How to work from home - well. 16 tips from a remote worker

Working from home can be trying at the best of times, let alone under short-notice and with the concern and social changes of a pandemic. As many organisations make the sensible decision to move to remote-work where possible to #FlattenTheCurve, and as Dr Siouxsie Wiles suggests- to move even further to #StopTheSpread (more here), it's understandable that changes may cause a lot of concern for those who are not used to working from home, or for whom working outside of the office or other usual workplace may not come easily.

At Activate, I manage a small team of mostly remote workers, and as a chronically ill person with Fibromyalgia I've spent most of my adult life having to figure out hacks to get around work accessibility barriers, and to make the most of my productive brain fog-free time. Since sharing some of my tips on Twitter and seeing such a positive response, I thought I'd take my time to flesh them out thoroughly here, so that you and your team can make the most of working at home, while also working to keep eachother feeling safe, supported, and well.

WORKSPACE BOUNDARIES

1. Don't work from bed

If it's possible for you - don't work from your bed. Yes, even checking your emails on your phone when you wake up (guilty). Keeping a separate workspace from your sleep space helps to prevent the overwhelm of work bleeding into your personal space, and will also help you to get in the zone for doing productive mahi (work). Tempting as it may be, working from bed, and even just using your devices in bed sets you up to associate bed with work thoughts, which can also make it harder to get to sleep.

Note: If you don't have another space to work from, make sure you follow point #2. If you notice a headboard in the back of a colleague or employee's Zoom video, don't be a dick. Remember not everyone has the same resources, health, or lifestyle set up, so take this point if it helps you, but reserve the judgement.

2. Set up a workplace ritual

Okay, I'm not talking about lighting candles or doing a meditation before work every day (though if that works for you, more power to you!). But if you have a space you can reserve just for work, then do so, and be intentional about doing work in that space. It will help you set up a healthy boundary between work/personal time and space. You can incorporate different activities into this, especially if you are one of those people who has to work from bed. For example, you might have a rule of not checking emails until you've brushed your teeth or had a morning cup of coffee. The same applies for clocking off too - make sure that if you've finished work, you're really finished. That means leaving your work space, or changing it up by putting the laptop away, closing work diaries etc.

3. Set your time boundaries

I really struggle with setting good routines, but it makes all the difference when you can do so. Deciding on a standard start time, lunchtime, and finish time - and sticking to those will really help keep your work/play separate, and will cue your brain and body into "work time" and "relax time". Your hours might be different from office hours of 9-5 but pick a time and be consistent.

Note: Working from home is not the same as working from an office. Please be kind to your new remote team, and if you can be flexible about hours of work, then do so. Especially for those who have tamariki (kids) or others to care for, and for those who have higher health precautions needed at this time, a straight eight hours of work might not be feasible. During this time it's also important to ensure flexibility so that people can do what they need to get through a pandemic and social distance appropriately - being flexible with time means that people can go to the supermarket at off-peak times, run additional errands that are essential for health etc.

4. Work at your most productive time

What the title says. Everyone's natural rhythms are different, and they're likely to be thrown out a bit by a sudden life change like working remotely. With my fibromyalgia, I am typically slower in the mornings and more productive in the evenings, so I typically start a little later than most, and I try to use the mornings to do more procedural or check-box type tasks, and reserve the late afternoon or evening for my tough thinking or learning when my brain is happier and my pain is dampened.

5. Support your colleagues & team members with their time boundaries

While you might be your most productive later in the evening, it doesn't mean everyone else is, and receiving after-hours emails can put pressure on people to reply quickly or feel like they're not working hard enough. It's worth having a chat with your team about when you'll be available, and what boundaries you'd like to set collectively, taking into the points above.

Tip: You can manage time boundaries really effectively using all sorts of snazzy technology... like email schedulers! Does your colleague need your email dinging on their phone at 10.51pm when you're most productive? Probably not. Using a scheduler like Streak for Gmail means you can harness your productive energy, and set it to send at a more reasonable time. (Bonus that it also gives a crude idea of whether people have seen your email or not. Sometimes helpful, sometimes stress-inducing. Use with caution ;) ).

