Working from home - tips for EMPLOYEES, LEADERS and the TEAM

In the light of the current events, lots of us work from the comfort of our homes in order to stay safe and protect ourselves and our families from COVID-19. This however might be challenging not only for the managers of the companies who’re trying to make sure their work is staying on track, but also for the employees. As an employee, you’re probably used to working with your colleagues, having your manager by your side so you can get their assistance at any time and just in general feel more organized and social in an office environment. There are also difficulties that the team as a whole might face, due to the decreased communication.

We decided to give you some short and effective tips that actually work, and see how you can get the most of your work from home.

Before we begin, it’s important to say that we are grateful that we are a business that can afford to work remotely. We appreciate everyone who’s out there working as per usual, all the hospital staff who are going above and beyond to take care of everyone who’s sick. In a time of a crisis it’s amazing to see what people are capable of in order to preserve humanity.

IF YOU’RE A TEAM LEADER

• Discuss hours, goals, or targets for your team members. Make clear what you expect them to get done and then let them do it. You can do this daily by also making sure you get feedback from them on how the work can be more effective.
• Make sure everyone’s properly equipped for working from home- provide headphones, strong internet connection and continue to ask as days go by if they need anything more. This is very important for your team to feel like they’re being taken care of and that they have everything needed to get stuff done no matter where they are.
• Have daily video meetings at set times. Make sure to offer to adjust those times to accommodate various schedules and time zones.

What’s most important in this situation is for your team to know that you’re available and you’re doing everything you can to improve the quality of their work. However, encourage them to take breaks and lead by example.

*EXTRA TIP: As most of your communication probably goes on by chat, make sure your tone isn’t being misinterpreted or misread. Add exclamation marks, emojis, and whatever else is necessary to accurately reflect how you would have said it in person.*

IF YOU’RE AN EMPLOYEE

• Pretend you’re in the office. If you want to be productive, set your mood and your environment for it. Don’t work from your bed or from your couch, get a desk or a table with a chair and work there. Get up early, get dressed (I know it’s easy to skip on this, but please put your pants on), make yourself a cup of coffee and something to eat, and get going.
• Don’t forget to move, walk around your home, stretch and drink lots of water. You have the opportunity to eat some nice home cooked meals at any time of the day now but don’t lose all of your time in the kitchen. Do some meal prep for the next few days and enjoy it. It’s a good habit to build and keep for the future.
• Over-communicate with your team. It’s easy to forget that you’re all experiencing work differently because you’re not in the same physical space.
• Set some boundaries. It’s awesome that we get to spend more time with our loved ones at home but make sure that they know you have to work, that you’ll need some quiet time for your online meetings etc. If you have kids, now is the best time to get all the grandmas and grandpas available in action.

FOR KEEPING YOUR TEAM SANE

• Talk online even when you don’t have to. We mentioned the importance of video calls but don’t forget that we’re all humans and we need some social interaction as well, so make sure to call just to discuss how everyone's doing.
• Make working from home fun. Share fun links, memes, create playlists on Spotify. We all have this colleague who has great taste and is always the DJ (hi, Lora from TechPods <3), maybe ask them to share their playlist so it feels like you’re there with them. You can play online games or watch a movie “together” via the power of the Internet.

• Encourage asking for help. Maybe someone from your team is sick or can’t leave their kids alone at home - offer to send them medicine, food and whatever they might need.

  

That’s about it. Nothing is more important than staying safe and calm during these times. This doesn’t mean stop working though and it would be nice to be sure that everyone from the team is feeling good during these times.

O Don’t forget to have fun!