Worldwide, the cases of coronavirus have increased to an alarming number in just a few weeks. Businesses and organizations are asking their workers to work from home. More than 46% of businesses in the USA have implemented the work from home policy this month.
Remote working is getting in trend these days as directed by the government and health authorities to encourage people to stay at home. However, remote workers have increased to 159% in the past four to five years. Still, people are facing issues on how to work from home and get productive amid the coronavirus outbreak. This is because many employees have little to no experience in working from home.
Companies including Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Intel, Hitachi and Oracle (from the USA to Japan), all these global companies have rolled out work from home policy amid COVID-19. Many schools and universities have shifted to online classes and delayed the examinations. Major events, including the Presidential Campaigns, have been delayed due to the virus outbreak.
We have to go through such situations from time to time.
But you don’t need to panic…
Even if you are a first-timer to work from your couch or if you are a manager who takes care of their team performance and productivity, you can deliver the results even by working at home. You just need to follow these ready to implement best practices to work from home during coronavirus.
Best Practices to work from home (telecommuting) in a pandemic
As you are gone into the self-quarantine to reduce the spread of the deadly coronavirus, you can still work and serve your job just like before. Just adopt the following best practice of working from home to work efficiently:
1. Set up your home office
You can’t work and concentrate at the same time when you are in your family’s sitting room. You need a separate place where you can work with more focus and deliver the work. Setup a work desk in your bedroom or any other suitable place if available.
Let your wife, kids and friends know that you will be working at home from nine to six, so spare yourself for this time period. By this, you can have a feeling like you are working in a proper office environment. Having a separate workspace where you can close the door and keep the work and personal life at distant can help you to meet the deadlines.
2. Get dressed
Don’t get to work straight from your bed in pajamas. Prepare for the work just like you do when you go to the office. Brush your teeth, take shower, wear comfortable clothes, have breakfast and then get to your work.
In this way, you will feel more organized and make up your mind that you are doing it to achieve your daily work targets.
3. Equip yourself with the proper technology
Check your computer system, internet access, networking tools, emails and phone conferencing devices that you will need to work at home. While working remotely, you should have a secure internet connection that is protected by the VPN.
Data is valuable and important. So, it’s your duty to secure your files and protect them from interception.
Remember: Get your laptop or personal computer checked by your network administrator at the office before taking work from home leave.
4. Use cloud-based task management tool like nTask
Now, to get you started you need to align your work and collaborate with your team on projects, issues and job tasks. nTask can fulfill your need of working remotely and still get productive without any cost. You can sign up nTask for FREE and bring your whole team to your workspace for task management.
The best thing about the nTask app is that you can add unlimited team members without paying a single dollar for it. Use its robust features such as task management, project management, issue management, risk management, meeting management, timesheets, time tracker and many more. Check out the complete nTask features to gain its full remote working benefits.
5. Follow your schedule
It feels nice to work from home by having a full comfort of your workspace but it might hinder you to achieve your targets. Follow your set schedule even when working at home as this helps in delivering the tasks and projects on time without any delays.
You will need to separate your professional and personal time as discussed in the above points. Log your daily tasks in advance with task management apps, keep your checklist and review your progress by the end of the day. You are your own boss at home, so it’s your duty to make an efficient work delivery with full responsibility during this coronavirus work-from-home time period.
6. Take short breaks
It is a healthy and productive practice to give yourself short breaks. Distance yourself from your workstation to get some fresh air, have lunch or coffee, listen to a podcast, or read your favorite blog.
You feel comfortable at home doesn’t mean that you can’t sign off from your laptop for a while. You can apply the Pomodoro Technique to your work habits and get more done in less time. You can do whatever you want at your home, but please don’t do dishes or laundry during your work hours.
7. Manage any distraction
This is really important when you are working at home under the coronavirus pandemic. You can get distracted easily while working in the home environment. You need to proactively manage your stuff to avoid any distractions.
Keep your phone on silent, tell your family nicely that you got a job to do in your work hours and set other personal activities aside to be done during your breaks.
8. Track your time
During the coronavirus work from home practice, it is recommended that you keep track of the time you spend on your tasks and projects. This will help your employers to avoid any overtime claims and help employees as well to track their salary for the work from the home time period.
You can keep track of working hours by logging the start and the end time of tasks, projects, and issues with the help of time tracking apps. To avoid any inconvenience you can make use of timesheets and send them for approval from your managers or employer.
9. Stay Sociable (but at a distance)
It is difficult to live and spend time alone, especially in quarantine situations due to the coronavirus pandemic. If you are not in a self-isolation due to virus infection, it doesn’t mean that you stay alone for the whole week. You should ensure that you spend time with your friends and family but with care.
Keep in touch with your colleagues, and people you care with Zoom, Skype, Slack, email or social media. When you meet people, make sure that you wear your mask and keep a suitable distance.
10. Take care of your hygiene
Even if you are working from home due to the COVID-19, it is important that you take care of your hygiene. Wash your hands often with soap, use a mask when you go in a social gathering if you don’t feel well or develop symptoms of flu, check with your doctor. Read the coronavirus prevention advice by WHO.
Moreover, keep regular health check of yourself, avoid contact with eyes and nose, practice respiratory hygiene, stay informed and follow the healthcare advice by your local authorities.
Over to you:
With the best practices explained to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic, make sure that you take care of yourself and the people around you. Don’t follow and spread any rumors about the pandemic. You can still work with full productivity in remote working by following the above tips. Share your feedback on the remote work tips with me on fwilson@ntaskmanager.com
Originally published at https://www.ntaskmanager.com on March 19, 2020.