PRODUCTIVITY & FOCUS

6. Schedule your day

Just like you're trying to get into a routine with start and finish times, it pays to schedule in working and break time as well. It can be particularly distracting working from home where other tasks can creep in - like doing the washing while you're on a "quick" break, or having other more enjoyable distractions interrupt your flow. I find it useful to schedule out my day with the tasks that I want to get done, and to set a limited amount of time to do them with plenty of breaks in between so it doesn't feel too daunting. Which leads me to...

7. Timeblocking / Pomodoro Technique

When I really want to focus, I will set a timer for the amount of time I can reasonably achieve a task in. Setting too-limited amounts of time I find just adds pressure, but keeping a reasonable time to do a task keeps me focused. Typically, I won't set a timer for longer than one hour, mostly 45 or 50 minutes so I can have a short break and then start back on the hour. If the task is going to take more than that time I generally try to break it down so I have a benchmark I can reach in around 45 minutes, so it doesn't feel like an overwhelming amount of time to stay on task. During the time block, my phone goes away and any distractions are removed. When the timer goes off, I get a short break, to get up, stretch my legs, and let my mind wander a little.

8. To dress for work or not?

Do whatever makes you feel the most awesome. A lot of people warn against wearing pyjamas or comfy clothes while working from home as it's believed to reduce productivity.

I find dressing for work helps me personally to get into "work mode" (I may or may not have spent 90 mins this morning learning how to style my hair and doing makeup despite having no meetings or video calls!), but if it doesn't work for you that's cool too!

Wear whatever makes you feel good, and try to ensure the same applies to your team - working from home during a pandemic is hard enough as is, without having to worry about dressing up for a conference call.

COMMUNICATIONS

9. Involve your team in setting up your remote systems

Getting your rōpuū (group) involved in deciding how you go ahead is really important - everyone has different preferences for working generally, but that will also be magnified now with the pressure of pandemic planning, looking after families, and social distancing.

Does Zoom work for everyone? How often do people want to be in touch? Are there components of regular mahi (work) that are tricky to do remotely, or non-essentials which could be changed up or removed to alleviate pressure?

10. Keep in touch with people!

Whether it's through tools like Slack, Asana, or Facebook Messenger - keep your team in the loop with what you're up to, and keep up to date with their mahi and thoughts throughout the day so you can support eachother and generally feel the enjoyment of working socially. It doesn't have to be strictly focused work-related either, when you're used to working around others you typically share some office chat which is important for camaraderie and team-building. Working remotely can be a lonely and isolating time, and even more so with the concern of #COVID-19, so some extra updates or memes in the group chat can go a long way.

11. Praise & Gratitude

LushOn that note, working remotely it's also really easy to get into the habit of seeing things as just tasks being done and checkboxes being ticked, rather than recognising the people behind that work. I'm trying to do better at being particularly generous with meaningful praise and gratitude for the work of my team. An appreciative email with a smiley might not come through as much as an in-person thanks, so it helps to be specific and to get creative with appreciation.

One thing our team at Activate started doing when we got our first new team-member on board was to make really cute gifs to welcome them. We got a whiteboard and wrote a nice welcome message to them, and then recorded a short happy dance on PhotoBooth, which we turned into a colourful and fun gif on GIPHY and sent as part of the welcome email. If you have a chilled or creative team dynamic, creative thanks and welcomes like this go a long way! (And are fun to do for you too!)

12. Videoconferencing Etiquette

Want to know how to save 20 minutes wasted time in a Zoom meeting? Learn how to use the mute/unmute function! Zoom, Skype, and other videoconferencing software is really helpful for remote work, but nobody enjoys feedback screeching in their ears because someone didn't mute their microphone. General etiquette goes that you mute your microphone when you're not speaking, and unmute it before you start (there's also nothing worse than 5 people trying to figure out who should unmute and butt-in to inform someone that nobody could hear the first half of their sentence).

Note: As useful as videoconferencing is, it's worth being extra respectful about how it's used. Remember that not everyone is in the same financial or living position as you - some folks don't have a private space in their house to have a Zoom call. Some folks have kids being kids in the background. Some are sick & might need to join Zoom from bed, or God forbid in pyjamas!

Be mindful that you're now bringing work into peoples' personal space, and for some that comes with more baggage or challenges than others, so make sure everything is approached from as non-judgemental a place as possible (no it's not funny to make jokes about people walking past in the background, or comment on people's decor). Some practical ways you can do this are...

