Working from home is becoming inevitable for office workers as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. Here are some tips on how to do it effectively.
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00:00The best routine is the routine that works for you.
00:10Not everyone works the same routinely.
00:13So of course if you have co-workers, if you have an employer, if you have deadlines, if
00:16you're working with outside people, you want to set up a schedule that incorporates others
00:22and those who you're reporting to, but for me, I like to get up and I like to actually
00:27get all of my analytical work out of the way.
00:30I like to go through my emails, I like to set up my day, I like to see if anything came
00:33in that was urgent or important that I have to address first.
00:36I use my afternoons, where that downtime where my energy starts to drop, and that time I
00:41use for my calls.
00:56If you have roommates or other adults at home who may also be struggling to figure out what
01:01routine works, decide who is going to work where and when, and maybe you designate a
01:07closet or a smaller room as the phone booth room or the conference room, and start to
01:14schedule out those calls so that everyone knows, okay, who's doing what, who's where.
01:21If you're working in a place and you feel like you don't have enough bandwidth, go ahead
01:25and say, I need to be on this call at this time.
01:27This call is a video call, I need more bandwidth during this time.
01:30And if you have children at home, it can be a little bit difficult because now they may
01:36see it as a snow day or as vacation time, but it's definitely not, and a lot of schools
01:43are sending work home, you have work to do, now the dog's all riled up in the day, you
01:50don't know how to maintain everyone.
01:52So a schedule is really the best way to do it.
01:57And knowing that, yes, your children are going to have that time with you.
02:00You will have lunch together.
02:02You will do a project together.
02:08So it really does depend on the person and on your workforce.
02:13You're going to need to talk to your company and see what's allowed, and then also find
02:18out what about on meetings.
02:21Now I will say, if you are doing remote meetings and they're on video, I myself will make sure
02:27that I'm fully dressed, because you never know when you're going to have to get up and
02:31walk around or change a cord or just do something.
02:36And I don't want to ever be in shorts or in sweats, but I still want to have this professional
02:42look from head to toe, because you just never know.
02:46What do you want to do with your free time?
02:50Set aside some time where you might have a virtual chat or a virtual lunch, and maybe
02:55set some time to walk outside.
02:59We're not really supposed to be going other places right now, but I can go out in my backyard
03:03and it's quite large and there's no one around.
03:05It's a great time to see about joining Slack groups and Slack channels to meet other people
03:10and have virtual coffees or cocktails or lunches.
03:14What do you need to do to communicate?
03:18You need to over-communicate, and the way that you communicate needs to be very, very
03:23specific.
03:24So one, I would highly suggest that you emphasize the overuse of words like, please, thank you
03:30and you're welcome.
03:31And it sounds like a small thing, but it makes a huge, huge difference when you don't have
03:37that context, when you don't see that other person on the other side, when everyone's
03:42a little bit stressed.
03:43So know where you're going to communicate.
03:46So for very short and fast communication, you might want something like instant messaging
03:51in Slack.
03:52But there are things that you still want to send via email or secure server.
04:01I think the key is also knowing when to stop working.
04:04In fact, remote workers have a tendency to overwork because as long as we have our connection
04:11and all, as long as we have our laptop and tools, we're just going to be working all
04:14the time.
04:15So if you can set up a designated place that once you close that laptop, once you close
04:21that door, once you push in that chair, you're done working for the day.