The art of working from home when no one is looking

We are living in unique times and companies across the globe are having to move from their usual office spaces to set up their offices at home. Unless you’re an essential service, you’ve had to do the same, however, working from home comes with its ups and downs. We’ve all been able to reconnect with our families as the usual chores of everyday life have shifted, bringing us all together. Unfortunately, with this new sense of freedom and demands of our family, some of us are struggling to make sure that we actually work from home. 

That being said, we thought we’d create this blog to consider the importance of maintaining integrity as we work from home without someone looking over our shoulders and talk through some ‘working from home’ tips to keep this in check. It’s easy for mismanagement of our time to become a habit as our managers aren’t always able to see exactly what we do in a day and hold us accountable, however, it’s our responsibility to ensure that we’re dedicating time to our work. 

Why should I practice integrity?

With the economy in the position that it is in, it is more important now than ever for us to push through our distractions/procrastination and work hard. “You are the master of your integrity.” When we aren’t responsible for our time, our workload will, more often than not, fall onto our colleague’s laps causing pockets of people and teams in our organisation to feel the weight of our work. 

Tip: Even if your organisation doesn’t have a lot going on at the moment, now is the time to prepare for when businesses go back in full swing. Plan your days and months now and set up processes to make sure that you’re ready for the busy period that is certain to come. 

Maintaining routines

Housework during the day

With the kids at home, it’s likely that your house is looking a lot messier than usual and it can be tempting to clean during work hours but that may not always be the best option for you.

Certain types of people will feel more productive if they’re folding laundry during a meeting while others may find this distracting. On the one hand, you could easily put on a load of washing and then hang this during your lunch break, but on the other hand, you may just forget to hang it at all. We’re all unique so find out which routines work for you and your family. 

Go for a walk 

We don’t all have sweeping lawns to walk across but whether you’re walking around your house, up and down your balcony or in your garden, you’re giving your mind a break. 

Be kind to your eyes and take a walk every once in a while. It may seem like you’re cutting into your work time but it will make you more productive in the long run and you’ll be saving yourself from burning out. 

Have dedicated workspace

Yes, we all know this one – whether you’re co-working with your family on the dining room table or you’ve cornered off a section on your couch, make sure that you stick to a dedicated space so that you always have what you need around you. 

Transparency in your teams

No accountability

The biggest reason why many are having to deal with overwhelming amounts of freedom is that there is a lack of accountability. Think about it. When you’re at work there are many people there to hold you accountable for the work you’re doing in a day. You’ve got colleagues relying on you to complete your work and they have visibility into how much you have on your plate. 

In your home space, you don’t have any of this, no one can really see what you have going on and those relying on you for work to be done have no visibility into how much work or how little work you have going on.

This is why businesses and employees need to start communicating more frequently when you’re working from home. 

Creating accountability

Managers and employees need to open lines of communication up so that there is an opportunity to share the things that you’re working on as an employee. Staying in touch with your peers at work will also keep you socialising outside of your home circle and will make you feel more connected to the larger team. If your manager isn’t doing this already, make the suggestion or buddy up with a colleague so that you can keep each other accountable.

Balancing family life and work life

It may seem like your kids are distracting you from work but the truth is that these are also precious moments you will never get back. Be fair on yourself, your kids are your world, you love them to bits and it’s okay to take a break and have a look at their latest artwork or to chase them around the house. The point here is to balance work and home life as much possible and to try and communicate this with your team.

Remember that many members of your team are in the same boat as you. It’s likely they will understand if you’re needing to supervise during a home bake-off for a couple of minutes, in fact, doing these things will probably make for a much healthier break than your usual ‘jog to the kitchen to grab a coffee’ break. 

The important thing here is that there is a balance between home life and work life – it’s going to take some time to master this art in a new environment. We’re all learning so feel free to share your tips by sending us a message or posting some tips to our parent’s group on Facebook. 

Tip: Think twice before you send! In all the busyness, it’s easy to accidentally type the wrong word in an email or forget to add attachments. Remember to do a quick once-over on your email to make sure that you didn’t start typing the sentence your 10-year-old was telling you in the middle of the email. 

I’m sure we’ve left some helpful tips off this list. If you’re a parent, head on over and join our new parent’s community on Facebook where you can leave some more helpful tips for other parents by commenting on our latest post!