• Not enforcing the video function unless strictly necessary - let people hide their video so they don't have to feel self-conscious wolfing down breakfast on the call.
• Don't comment on things in the background of people's video eg. decor, level of clutter, family photos etc. unless you are sure they are happy to engage on that level (ie. you're already on good friendly terms).
• If you're having private discussions, check well in advance that people have access to a private space or headphones. Give people a heads up of any private or sensitive info so they can make any changes to their set-up if in a shared space.
• In general, if you can send staff with decent headphones that will make a massive difference to general working at home productivity, and especially for Zoom calls.
• Chipping in for your staff's internet bills, or contributing to laptops or use of other personal items.

WELLBEING

13. Take break times seriously

Working from home it's extra easy to bring work into the personal realm. Take breaks away from your workspace and if possible try to get in some physical activity while you're at it. You're likely to be walking or getting around a lot less than usual when you're not working to co-workers' desks, commuting etc.

14. Rest!

If you need to rest - rest! As much as I've written this to help people transition to working from home with a little less stress, I am a firm believer in rest time, and there is no need to sacrifice our bodies to the ableist capitalist world order to try to squeeze out every ounce of productivity while we're working from home. I'm not talking about slacking here either, but rest is important, now more than ever. Even for those without the virus, folks are going to be exhausted. Hearing all the news, rescheduling life plans, social distancing, changing habits etc. is taxing. If you need to rest, communicate that with whoever you need to, and if you're a manager or team-leader, honour that need and support a culture where your team feel comfortable asking for that or taking time out of their own accord.

15. Exercise Snacking

Exercise snacking is a fun little technique I encourage in my Fibromyalgia NZ support groups, and it can be really useful working from home too. Essentially, it's about building small movements into your day. For example, I often do 100 controlled knee-ups while brushing my teeth, or stetch my calves or quads while I'm waiting for the jug to boil. Maybe make it a habit so stretch a different body part or do a few squats at the end of each of your timeblocks. You can check out a video routine of some exercises for this on our Fibromyalgia NZ instagram stories.

16. Support Mental Health Kōrero amongst your team

This should go without saying at all times, but especially now as people are social distancing and facing increased anxiety around the coronavirus. I strongly recommend checking out the Mental Health Foundation's resources and advice for wellbeing in the workplace. I've been really privileged to pick up a lot of these tips while we were working together, but they have a suite of detailed or simple resources suitable for every level.

Key is ensuring you are a safe person for your team to come to if they need to communicate their boundaries, mental health needs, or concerns. COVID-19 is causing anxiety for a lot of folks, and it's natural that things like uncertainty around contracts, ongoing employment, and work conditions will be front of mind. Even while out of the office, you can create a safe and supportive environment to share these things, and put your team in touch with the appropriate supports. Think about whether all tasks are necessary, whether things can be taken off people's plates when they're stressed, and how you can proactively communicate about any changes that may affect work due to the coronavirus.

If this was helpful...

Okay, if you've made it this far, I hope those tips will be helpful for you and your team, and I have one request for you - please remember that a lot of the things workplaces are now supporting (like teleconferencing, working remotely) due to the coronavirus are accommodations that disabled and chronically ill folks have been fighting for, for a long time, and have often been denied.

The reason our community can share these tips and tricks is because we've had to life-hack our way around working remotely, and many disabled people have been denied jobs or study because workplaces and academic institutions found it "too difficult" to implement good working from home policies. People have missed out on jobs, or had to take up precarious gig-economy work because mainstream employment wasn't accessible. On top of that, working from home is also not accessible or possible for a lot of low-waged working class folks, which puts them more at risk of contracting COVID-19 during this time.

It's great to see these accommodations now being rolled out, but please spare a thought for disabled and chronically ill folks who may, understandably, be feeling hurt that such accommodations were denied to them, and are now suddenly standard when able-bodied people need them. If you found value in my post, please be an ally to the disabled community by continuing these policies and practices once it's safe for people to return to work.

Do a thorough assessment of how accessible and inclusive your workplace is, how you uphold disability rights, and make a commitment to do better. Even better - pay #ActuallyDisabled experts (here's a Twitter list!) to help you do just that.

Mauri ora!

Kera