Coronavirus: Ten Ways to Work Well From Home

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has already altered the lives of billions of people worldwide. Companies across the globe, both large and small, have closed their offices and have asked their employees to work remotely to keep up the pace. Now, as this Great Work-from-Home Experiment is upon us, organizations worldwide are locked up in a debate on avoiding Corona scares whilst making productive use of available time and resources to help surge the slowing economy ahead.
United Kingdom’s initial approach to coronavirus (Covid-19) differed from almost every other country’s. Now PM Boris Johnson is playing catch-up with stringent social-distancing measures & work from home recommendations. Is it too late?
This pre-emptive lockdown has forced office workers to accept working from home as the norm in lieu of existing corporate presenteeism, at least for the new few weeks. Even as governments worldwide are struggling and fighting the spread of the disease, majority of workers are ill-prepared with and have no habitual familiarity with working from home. In many cases, no parallel setups exist.
For those who are already remote workers, especially people in the IT industry, a day during these times can be just another day. For those who are new to this practice, working from home has potential ramifications regarding space and work efficiency. Workers finding it difficult to cope with the altered pace of work can use the pointers listed below to propel them to a promising start.  
Here is our advice for what you will really need over the coming unsettling weeks and months.

1. Dedicated Workplace

Make a dedicated workplace for your work in your home. People having spare rooms in their homes can turn those spaces into their ad hoc workplace. Even if you live in less spacious quarters and have only room corners as spare spaces, we still recommended you to turn any of those suitable spaces into a dedicated workplace.

2. Get Dressed to Work
Getting dressed to work on a daily basis programs a person's state of mind psychologically and prepares oneself to start work. Generally speaking, dress in light formal or semi-formals for best results, and you’ll feel the change in your motivation and productivity almost immediately.

3. Establish Boundaries
Stick to your normal work hours when you're working from home. Start your day at the same time as you normally do while arriving in office, and wrap up at your regular time. Keep your work place tidy and clean.

4. Dealing with Distractions
Distractions are an inevitable aspect of working from home. You may have your kids playing around the house, one of your family members may be sick and may need help getting up or feeding, your parents may ask you for help with one of the house chores, etc. It is okay getting distracted while being in the house as it is an inevitable possibility. You should not beat yourself up for having house distractions while you’re working, and you should accept the possibility of working up late to compensate for lost time, which is fine.

5. Gradual Learning
As you gradually try to fit yourself within the routine, you can figure out ways and means to get certain things done when you're working from home. This way you should be able to build up new expectations which will pave the way towards a better, more productive version of you.

6. Breaks
Periodical breaks are an absolute necessity, more so when you’re working from where you live. It's important that you take a break from your work and go for a short walk outside. Productivity levels drop while working continuously as you become tired which means lesser motivational levels.

7. Keep Yourself in loop
Do connect with your colleagues and friends or even your bosses at work. It is recommended that you connect with your friends and colleagues after work hours or any convenient time to stay in loop with the goings-on at work and elsewhere. You can use tools like Zoom and Slack to connect to individual or large video meetings.

8. Comfort
Do whatever you must to make your eight-hour workday a smooth and a pleasurable experience. This means using the most comfortable setup to help you work in a relaxing and a convenient way. Move some furniture around and explore some convenient furniture settings, or probably get yourself a new comfortable desk and chair as your new workplace highlights for the next few weeks. 

9. Daily Goalsetting
Setting some aspirational goals for yourself on a daily basis would go a long way in motivating you. See how you many tasks you accomplish in a day, and then try overcoming your present tally the next day. This way you’ll keep up and more.

10. Relax and Stay Positive
Working from home may not be as effective or productive in your case as getting work done from the office. As disappointing as that may sound, do not get demoralised after a while. Even if you waste a lot of time initially, gradually you’ll begin to get the hang of things and may actually do a great deal of work all the while sitting at your kitchen table of while playing with your kids altogether. Remember that positivity is the key.

According to data from virtual private network service provider NordVPN Teams. In the U.K., Spain, France & Canada, the working day has extended by an average of two hours, with many people starting work earlier than usually would. Please keep yourself hydrated and have regular breaks.