The Challenges of Working from Home
We’ve all been there. You’re at home, things are quiet, and you realize you need to jump on a conference call. All of a sudden, the dog starts barking, the kids need something, and your spouse starts making a smoothie. In a world where increasingly we have the ability to work from home and our teams are becoming more geographically diverse, how do we balance the needs of the workplace with the realities of our home life?
We believe that working from home is a competitive benefit that allows companies to attract and retain top talent. Given the ever-evolving shift in workplace dynamics, it’s important to optimize not just the work we’re doing but also how we’re doing it. Here are some thoughts taken from a few of our (slightly cabin-fevered) employees:
Relocate
This may seem obvious, but a change of scenery can make a huge difference. When working from home, more than a few of us have been guilty of taking calls and doing work in our pajamas while lying in bed. While definitely comfortable, distractions abound when the shower is going next door, people or pets are climbing on you, or – let’s be real – laying down for just a minute is what you need to take a break. Moving to a home office, a common area for those of us living in apartments, or a local spot with outlets (very important!) can eliminate distractions and provide a “work” environment without actually being at work.
Meet “In Person”
Video conferencing can be great, but it can also be terrible. We’ve all done the business shirt on top, sweatpants on the bottom look in order to appear professional while maintaining a certain level of work from home comfort. That being said, it can also be an effective way to engage with your teammates without actually having to interact with them in person. Seeing your teammates, as opposed to just hearing them, can enable better connections and conversations and ultimately save time. Instead of the routine of interruptions and “no, you go” dance, we can pick up on visual cues and have more meaningful conversations and outputs.
Ask Yourself
Do We Even Need A Meeting? – We love to have meetings. Our calendars are full of them. Oftentimes though, we hold meetings before the thought behind the “why” is fully baked, and/or we invite more people than necessary. This leads to confusion and derailing conversations that don’t always add towards the initial goal of the meeting. When we don’t have the benefit of meeting in person, it’s easy to throw a meeting on the calendar and invite anyone who might have a passing interest in the content. Meeting remotely is arguably more difficult to navigate than being in person, so it becomes all the more important to be pointed with goals and expectations. Instead of scheduling a meeting, we should consider the alternatives – can this be taken care of in an email, a Skype conversation, or a quick phone call to one individual?
Collaborate
There are an abundance of tools that companies use, whether it’s SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Trello – the list goes on. While it can seem redundant to use them when we’re in the office and can just stop by a coworker’s desk to review something, they become incredibly important and useful when we’re remote. As we’re trying to go through emails and unclutter our inbox, there’s nothing worse than seeing 10 emails with the “latest” version of a deck flying back and forth. This leads to confusion, unnecessary work and definite frustration. Understanding what collaboration tools are available and what their capabilities are can drastically increase productivity and cut down on the time spent working on deliverables when you’re working with a remote team.