Making your COVID19 working from home time effective.

There are in this crisis more options to be effective and productive working from home.

When workers are in their home environment they are not only happier at work, but they’re 13% more likely to stay at their current job for the next 5 years than they normally would working in an office environment.

Before this crisis, 44% of global companies did not allow their employees to work from home. Think about that for an instance, I wonder how they are doing in this lockdown now they are forced to embrace this way of working.

Even before the COVID19 crisis, there was a shift happening with the use of the internet via ZOOM, Skype, Google Meeting or other such systems.

So what can you do more to help yourself been more sustainable in working from home? Be it, managing teams remotely, battling with Impostor Syndrome or just procrastinating watching Netflix, here are a few pointers to help you.

Grab a cuppa and let's see what we can do.

So now your company has to try and help it's employees all work from home, not just one day a week, but every day of the week as we are all mainly stuck here at home. Talk about in at the deep end. Companies who had already implemented some form of work-at-home policy will cope a lot better than the others. These other companies are probably now getting frustrated as they are now finding out that their employees aren't that productive, they can't be contacted. They may try and set up their online meeting by finding that their employees are cutting in and out on the conference calls. So what are they thinking, we'll just scrap this way of doing things as soon as this crisis is over, lesson learnt?

In many surveys on the subject before this crisis, the majority of respondents reported greater productivity when working remotely instead of working in an office environment. They also felt a lot happier, which is good for creativity and productivity. So what is happening here, compared to above and how people perceive it? It's about adaptability.

Some challenges of remote work include feelings of loneliness, isolation, and disconnection. Whether we like it or not, scepticism is still rife and because of bad plans been put into place, working from home is still perceived with scepticism and will be more so after this crisis by firms who are not flexible and don't understand the new way of working The notion that working from home directly correlates with decreased productivity will continue afterwards. However, this isn't the case, if the company/worker is organised. It's not just Netflix binging and spending the whole day in your jimjams.

The organisation of your team will come in different shapes and sizes. Every office/team will behave differently. There is always a common theme that companies and the workers themselves have to understand and that is the need for clear communication and empathy between everyone. It is a stressful time, but with these two points, a firm can be very productive and supportive at the same time.

Everyone is different and the best workplaces always have a good understand and empathy already within their workplaces. An understanding of others and now with the new lockdown experience it is now more important to an effective supportive productive community, be it in an office or now stuck in at home.

Understanding of our current situation and empathy within a workplace even if now spread across the country amplifies your contributions to a productive working environment.

The next point the use of different forms of communication, even chat/texting/messaging is a communication mechanism is one option. Whatever is used use many forms to be effective, not just one, find the ones that work for your team's current situation. Not seeing someone's body language, not knowing what’s happening on the other side of the chat window, can be frustrating, but it just means that even if you can't see them, you work with them so intentional understanding should always be present. As a manager or a worker, we are all missing out on all of these natural, in-person interactions, meeting in the lift, over a cup of tea in the kitchen area, we are not automatons, we are social animals. So now instead of relying on these moments to just happen, the emphasis will be to make them happen. Regular contact, preferably every day, will help. It doesn't need to be work-related, how are they coping in this crisis, how's their family etc. be human.

For nearly eight years now, I've been mainly working remotely full-time, with a few periods working for clients in their offices across Europe. I had to adapt, but I found it an incredibly rewarding lifestyle, learning to take more accountability of my habits, like keeping active, having a balanced diet, and nurturing rewarding relationships with distributed team members across the globe.

Then there is the issue of the feeling of, am I good enough, why am I here, this is known as "Impostor syndrome". The common symptoms of Impostor Syndrome include feeling under-qualified for (or unworthy of) your job, even though success after success proves your abilities. Although you and everyone in your network consider you in high regard, you live with a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud. This happens when you’re working remotely, usually alone in your home office it’s easy to fall into a downward spiral of self-doubt. So take time to communicate and talk Take it from me everyone has the same feelings and just take comfort that you are appreciated and needed.

The next issue is coordinating projects across time and space, successful teams explore and adapt to different situations, processes, to keep everyone on the same page, work together to adapt so you are all doing your part.

Even if you are like me and you're a parent. You don't think you can work and be a parent, it seems that the kids are playing Fortnite every hour of the day. You must understand you can focus on work and be a good parent, we do have the flexibility here. We have the chance to not only spend more time with the kids but also work. Getting the balance right at been able to wake up and spend time eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with the family is a rare perk at the moment and make the most of it. These small-times between work and family are good and will keep you sane. Having a structured day will make you productive, as the old "Mars Bar" TV advert used to say, work, rest and play. Your kids and family will fit with this also and they will benefit from it also.

Companies should see remote work as not just a temporary COVID19 crisis thing, but embrace it as the benefits aren't just for the employee, but also the organization. Surprisingly, it has been found that smaller companies are twice as likely to hire remote employees than larger companies, and this should be a wake-up call to the larger organisations also to be more flexible. There is an appearance that larger companies should have more resources to support remote employees, but we are now finding out in a crisis that these systems weren't in place and they are suffering. Nimble smaller companies have already known that working from home saves companies money, with less employee turnover, a shorter hiring time, and lower company costs for office space and equipment, it just makes sense.

In this time of crisis, a wake-up call that remote working, distributed teams, virtual meetings are all more sustainable and more effective when the system changes to adapt, become more organised and on the whole more effective and productive.

About me:

I'm a consultant, an expert on climate finance for the past twenty years, I can help you make the most of your time stuck at home. I can serve you in this Coronovirus COVID19 time as you work remotely. Helping you still be productive?

Keep safe and I look forward to chatting with you soon.