The coronavirus lock-down has led to many changes.  Eating in restaurants has been severely curtailed.  Gathering with friends and loved ones at each other’s homes in large numbers is a no-no.  Handshakes and kisses, forget about it.  Of course, the biggest change is the growth in remote work. 

My associate and I have been working remotely for years, so for us, working outside of the traditional office setting is no big deal.  For many people, the coronavirus has meant working from home for the first time. While the transition from working in an office to working from home wasn’t initially a smooth one for many, working remotely has now become de rigueur for millions of people around the world.  The benefits speak for themselves – reduced commuting time and costs, more flexibility in how the work gets done and better work/life balance.

If your company has embraced remote work, how do you make the most out of working from home?  Here are some tips that work for us.

Set a routine and stick to it: Now that you’re at home, there may be tempting distractions all around you. The family pet, a new show streaming on Netflix, that pile of laundry you keep promising yourself to tackle. Try not to be tempted by non-work activities during working hours. Keep to a schedule, dress for work and do your work in an area that is conducive to productivity.

You can reward yourself with dog or cat time between tasks, stream your favorite show during your lunch time and that laundry will always be there later!

Set boundaries with roommates or family members: At work, you have a boss nearby and that helps to keep the interruptions to a minimum and the focus on work. At home, there’s a spouse asking for advice, kids who need help with school work and relatives calling to say, “Hello.” Make it clear to your roommate, spouse, kids and relatives that you are “at work” during certain hours of the day and that interruptions should be kept to a minimum. Let them know that you are “all theirs” after hours. 

Keep online activity to a minimum: The Internet and social media sites are huge distractions. If one of your job duties is to manage social media channels or perform internet research, then go for it. But, don’t let the dull moments in your day tempt you to look at your Facebook news feed or browse through pet videos on YouTube. While we have all been guilty of this from time to time, it is important to keep this from becoming a habit that ends up effecting you work output and quality. Therefore, if you wouldn’t look at social media at the office, don’t be tempted to do it during working hours at home.

While the technology that makes remote work possible has been around for a few years, it took a pandemic for the idea of remote work to be viable for more than just a group of clever millennials. Since work is happening anywhere and everywhere, that means workers have to be both flexible and methodical when it comes to work.  Whether you work in an office, coffee shop or at home, make sure that work time is work time and save the fun stuff, like laundry, for after hours.