Once upon a time, working from home was considered a luxury, but over recent years, it has fast become the norm, with more people working remotely or taking advantage of an office/home hybrid set-up than ever before. Sparked in no small part by the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, which forced millions to stay at home for long periods of time and workplaces to remain closed, these days, business owners are embracing the benefits of what was once considered an absolute no-no thanks to a growing understanding of the fact that allowing staff to enjoy a better work/life balance can have a positive knock-on effect on happiness and productivity.
Home working isn’t always easy though, and without the right space and set-up it can be difficult to remain as productive as you would be in the office. The distraction of family members and the wrong gear can all make it that little bit harder to make your way through your to-do list, but the good news is that with a few simple tweaks and adjustment, you could soon see your productivity when working from home soar.
A haven for productivity
The foundation of a successful work-from-home experience starts with ensuring you have a dedicated workspace to support your needs. Ideally, you’ll want a quiet room that enjoys plenty of natural light to create just the right environment for concentration and creativity and ensure that you can get into an uninterrupted workflow with ease.
Invest in ergonomic furniture to ensure you feel comfortable during those long work hours, including a quality office chair and desk that are designed to promote good posture and prevent back, neck and shoulder pain. Spending so much time hunched over your computer all day can easily lead to all three, and prevention is far easier than cure, keeping injury risk and discomfort to a minimum.
Once you’ve taken care of the basics, personalise your space with plants, artwork, or motivational quotes for an uplifting space you’ll actually enjoy spending time in. A few personal touches is all it takes to make a difference.
The right tools for the job
Technology is the backbone of successful remote working, with staying connected often key to keeping up with the latest need-to-know information and collaborating with others. With this in mind, splurging on the most up-to-date desktop or laptop computer will ensure that your work day runs smoothly, and high-speed internet will be essential when it comes to efficiency and reliability. Other bits of kit that might come in handy include a high-quality webcam for team meetings and Zoom calls, and an external hard drive on which to back up large and important files or store them entirely externally from your computer.
Allies for concentration
Noise from family members or pets whilst you’re trying to work can be extremely distracting, as can disruptions from deliveries and neighbours, so set yourself up for optimal concentration with a few handy allies to ensure your focus is never broken. Noise cancelling headphones are a great accessory to have and will block out any external sounds when you have an imminent deadline to hit or need to get into deep focus mode. Going the extra mile and having your office soundproofed is another possibility if you’re not averse to the investment.
Secret online weapons
One of the easiest ways to enhance both collaboration and overall productivity when working from home are the numerous online tools available these days, and from simple converters that will help you to make a PDF (these are self-contained files which are easy to share and allow you to include images, texts, and even interactive elements) to video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, leveraging them to your advantage is one of the biggest favours you can do yourself in 2024.
For project management, Trello, Asana and Monday.com can prove invaluable and will allow you to accurately monitor collaborative projects so that you always know where you’re at. Managing staff remotely or working with others from afar can be challenging, but by allowing you to create customisable workflows and make use of visual boards and task tracking tools, platforms like these ensure you are always organised and on track to meet important targets, and that everyone is pulling their weight to get the job done. Slack and Microsoft Teams, meanwhile, will facilitate and optimise communication between staff and make file sharing and instant messaging a breeze.
To maintain optimal online security, a virtual private network (VPN) is a handy tool to have up your sleeve, and as well as masking your physical IP address, will encrypt important files and sensitive information to minimise vulnerability to hackers.
