Working from Home: Tips to Keep Productivity High and Inefficiency Low
“Focus on being productive instead of being busy.”
Work from home has certainly presented benefits for the modern worker, particularly those with home responsibilities, like taking care of children and other loved ones. We now have increased flexibility we never before enjoyed. While it’s presented the benefit of flexibility, it can present challenges to productivity since the initial allure of work from home has started to wean. Below are some tips to keep productivity and motivation high while you’re working from home.
Reduce Distraction. Working from home, it's very easy to get distracted by televisions, phones, personal calls, and family needs since you’re not physically in front of your colleagues. We wouldn’t take a personal call at our desks at work, so I recommend leaving your “work space” to do so as well. The same could be said for distraction from children and other loved ones at home. As much as you can, I recommend working in a separate space behind a door. That way, family members know that when the door is closed, you’re “at work” and when it's open, work is over. Establishing this boundary is critical to productivity. It’s inevitable that we would lose productivity shifting our focus from one thing to the next, so it's critical to reduce distraction to increase our efficiency and productivity.
Establish a Routine. Going to the office, it's impossible to avoid some semblance of a routine, between waking up, commuting, and sitting at your work desk. This serves as a critical transition from “home” life to “work” life. Establishing a routine or ritual to transition to work at home can be beneficial for focus and especially for compartmentalization. The same is true for ending the work day, being able to “close your computer” and leave work behind. The transition away from work is just as critical as the transition to work. Professionals cannot be productive without ample rest, just like you can’t build muscle without rest days between workouts. It’s easy for this line to be blurred when working from home.
Get dressed up. There is something motivating about getting out of sweatpants and putting on real clothes for work. It helps with the mental transition from “home” life to “work” life which can become incredibly blurred when working from home.
Create opportunities for human contact. One theme that recurs with clients who WFH is boredom and loneliness. We are social animals, and people can go days without seeing another human being if they exclusively work from home. Staying in front of colleagues, even via Zoom, is critical to productivity for interaction, energy, as well as maintaining access to critical resources for efficiency.
Pick up the phone. It’s very easy to “hide” behind a computer working from home. This includes a tendency for people to overuse email and underuse the phone or Zoom. I’ve found increased miscommunication with people over relying on email to communicate directives, context, or ideas. Picking up the phone and having a conversation is not only more efficient much of the time, but also allows for immediate and collaborative problem solving that email typically does not.
Get up and move. Early in the pandemic, social media was a flurry with stories and photos of people enjoying the outdoors in their new-found WFH freedom. Since we’ve gotten used to it, many people have forgotten the benefit that an early morning or lunchtime walk can have for productivity. In the office, people typically find reasons to walk around, whether from meeting to meeting, grabbing lunch, or coffee with a colleague. It’s very easy to sit at your desk all day at home. Make sure to walk around to keep energy levels up and reduce the boredom that can inevitably occur while sitting in a chair in front of the computer all day. Being stagnant can certainly reduce productivity working from home.
Go hybrid. If an option, people find great satisfaction in a hybrid schedule that allows the flexibility of work from home with the benefits of going into the office.
Like all things, pendulums swing. While we certainly took advantage of working from home at the height of the pandemic, things seem to be “normalizing”. What have you found works best for you? Working from home or in the office? How can you be more productive in doing so?
If you’d like to explore how to sharpen your skills and refine your performance and leadership capacity, please reach out to learn how Jaclyn Beck Consulting could help you and your organization.
