Turning your home into an office isn’t the easiest at the best of times, but it’s important to maintain a work-life balance and to separate the two. We understand many of you are in the same boat so we wanted to share our tips for getting the most out of working from home during this uncertain time.
- Get changed out of your pyjamas every morning and ready for work, we don’t mean you have to sit in your shirt and tie, but getting ready will help you feel motivated for the day and prevent embarrassment for any unexpected video calls.
- Designate a dedicated working space, ideally with a good chair to support your back and if you can with a window nearby.
- Get a plant in your work-space. As well as making it look nicer, a number of studies have shown that incorporating plants into the workplace can also have a positive effect on perceived productivity.
- Try to keep your bedroom for sleeping and relaxing, it’ll help make the work-life balance easier.
- Create a new routine to match your new rhythm of life, this might be doing your hair or putting on a bit of make up.
- Don’t snooze the alarm until the last minute, give yourself time to prepare for the day both mentally and physically, you wouldn’t roll out of bed into the office so don’t do it now.
- Make sure you turn all work notifications off out of working hours to switch off.
- Background noise isn’t always a bad thing. For some people working from home might feel a little too quiet so find a Podcast or playlist you like to listen to.
- Take a lunch break. Have that break in the day where you don’t think about work.
- Take frequent breaks, even it’s just to make a cuppa, you’d do this in an office anyway!
- Make virtual social plans for the evening to make sure you feel in touch with friends and family.
- Don’t do household chores during working hours, we know it’s easy to just put a loading of washing in, but it’s important to set aside time to do chores out of work.
- Keep in touch with members of your team; Whatsapp, Zoom and live documents are all a great way to work.
- Stay active and get outside, even if it’s a lap or two of the garden, the fresh air will work wonders!
