Working from Home Tips and Strategies

Working from Home Tips and Strategies to Maintain Productivity & Connectedness

Communicate openly and often with project supervisors and allow for flexibility when necessary

While working from home maintaining a strong and consistent connection with your supervisors is very important for communication and to have complete support.

• Balancing frequent updates and email overload. Keep a schedule for checking your emails and responding. Managing expectation is critical.
• Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize – Focus on the right tasks and communicate in emails to record actions.
• Plan ahead: Having your time off planned will give sufficient time for your manager to adjust the priorities.

Consider making fair use of a user-friendly time-management app or external monitoring aid

• Managing one’s own time can be difficult, but many helpful aids can keep us organized and on track with deadlines while working from home.
• Be flexible with your time and efforts than usual.

Separate work hours and personal time, and, if possible, carve out a dedicated workspace that is separate from your daily living space.

• Break out work time and personal time
• Set healthy work boundaries on your work hours to prevent the compulsion to work around the clock.

Recreate a productive work environment similar to your office.

• Craft a designated space while working from home.
• Identify ideal workspaces where you can do your best work.
• For staying productive while working from home, avoid blending work time and personal time.

Balancing caring for your children when you are expected to “work” from home.

• Coordinate schedules Schedule meetings during kid’s nap time if you have little ones
• Work with clients and colleagues to create space between meetings.
• Create a workspace for your children Creating a “To Do” list
• No apologies necessary when a child disrupts you on a work call while you do remote working.

References

1. Newport, C. (2016). Deep work: Rules for focused success in a distracted world. Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group.
2. Spira, J. B., & Feintuch, J. B. (2005). The cost of not paying attention: How interruptions impact knowledge worker productivity. Report from Basex. Retrieved from https://iorgforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/CostOfNotPayingAttention.BasexReport1.pdf
3. Galluch, P. S., Grover, V., & Thatcher, J. B. (2015). Interrupting the workplace: Examining stressors in an information technology context. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 16(1, 2). Retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet. org/jais/vol16/iss1/2 
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340392618_Working_from_Home_During_the_COVID-19_Pandemic_Tips_and_Strategies_to_Maintain_Productivity_Connectedness