Making WFH Work For You

With more and more companies making the call to go remote across the board for what could be an indefinite amount of time, and lots of articles and tweets popping up about how to handle working from home, I thought I’d share my own personal tips for being effective while working remotely. I’ve been a remote employee since 2017 and have led and worked on teams where I’m the only one who’s remote and even worked in organizations that are 100% virtual. So, before you panic, and worry about “How am I going to do this, without going crazy?!”, here’s a few tips that have worked for me over the years.

1.      Work in a “room with a door”.

So I get it, not everyone's home is conducive to an actual room with a door, and in fact I still don’t have an actual physical door on my office space, but it is important to dedicate a separate space that’s for work. It’s important to have a barrier between your work space and your home. When I first started to work from home, I set up a desk in a corner of my bedroom and while it was fine initially, over time it started to cause me a bit of anxiety. I realized all the energy spent working during the day was bleeding into what is usually my quiet space to decompress at night, and I needed to physically move my work operations somewhere else in the house. My other pro tip here, pick a space that’s well lit, with a neat and tidy backdrop. It will keep folks focused on you during video calls vs your choices in home décor. 

2.      Stick to your office hours.

Let’s be honest, none of us are likely working strict 9– 5 schedules as it is. Work does bleed into our evenings and on occasion our weekends, but when you’re working from home it is particularly easy to keep the emails / Teams / Slack conversations going. For me, physically shutting down my laptop – my way of “closing my office door” – is an important step. I’ll keep an eye on my phone, but I consciously set an expectation with my team that anything I send to them after hours is more about me checking off my to-do list than me expecting a response. While my hope is that this practice helps my team maintain a healthier work life balance, it naturally curbs my tendency to keep going as well. 

3.      Be unapologetically unavailable.

We live in a world where multi-tasking has become the norm for nearly every minute of our lives, and if you’re suddenly not physically removing yourself from home you’ll add to that list of to do’s or “maybe I can do’s” before you know it. I often have friends that will invite me to an early play date for the kids, because I “work from home, right?”. Be weary of those air quotes, respect your time, and resist the urge to just throw in that load of laundry before your next call. Working from home saves you so much time in other ways - no commuting for one! – and it’s so nice to have the option to be present in other aspects of your home life and community, but be protective of your time, and draw clear boundaries. A good rule of thumb for me is to ask myself "Would I say yes, or take this on, if I had to commute into the office today?".

4.      Dress the part.

For me it’s always been important to have my morning routine before I start work. That includes getting a workout in, my kids up and ready for school, and being showered and dressed before I log in. Sure, I’m wearing house slippers and not heels all day, but a pair of jeans, a decent top and yes even some makeup are an important foundation for conquering my day. Honestly, I also feel it’s part of being respectful towards my colleagues who took a minute (or thirty!) to look put together before commuting to the office.

5.      Turn on your camera.

My team knows I’m a stickler for this one, because for one thing it gets lonely working from home all day. And while a call can certainly get the job done, seeing how people in the room are responding to the conversation makes you feel a part of it all, more likely to participate, and less likely to multitask. 

6.      Take a break.

When you’re not circulating from conference room to room, chatting it up at the water cooler or heading across the street for a quick coffee run, it is easy to go stir crazy. Engage in breaks that boost your energy. Some things that work for me include a quick walk outside (even if its just to get the mail), turning on the music when I’m not on calls, leaving the house to pick up a quick bite to eat for lunch, or taking a coffee break in the late afternoon paired with a call to a colleague or a friend to catch up for a few minutes.

We’re so fortunate to be living in a time where remote work can be incredibly effective. It takes some discipline for sure, so I hope these few tips help whether you're in it for just a few weeks or for the long haul.