As lockdowns start to ease in many countries, some people are beginning to return to work. However, more and more companies are advising their workers to continue to work from home. Tech giants Google and Facebook told employees that those who can, should continue to work from home until 2021. While Twitter has given up on timelines entirely – telling most employees that they can work from home forever. With so much uncertainty when many of us will be returning to work it is essential that we stay motivated whilst working from home.
Whilst working from home has its benefits; the ability to join Teams meetings from the comfort of your own home and treating every day like casual Friday is something we can all appreciate. However, to say that COVID-19 has been a major disruption to businesses across the globe would be an understatement. For the sake of all companies and the wider economy, it is vital that employees remain as productive as possible in these unprecedented times.
Employee engagement is particularly important during this crisis, as businesses rely on maximum productivity to cope with the fall in demand for many products or services. Follow these 5 tips to help combat demotivation.
It can be easy to feel like you are isolated when working from home. Although this may be true physically, remember that you are not alone as most companies are yet to return to work. It is important to remind yourself that you are at work by organising video calls to discuss your progress with your boss or colleagues, helping you feel more connected.
With staff under even more pressure than usual, feeling vulnerable and anxious about the future, reassurance, increased communication and understanding of individual circumstances are paramount when looking after your team.
Teams is one of the best communication tools for remote workforces on the market. With Teams, you can message everyone on your team (no matter their physical location) from one convenient app. It allows you to chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place. Teams is, therefore, much more than just a video conferencing platform, but a digital platform that promotes collaboration and communication.
If you’re interested in how we can help you set up Teams, please get in touch with our Account Director Danielle here
If you want to stay focused, you need a dedicated office space at home, free of distractions. This means setting some ground rules with your family or roommates about when they can or cannot enter your “office”. It is also helpful to make your workspace look and feel as similar to the office as possible. The more your room feels like an office, the easier it will be to stay motivated at home.
Some people are even going one step further and coming up with innovative ideas to mimic their offices. This includes video coffee breaks and group exercise sessions to dispel feelings of isolation. Some workers are even connecting with and having their workmates on the screen to try to replicate a typical working day.
With children, partners, social media, and an ever-mounting list of distractions, it’s harder than ever to focus during lockdown. One of the best ways to beat distractions is by focusing solely on work for a set time and then allow yourself five minutes to do something non-work related. Evidence shows that productivity increases when you take breaks. If you don’t allow yourself time to rest and take breaks, you can easily burn out by the afternoon. Make sure you take your full one-hour lunch break, stepping away from your laptop and emails, as tough as this might be. This will allow you to feel rejuvenated when you return to work.
In these extraordinary times, you may be tempted to wing it and take each day as it comes. However, this can leave you feeling disorganised and overwhelmed. A better idea is to approach your work like a creature of habit. Figure out when you work best, then set a regular work schedule around that time. For most people, this means getting up early, exercising, showering, getting dressed for work and then making a checklist of everything you want to accomplish for the day. As you get into a routine, you’ll find it much easier to stay motivated and accomplish your goals.
During the working week, music acts as the soundtrack to your career. You wouldn’t do your daily run to classical music and the same theory applies when you’re working. Matching your music to the project you are working on is a helpful way of staying focused and in the zone. Video game soundtracks are excellent at this. The whole genre of music is designed to simultaneously stimulate your senses and blend into the background. It must engage the player without distracting them, so perfect when you’re working! Having some music shifts the focus away from your three-year-olds temper tantrum or your housemates chatting in the background, so you aren’t distracted by intermittent interruptions.
Video game soundtracks on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DXdfOcg1fm0VG?si=yWHDuJwdQ5KLRxJfiko-IA
As no one knows when we will return to normality its essential to build and maintain a positive remote work culture. We have recently begun to see glimmers of hope with counties beginning to ease restrictions with the aim to at some point return to business as usual. But, until that point, it is vital that workers stay motivated, so productivity levels don’t slump, in a time when they need to be at their highest.
Check out some of our other WFH blog posts; 'How to tackle the challenges of WFH', 'Remote Working during the COVID-19 Outbreak', 'WFH with Children.'
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