Maximizing Efficiency When Working from Home

March 13, 2020 Vu Chung,  Amanda Lake,  Cristina Martinez,  Ryan FitzGibbon,  Breanna Rigg,  Meredith Mitchell,  Nicholas Rust

With many professionals moving toward working from home in the current environment, our Prosek remote team members have mastered the art of communication from afar.  Here are some of the tips we shared with our employees to make the most of their work-from-home time, and we hope these will benefit you in this unprecedented and transitionary time as well.

1. Get Ready for Work: Get dressed every day, brush your teeth and make your bed. It’s completely fine to put on your comfortable robe and slippers over yoga pants and t-shirt but changing out of your pajamas is a must to start your day and feel productive.
2. Treat WFH Like Working in the Office: Treat your home office as your real office. Create a nice setup for yourself like you have at work. If you have a routine at the actual office, maintain the same one. Also, it’s easy to work longer hours when you WFH, so try to keep normal hours and only work late if there is a crisis.
3. Designated Work Area: Create a designated work area in your house instead of working from the couch or bed. If you don’t have a desk, design a makeshift workspace with a table surface and chair. When you are upright and organized, your confidence and motivation increases.
4. How to Stay Connected:
1. Teams: Download Microsoft Teams if you don’t have it. It’s a great way to stay connected and talk with people like you would in the kitchen, and this communication can make your time alone much less lonely.
2. Make Phone Calls: Pick up the phone and make calls! It’s easy to hide behind your screens and become comfortable, especially because your colleagues are not physically there with you. Don’t forget that you can express yourself most thoroughly on the phone, and you will feel more connected.
3. Stand Up on Calls: For calls, put on your headphones and walk around your home. It feels so good to get up from the chair, you won’t get distracted by looking at your computer screen and emails, and it will allow you to bring energy to the call.
4. Video Conferencing / Meetings: Don’t hesitate to use it to connect. It’s always comforting to see people’s faces and it’s much more engaging.
5. Pets: Talk to your pets like they are your coworkers. They are great company and excellent listeners to bounce your ideas or emotions off of.
5. Take Breaks: It’s very easy to not take breaks when you WFH. Try to take quick breaks to walk around the house or get a coffee/tea/water refill. Furthermore, there will be time in the afternoon around 2:00 – 3:00 pm when you will want to take a nap. To keep the energy flowing, walk around your apt, do some push-ups, yoga poses, crunches, etc. to circulate your blood and oxygen.
6. Mouse & Keyboard: If you haven’t already, invest in a computer mouse ($10 max) and a keyboard if you want to splurge. This makes a world of difference when working on a laptop.
7. Internet Backup: With COVID-19 restrictions in mind, it’s necessary to have a contingency plan regarding internet service. Map out the closest relative or friend with internet in case your internet goes down.
8. Supplies:
1. The Bathroom: You’ll be using more toilet paper than you used to – so try to stock up if you can.
2. Snacks: Create a snack cabinet because you’ll certainly want an assortment of fun snacks to keep you going.
3. Lunch: Stock up on food for lunch so you don’t have to run out.
4. Be Careful of the WFH Munchies: With all that said, it is easy to eat through your entire house quickly out of boredom while working from home, so be mindful.