Since the Covid pandemic, Work From Home become a norm across the globe in many industries. Working from home in India has its own set of challenges. From access to high-speed internet/WiFi to work desk support and the lack of other essential tools make it a tough job to work from home. So this factors vary from niche requirements, but the number of challenges still remains the same. We all need some handy tips and tools to improve our work from home productivity.
According to a survey done by Buffer, here are the top problems we face while working remotely:
As per the survey around 90% of Indian employees who work from home feel the need for better internet connectivity. More than 23% of them faced issues while sharing big files. Nearly 21% of these people feel lonely after working from home on a long stretch. Some 8% of work from home employees feel that if no one’s keeping a check, then they can take such a regime for a vacation as well.
The worst part of all is maintaining work-life balance. Most of us find it difficult to unplug into their normal routines. A number of individuals started questioning their work from home reasons and eventually become less productive.
Also, a lesser-known fact about the pertaining work culture in India is that more than half the employees are either working remotely or from their home at least once a week. Irrespective of these statistics, a widely accepted and healthily understood work from home culture is still a far fetched dream.
While there are those who accept such an approach whole heartedly. According to a recent survey, 65% of Indian millennials seek flexible jobs that give them the option to work remotely. But what is often left unsaid is that the majority of employees in emerging economies like us may not adhere to the required work ethics and exploit the flexibility offered this way.
In the wake of current COVID 19 outbreak, when a number of organizations are resorting to long-lasting working from home options as their primary precautionary measure, a need to lay down some ground rules to maintain productivity becomes necessary.
Wondering how to improve remote work culture? Here are 10 tips to improve productivity while working from home:
1) Create your designated work from home desk
The foremost step to take for your work from home productivity is to set up a designated workstation. This helps you get into workflow easily and in maintaining work discipline while at the comfort of home. Coming up with a workstation is something that adds to your professional demeanor and adds to the persons productivity substantially.
2) Maintain a hygiene at your remote workspace
Just setting up a designated workstation/desk won’t cover the lengths of productivity. You now have to keep it clean to maintain healthy working environment. De-cluttering is the key to attaining this, simply get rid of all the non-work related things from and around your work desk. And having this done, you are now keeping away most of the distraction that can hamper your productivity.
3) Wake up to a workday attire – get out of your pyjamas
Waking up to your laptop in the couch you slept last night wearing the same t-shirts and pyjamas you wear at home isn’t going to help. Instead, wake up earlier follow a small exercising routine get fresh and start your work. Change into your workplace attire and get going on for the work of the day. When working from home in India, the challenge is not getting to work, but getting to work with the same temperament is. So dress up the way you do for your workplace and keep the workflow same as usual.
4) Allocate strict working hours even when working remotely
The biggest of challenges in improving your remote working productivity is allocating daily dedicated hours. So the next step in maintaining productivity is to strictly set working hours with specific breaks in between the way you do at office. Lets say you work in an 8-hour routine, then allocate 3 hours, 3 hours and 2 hours with breathers of 10-15 minutes in between. Allocating strict work hours would help you make sure that the work in hand is being delivered regularly, productively and quality output.
5) Set Clear Ground Rules With People Around
Setting clear ground rules with people around is the next step. Making sure that you are not constantly disturbed or distracted by the family members can assure you a good amount of work from home productivity. Simply ask everyone to maintain the same temperament towards your work as of when you are at a workplace. This will help your transition into a productive working from home option in the long run.
6) Don’t procrastinate and Make an actionable remote working plan
Come up with a to-do list to be done and ensuring all of which is done is imperative to improve your work from home productivity. Always make sure that you complete every task assigned for a day. Leaving out one of ten things you had planned for the day is only going to pile up unattended work by the end of the month. So don’t resort to procrastination, but take up what needs to be done. Even when you’ve completed the planned tasks for the day, you should start prepping up what’s left in the pipeline for next day. Just do not compromise on the work hours allocated by you at any cost to stay productive.
7) Don’t let your friends drop by during working hours
When you are on a work from home schedule, you need to adhere to its prerequisites, and inviting friends over during your working hours is going to be huge distraction from your usual workday regime. Like normal workdays, restrict your social time to after-office hours. Having clear cut segmentation of your daily work from home regime really helps. So, plan your hangouts and meeting with friends for the non-working hours and week-offs.
8) Take small breaks not vacations
It is often noticed that we take more than what can be defined as a break while working from home. In order to improve productivity, one must ensure that the breaks are plenty but time-bound as well.
Taking undue breaks and breathers won’t help you induce work from home productivity, it will only make you lazy at everything. So, while planning your work sprints for a 9 hour work day, count in 3 breathers of 15-20 mins each. Don’t over-do these or overindulge in getting out for breaks more than these.
9) Leave household chores to post-work hours
Household chores are important, but not when you are at work. Leaving them for post-work hours is what needs to be done. During the COVID 19 outbreak, the entire point of working from home is to isolate yourself and refrain from getting to contagious places. Whereas going to the market for getting things would only make you more vulnerable to Coronavirus infection. Therefore, refrain from getting to such places as much as you can and leave these things for the times when you’re not working.
10) Get out daily or Listen to music
When on a consecutively longer work from home regime, getting out for a walk regularly is suggested. Such a routine would ensure your productivity outflow and help your creative juices flowing. For creative individuals and those who sit behind a desk for long, it helps induce new ideas and stimulates enthusiasm & will to work within. Also listening your favorite music works wonders in improving your work from home productivity. Play the favourite alternative rock band, some instrumental bliss or anything that keeps you productive enough.
All this simply means you adhere to a similar approach that you consider at your workplace. So when at home, be productive, be safe and let’s make things easier for one and always make sure that it shouldn’t be distracting enough, but should sync in your flow.