An 8-Step Process to
Getting Organized in Your Remote Work
See also: Organising Skills
The remote work experience became widespread with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the need to limit contact between people.
Statista website cites data that shows that 56% of surveyed workers said they worked remotely for less than a year. This was the case when many employees worldwide were forced to leave the office and return home to work during the pandemic. As a result, many of these employees now identify as remote employees.
However, it is possible that you dreamed of working remotely without the impact of the pandemic. But some factors can be scary:
- how to set up work from home
- how to set up a work schedule
- how to provide the necessary working conditions
These questions are even more troubling for those forced to work remotely who have never done it before.
With flexible scheduling and no hard time or space constraints, it is not easy to know where to start and understand how effective you can be working from home.
For any team or company, switching to a remote work model is an opportunity to try a new work format.
Remote work requires specific skills of self-organization. However, it does not mean that you cannot work as efficiently at home as you can at your desk in the office.
This article will try to answer the question of how to organize work remotely effectively.
Pros and cons of remote work
As with any business, remote work has its pros and cons.
Pros of working remotely:
- you can work worldwide without boundaries
- saves time commuting to the office
- you are more likely to be with your family
- flexible working hours
Cons of remote work:
- the need to monitor your performance
- a lack of live exchange of experience with colleagues
Tips on How to Organize Practical Work Remotely
1. Organize communication channels
One of the problems with remote work is the difficulty of communicating with employees. Determine in advance which channels you will use to communicate with your manager and colleagues: which messengers, emails, and video calling tools you will need.
Forbes writes that having fewer interactions with co-workers also has benefits as you have fewer idle chatter distractions. Prioritizing random personal or virtual events and making them an essential part of the corporate culture can help remote team members feel more involved and complement more limited social aspects of remote work.
2. Tune in to work
For many of us, home is associated with relaxation, not work. But sometimes you can also make money, and vice versa, forgetting about everything in the world - after all, you no longer need to rush home.
To properly organize your working day, start and finish work remotely at a strictly allotted time, take a food break and get up from your chair to warm up. Also, experts recommend not to stay in your pyjamas while working, even if none of your colleagues can see you.
3. Use personal assistant applications
Thanks to such applications, you can effectively set up a working day: they will remind you of appointments, that it is time to have a snack or take a break, and will track your daily productivity and task completion time.
4. Organize your workplace
When you work from a bed or sofa, it is not a good solution. It would be best to take care of your personal space, ideally an office where no one will interrupt you. Make sure you have a comfortable desk and chair to work with. Set up all the devices you need and connect to the most convenient and reliable internet.
5. Create a veil of privacy
If you do not have a separate workroom to not interfere with the other occupants of the apartment, or so that they do not interfere with you, use fences, screens, or even hang curtains to separate your workspace. Agree with your loved ones that this is your place for productive work and that you should not be disturbed here.
6. Optimize your processes
The progress of the team can be noticeably slowed if you do not see your colleagues nearby. Techcrunch writes that many managers have had to think about how productive their employees will be without being in the office.
While many companies had flexible approaches to work, this usually involved a small percentage of employees working from home, rather than the entire staff, and this created problems for management who are accustomed to assessing employee performance mainly based on the fact that they were in the office during business hours.
An unclear work plan can be frustrating for your team, so you need to make sure everyone understands your systems.
It's good when you and your team have a clear plan of tasks, according to which you can work and, for example, at the end of the day, call the whole team and check where each of you is now.
7. Keep track of your budget
Even when you work remotely, you need to keep track of your work expenses. Moreover, it is even more necessary for remote work. Smartphone applications can help you with this - mobile banking, account management, etc. You can download various budgeting apps for your smartphone to help you keep track of your weekly and monthly expenses. It will help you better organize your finances or provide reports and receipts for reimbursement by your employer.
8. Take care of data security
Working outside the office means you can connect to Wi-Fi networks in cafes, coworking centers, and other public places that may not be as secure as you want them to be.
Therefore, you should know that these connections will be safe for you and your company so that the data with which you work does not leak into the network. Set up a VPN for your work and use firewalls, especially if your job involves confidential issues.
Further Reading from Skills You Need
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Conclusion
If you're going to embrace remote work as a way of life, be intelligent and creative.
The more convenient teleworking solutions you create, the more productive your work from home will be.
The world today offers a wide variety of ways for teams and teleworkers to interact. IT companies such as software development company MLSDev offer their end-to-end solutions for remote workers and help ensure the security of remote work.
Experiment and try your methods of practical work. Hopefully the tips in this article will help you for the first time.
About the Author
Anastasiia Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a software development company that builds web and mobile app solutions from scratch. She researches the area of technology to create great content about app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting.