Contemplating the dark art of working effectively from home.

Contemplating all the things that work when you are working from home ... I've been working mostly from a home base for at least the last 10 years... here's a list of things to think about in no particular order;

1) Get a decent screen, key board and mouse and put them on a table that is the right height. You might think you can work on a laptop for days on end but eventually your back and neck muscles will tell you otherwise...don’t work on the kitchen table if people will want to eat lunch off it …..

2) Walk around. The temptation is to spend hours glued to the screen typing away because their aren't any interruptions at home (that’s very definitely not true !). But taking breaks is really important. The guidance from HSE is to take 5-10 minute breaks every hour... not 20 minutes every 3 hours. Water the plants, feed the chickens, collect the eggs, load the dishwasher.. There are lots of 5-10 minute tasks to break the routine up.

3) Walk around some more. The joy of conference calls on cordless phones is that you can wander around the house in bare feet/wave your arms around/stand in the garden/feed the cat ... and no one will know... actually they are probably all doing it. Some of us find it easier to think and talk whilst on our feet. Its not something most of us get to do in the office; try it you might like it..

4) Make it easy for people to find you online. At Be Astute we spend a lot of time in areas where the mobile phone reception is questionable at the best. There is nothing more frustrating when you need a short answer to a simple question from someone than failing dismally to get them on the phone. The 21st century has however provided us with a multitude of means to message our co-workers. So agree with your co-workers which platform you are going to use and ping them a message. Most of the people we work with know and use WhatsApp in this way; it works. The instant messenger platforms are more effective for short messages than sending an email. The thread management is better; its a lot easier to scroll back through a WhatsApp exchange than the equivalent traffic in email.

5) Back your stuff up. Google Backup and Sync is an excellent way of making sure your important work stuff doesn’t get lost when the cat knocks your coffee over and kills your laptop. One drive is another good solution. The key is to find a product that automatically backs your working files up to the cloud in a secure manner.

6) The Internet doesn’t always work. Most internet connections are effectively shared. The providers work on the assumption that only a certain proportion of households will be online at any given time. So the reality is that in some areas the internet will be much slower as more people are working from home. You can mitigate that slow internet factor to a certain extent. Work on local copies of files; sync’d to one drive or Google Drive. Think about what else is using your internet connection. Online gaming, music and TV streaming services are a good example of something that will slow your work online down… so persuade the rest of the family to watch an old fashioned DVD instead of streaming Top Gear on the Iplayer and dig out your CD collection.

7) The internet doesn’t always work (2). Home internet connections go down - they aren’t supplied to the same quality as your standard office connection. Think about what you would work on in that scenario. Can you hot spot off your phone … assuming you have the correct data allowances. Have you tried restarting the router; IT Support first option is try turning it on and off. … you would be surprised how effective it can be at solving issues.

8) Have a proper lunch break. You are at home. Take an hour out for lunch, cook something decent to eat. The temptation is to work on through to be finished early. But you need a break so make the most of the lunch hour.

9) Don’t consume too much caffeine, stay up too late or eat a load of rubbish food. By definition you are working from home so you are going to do less exercise. You need to be careful about how you regulate your sleep and diet if you want to stay productive. Appreciate the fact that you get an extra hour in bed and don’t have to get up to catch the train to work.

10) Go for a walk.. Depending on where you are this may or may not be straightforward given the current social distancing recommendations but getting out of the work environment, getting some fresh air and exercise is the key to staying healthy. Maybe there is someone who is currently self isolating that has a dog that needs walking ?

Working from home or remotely is nothing new; lots of us have been doing it for years. A lot of people are going to appreciate over the next couple of months the freedom it provides and are going to be very reluctant to go back to working nine to five in an office.

Bill 18th March 2020