WFH shouldn't become "Worry From Home"!
With WFH (Work From Home) quickly becoming mainstream for many colleagues around the world, I thought I'd compile a list of the top advice and tips I learned from amazing people with experience and practical insights on WFH intricacies. Technology can go a long way in making it a seamless switch (Especially with announcements like this free Teams offering). However, some things don't change by technology alone. Here's the list I compiled of work style changes people carry out when working from home:
Take time to recharge
When we go to our workplace, there are context-switching time windows where you walk from a meeting to the next, go for lunch or just have a quick chat with someone while grabbing a coffee at the kitchenette. While those don't seem like much, they can be good disruptions that help us recharge with micro social interactions and provide opportunities to take our minds off immediate work for a few moments before switching back in.
- Try to generate similar disruptions throughout your WFH day.
- A few minutes every 30-60min to stretch, walk and maybe check on a colleague can be good options.
- Try to keep to the same workday schedule you have in the office. No more and no less breaks.
Be Present
Our homes are not designed with work as a first priority. Left unplanned, they can deliver considerable distractions to us and to our loved ones at home. Being intentional about focus is key. Some tips here are:
- Get the audio right. For every ambient noise situation, there's an audio solution anywhere between your device's speaker and mic used in the open all the way to noise-cancelling in-ear headsets and everything in between. Try to strike your best balance between being present for work (clarity for you and colleagues you connect with online and comfort for your ears) and being the least disruptive for others at Home.
- Turn the camera on when joining online meetings (also remember to dress the way you go to work!). It will help you stay present in meetings and help others interact with you more. A great feature here if you're using Teams is Background Blur (Nobody needs to see my guitar hanging on the wall behind me while we're discussing business plans!).
- Master your meeting audio, video & screen controls: While online meetings on platform like Teams are amazing, we can all get better at avoiding being that meeting attendee:
- Talking to a muted mic.
- Asking "Can everyone hear me?" or "Can Everyone see my screen?"
- Accidentally getting off mute or having the camera on when you shouldn't!.
Monitor your stress
In testing times like the tough COVID-19 cycle we're going through, our anxiety can go high as we get less to no time out of home and risk getting into a negative bubble of information (and disinformation) forming through digital channels and social networks.
- Try hard to filter out disinformation. Like many innovative Tech, social networks can equally be a tool to help you or a weapon against you. Your choice!. Clean up your feed sources, review your settings and make sure to add and tune into reliable formal sources (e.g. WHO and Canadian Government).
- Intentionally connect with colleagues outside of set meetings to check on them and help as possible (Helps also with time for you to recharge above). It also helps you paint a better picture of what's happening in your immediate circles and keeps your team and work circles strong.
- Ask for help if you feel stress is affecting you.
Hoping these are useful and please comment with your favorite tips to make working from home a better experience so I can include in the list.