The whole world is pushed to work from home because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. But this is not completely true as from the past 2-3 years there has been a continuous increase in the percentage of employees working from home in the American as well as European market. This is happening because of the evolution in technologies like Skype, hangouts, zoom, Microsoft Teams, cloud computing, etc apps. Also, the organizations find it a very good way to reduce the cost. Telecommuting people who are not much associated with other people find it much more comfortable to work from home. If this kind of situation comes then the distributive workforce is capable of making the company run instead of completely shut down by stopping certain operations.
How to work effectively and efficiently at home?
When you are working from home lots of things are required to work smoothly. While keeping in mind we made a list to set up your office at home and work well with the same output by keeping your eyes away from any kind of distraction.
1. Make a list of what is required from the employer to set up your office: As you are about to move your office to home it is a must that what is needed to work must be taken to home. Most of the employers are supporting their staff in establishing the office at home and so you need to ask from your company about the things which will be provided to you. There are a few things listed below that are mostly provided by the employer otherwise they will tell you to buy yourself whatever is needed and the amount will be reimbursed to you upon submission of bills.
· Laptop or Desktop (official purpose)
· Mouse
· Webcam for regular conduct of meetings
· Internet dongle (sometimes per month charges will be given to you)
· Printer
· Office chair and table (in some cases)
2. Set up your workplace: find a peaceful place or room in your home when you are about to make it a workplace. It would help if you kept certain important things in mind like
· The place should be silent. If you are residing near the roadside then your workplace room must not be adjacent to the roadside and it must be on the opposite side.
· The room must be free from any kind of movement.
· Don’t keep those things in your room which are required frequently by the others.
· It must be away from any kind of noisy instruments like speakers, TV, etc
Although it is quite difficult to make such kind of space in small houses try to make as much you can because too much distraction may affect your work.
3. Set up your working table with all your stuff: Keep all your things on your table which are required to work because you can not move all the time to collect those. Here is the list of things:
· Laptop or Desktop for office work, attach extra monitor if required
· Projector: if you need to take any kind of office presentation and want to communicate with lots of office employees mainly for the group CEOs or MDs
· Headphones: keep your headphones connected and always keep an extra one in case of emergency because, in the emergency time, it is difficult to get as per the needs. If most of your work is being done on call, use high-quality noise-cancellation headphones.
· Stationery Items: pen, pencil, stapler, eraser, cutter, tape, extra stapler pins, paper weight, blank papers, your Diary, and other important documents.
· Comfortable Chair: for a longer period of time you need to sit so it is a must to have a good chair otherwise It may lead to body pain or you will be tired early.
· Water bottle: keep drinking water to avoid any kind of fatigue. Try to have a thermal-resistant glass bottle to reduce your continuous movement for taking water.
4. High-speed internet: All your work needs to be done on the internet so it is advisable to take the plan which suits your needs. Check the connectivity speed on all of your working devices and if you find difficulty upgrade your plan immediately. Check from the reviews about the connection whether there are any kind of interruptions in the signals. Also, put your Wi-Fi modem close to your workplace and do not share the passkey with a lot of people this will reduce the speed of the net.
5. Limit children/guests entry to your workplace: after office hours keep the door locked to avoid any kind of unauthorized access to the room whether children or guests. If you lose any kind of paper or anything else it will become a big problem for you. Also, keep your office confidential things at a safe place.
6. The workplace is not the eating place: Avoid eating food at your working table. Any kind of accident will damage all your setup.
7. Keep some positive/green things: keep some green plants at your workplace and some paintings, art, pictures, buddha statues,s and other mind-relaxing things in your room. It will help you in relieving working stress.
8. Avoid social networking sites: don’t get much addicted to social networking sites or don’t keep it open in the tab for regular checking of notifications. Our home is full of distractions so it is very much required to stop your social networking notifications during your office time for the productive work. After the office hour you can spend your time on it.
9. Know your basic rules: is it necessary to sit in front of the laptop from 9 to 5 or as per the office time? What are the official passcodes required to open access to the company software? If you are working on any project then time to finish the project. Tools, software packages, applications, etc. must be installed on your laptop. Whether there in any change in the working rules for the company. Keep yourself in contact with your team and boss for continuous support.
10. Be Flexible: As you are shifting your work from the office to home sometimes it is possible to delay in achieving the target so keep yourself flexible to the time duration. As everyone on your team is working at different places and with different working environments so sometimes difficult to coordinate with each other. Don’t get over-excited about any kind of issue raised or about the net connectivity issue. Be relaxed and focus well on your work.
I hope this guide will help you in making you feel like sitting in the office at home. Keep working with our help guide on WFH.
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