WFH 101: Tips for Working from Home

Lots of people seem to be strangely concerned by having to work from home (WFH). So as someone who has been WFH on and off for the past ten years, and who has managed remote international teams, I thought it would be helpful to share the things I have learnt over the years:

1.     Make Yourself Comfortable. Often overlooked, but potentially the most important advice. If you sit on a hard, wooden kitchen chair for eight hours a day for the next few weeks, your back will not thank you. Find a comfortable chair and a table at the correct height (forearms perpendicular etc). All that stuff HR used to bang on about, well guess what; it was true!

2.     Let There Be Light. Seek out natural light, it’s so important. If you are sitting in a dark cornerit will affect your eyes, your mood and ultimately your motivation. As well as chasing the daylight, make sure you also have lamps on as your laptop screen will start messing with your vision after a while.

3.     Have a Break… Have a Walk. I never had a problem with motivation when WFH, in fact the opposite. The peace and quiet (compared to the chaos of the office) meant I was super-productive and the hours would flash by. So make sure you take proper breaks. Get up, walk around and ideally go outside for fresh air. Remember, the brain works better in a series of short sprints, not a marathon.

Then if you are also managing a team, a couple more suggestions:

1.     My IM Door is Always Open. Some people can feel a little lonely and isolated. I recommend having an instant messaging (IM) platform open at all times. We all need space to work without interruption, but more importantly when people are working remotely, your team need to be able to come to you with questions and for advice. I found a ‘my door is always open’ IM status to be essential. It can be disruptive for you as the manager, but at the end of the day your role is to make your team as productive as possible (plus you probably saved hours not having to commute so get over it).

2.     Keep the Banter Flowing. Separate from the one to one IM work chats, it is a good idea to have a team message board where people can just talk, share jokes, GIFs, banter etc. This would have been happening in the office but now it can’t. Its important for team cohesion so keep it going in a virtual capacity. If you don’t set one up, they probably will - without you.

Lastly, in terms of actually getting your normal work done remotely the best platform I ever used with my teams around the world was Microsoft Teams. This is not an paid advertorial (I wish), I genuinely thought it as great. You would need to be working with MS Office, but assuming so, Teams allows you to collaborate on and share all MS Office documents, OneNote, Projects, PowerBI etc all with good version control via OneDrive. You can also run VC calls and IM chat through it, and there are ton of third-party plug-ins should you need specialist functionality.

Hideous situation aside, working from home is great, just stay away from the fridge.

Christian

Christian Brent is founder and managing director of Damask Consulting. Prior to setting up Damask, Christian was SVP Global Research & Audience Strategy for FOX Networks Group with teams based in the US, EMEA, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

christian@damaskconsulting.com

www.damaskconsulting.com