Current circumstances (COVID-19) have forced many businesses (like ours) to switch to working from home to minimise the spread of the virus and its impact. A large number of people are now adapting to work from home, and are finding this new lifestyle a bit challenging and uncomfortable.
As of 23rd March, Team A&H has 100% transitioned to work from home. Being a software company, this choice was relatively easy for us but for some businesses this can be very daunting. Here are some tips and best practices compiled by our team to help you settle in:
Upgrade your internet
First and foremost, ensure that your internet is capable of supporting video conferencing and voice chat. These are the main methods of communication between team members over the internet. Having inconsistent and stuttering streams is very distracting for all participants. This can often lead to miscommunication and ultimately, wastes time and resources. If your current internet speed is not good, you should consider upgrading your internet plan to make your online team meetings more effective and efficient.
Workstation essentials
Your home workstation is where you will work for the time-being. Make sure you have the necessary equipment to improve your efficiency and work productivity.
- A headset can improve the effectiveness of an online meeting. If someone is instead using speakers, the sound from the speakers can be heard through the microphone, causing echoing to occur. This can be very distracting and contribute to unnecessary noise in the call; forcing people to repeat themselves multiple times.
- A second monitor can boost your productivity. Many of us who have had the chance of working with two monitors, can never go back to just one. Studies have shown that overall productivity increases by 20-50% when using a second monitor as it provides more screen real estate to display your most used programs and helps you improve your multitasking ability.
- An external mouse does help you work faster. Making precise movements with the cursor is child’s play with an external mouse. We think the built-in trackpad is often too small, clunky and imprecise.
- Add a personal touch to your workstation to boost your own morale and motivation.
Practice mindfulness and “rest mode”
Separating work from “rest” is still very important when working from home. However, working from home blurs the line between work and rest. Many people have trouble adjusting to the new lifestyle because of this reason.
If you have a spare room, convert it into your new office for the time being. Separating work and rest in terms of space is the best way to tell your mind when it is time to work or rest. However, you must ensure that work and rest is strictly separated. It may seem difficult at first, but keeping work-related stresses in the office will allow you to relax once you leave the room.
If you do not have a spare room, we recommend strictly adhering to office hours and try your very best not to take work ‘home’. Once you reach the end of your work hours, make sure you relax by offloading any outstanding work to future “you” to handle tomorrow.
Maintain relationships with fellow colleagues
When working remotely, it is often observed that people seldom talk about non-work-related matters with their colleagues. An explicit effort must be made by the entire team to maintain human connectivity by discussing casual topics. Doing so will build and maintain morale within your team. This makes the current transition of working from home slightly less jarring.
Over Communicate
It is vital that your team informs each other multiple times of the specific actions, tasks, plans, changes and schedules, as we are not in the same physical space anymore. For some people, over communication can be difficult and it is the responsibility of team leaders to encourage members to get used to it. Over communication may seem like an annoyance but when working from home, it is easy to forget what your other team members are up to. Staying up-to-date with everyone will ensure the team alignment and engagement.
Take breaks
Staring at a screen all day can be taxing for both the eyes and mind which will naturally cause headaches. Take regular breaks to stretch, relax your eyes, enjoy the sun and get a breath of fresh air.
Self-maintenance
Working from home is no excuse to forget about your own personal health and well-being.
- Ensure that you do some form of exercise at least 30 minutes a day to maintain your fitness.
- Avoid snacks and eat healthy – this is a great opportunity to explore cooking as a hobby.
- Catch up with friends and family – mental health is just as important as physical health.
Team A&H’s top 3 practices
We are adapting quickly to this new normal and here are our top 3 practices:
- Daily casual catch-up – to ensure that everyone’s well-being is looked after in these trying times.
- TWO daily stand-ups – one in the morning and one in the afternoon to ensure we are all working on the most important tasks as a team.
- Over communicate – within our team and also with our clients and partners, we are encouraging everyone to communicate as often as possible to ensure that everyone is up to speed with each other.
Stay healthy, stay happy, wherever your workplace may be. We all will learn from this experience and it will make us stronger in the future. The one trait humans have that other species do not is the ability to adapt quickly to adversity and grow from it.
