Working from home comes with its perks – bye bye, commute! – but it also presents challenges that can impact your wellbeing and productivity.
Without the right work environment, it’s easy for your home life to blur into your work time. This makes it harder for you to stay focused and feel connected to your colleagues or manager. Maybe you’re new to remote working, maybe you have been at it since the Covid-19 outbreak, or maybe you’ve been working in a hybrid environment even before that…
It doesn’t matter. Everyone needs top tips for working from home.
In this guide, we’ll share 8 top tips for working from home to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, to avoid distractions to deal with, and increase your productivity (and wellbeing). Believe me when I say it: from creating a dedicated home office setup with an ergonomic chair and desk to using tools like Slack and Zoom to feel connected, small changes could improve your experience.
Think longer term about your remote work culture – it can mean setting clear working hours, making time for breaks (check Pomodoro method), or just deciding when you stop working.
If you’re struggling with low mood, lack of motivation, or anxiety and uncertainty, simple habits like getting natural light (walking a bit) can help you feel better.
Working remotely can be a blessing, and here are our top tips for working from home:
Table of contents
- 1. Run your usual routine
- 2. Choose a dedicated workspace to work from home
- 3. Take regular breaks even as a remote worker
- 4. Use technology to stay connected
- 5. Set ground rules to plan your day
- 6. Avoid social media and distractions
- 7. Report IT issues
- 8. Match your music to the task at hand
- Creative tips to start working from home
1. Run your usual routine
For some people, the prospect of staying in their pyjamas all day is the most tantalising aspect of working from home.
But washing and getting dressed will not only improve your state of mind, it will psychologically prepare you to start work.
Be ready to start your day at the same time as you would normally arrive at the office, and finish your day at the same time. Don’t fall into the trap of getting up late and staying in your pyjamas. Imagine your team are sat in the office waiting for you to start, just like normal.
This means your morning routine may not change too much—you just cut out the travel time.
2. Choose a dedicated workspace to work from home
This depends on the space you have available, but ideally, you want a clear space to use just for work, where you can sit in your workspace and walk away from it.
Ideally, not at the dining table where you have to eat or in front of the TV where others will be in and out.
The NHS advises that you should adjust your chair so you can use the keyboard with your wrists and forearms straight and level with the floor. At the end of a working day, it’s best to switch off your computer and tidy away papers and other items. If there are other people in the house, finding a space where you’re not likely to be disturbed is essential.
Communicate expectations with anyone who will be home with you. If you are on the phone to a client or need to concentrate, it can be infuriating if someone is hoovering or watching television.
As we move to working from home for the foreseeable future, it may be daunting to some people, and it usually takes a while to adjust.
3. Take regular breaks even as a remote worker
It’s good to have a routine when you’re working from home, but work shouldn’t become monotonous, and you shouldn’t stay glued to your screen all day.
It’s important to take regular screen breaks and get up from your desk and move around, just as you would in an office. Research has also found that short breaks throughout the day are more beneficial than less frequent, longer breaks.
Working from home shouldn’t mean you stay cooped up indoors all day. Even with self-isolation in place, getting out of the house is important.
Go for a walk around the block or sit in the garden if you have one. Getting some sun on your face and leaving the space you work in is good for your body and mind.
4. Use technology to stay connected
When you’re at work, you’re more likely to engage with colleagues, but when you’re working from home, you could go the whole day without speaking to anyone, which can be isolating.
Make some time to pick up the phone and have a real conversation rather than just relying on email and instant messaging.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you are feeling alone—everyone is in the same boat and will understand the feeling.
5. Set ground rules to plan your day
The little-known rule of productivity is that the busier you are, the more you will actually do. Plan out what you will be working on ahead of time.
Don’t wait to finish something before looking to see what else there is. Have a plan of all the things you want to do and then go for it.
If you start to relax, then less gets done, and your productivity drops off. If you keep a list of tasks lined up, you will be surprised how many things you can do in a day, even if a lot of them were not the ones on your original list.
(Setting ground rules also applies if you want to start your own business – so, we wrote about the top tips for start-ups that you can check out on our blog, too.)
6. Avoid social media and distractions
Make it harder for yourself to get distracted by social media by logging out of apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and local news updates.
Close them on your browser, too.
Do whatever you can to stop them from creeping into your vision and distracting you.
7. Report IT issues
It can take a bit longer to resolve IT issues when you are at home, so make sure you let your line manager know if you are having any issues.
Use your team’s tools and communication platforms immediately if you have problems that stop you from working.
8. Match your music to the task at hand
Research shows that listening to music can increase concentration, but this completely depends on the individual and how you feel about background noise. Most people get into a good mental space when listening to music.
Apparently, listening to video game soundtracks can help the mind focus, which is exactly why they are used in the games.
It’s a personal choice.
Give it a go with a mix of music and see if something helps you get in the work zone.
Creative tips to start working from home
To help you on your journey to stay productive while your work at home, we made a PDF with all the necessary knowledge.
Don’t forget to download our top tips for working from home, and get in touch with us if you need any help!
