't need to be outdoors.

YouTube is a great source of content with 10 minute videos. Remember, we're allowed to go out for one form of exercise, so make the most of it and make it count.

How we do it: We power walk in the mornings for about an hour or so and if we can't go out, we've saved a nifty collection of YouTube yoga and HIIT workouts which we can do before and after work.

We hope you found this useful, we're always on hand to provide more tips and support via this link

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay positive

Sonal