Times of uncertainty may result in a company’s employees having to work from home, meaning there are multiple things to consider. Firstly, is your organisation equipped with the necessary technology to work from home? Do you have a conference calling system in place so your usual meetings can continue remotely? If you’re looking for a solution to your remote working needs, you can find more info about services we offer on our website.

Now, you may be set up and ready to go, with all employees kitted out with the necessary Office 365 applications and computers to do their jobs, however there’s another obstacle you may need to combat: motivation. Working in an isolated environment is very different to working in an office full of colleagues, where you can comfortably chat and engage with each other when completing tasks. This may be difficult to adjust to at first, and you may find yourself becoming distracted and demotivated – however, here at SMS we’ve put together some tips to help you keep busy and motivated when working remotely:

  1. Create a quiet, calm space away from your usual leisure location – It’s much harder to focus and work in a place where you’d normally relax and wind down. Try to avoid your bed/bedroom, and if possible, your living room. Somewhere with a desk or table such as a kitchen, dining room or office/study would work best as it’s most similar to the way you’d be working in your usual office.
  2. Sit in an upright chair and be aware of your posture – Linking to the point above, if you’re sat in your bed/armchair/sofa you will have a tendency to slouch, which therefore tells your brain to relax and switch off.
  3. Avoid external noise where possible – Stay away from the TV or other external stimuli that will be distracting, as well as music and other people in the house that may be making noise. If that’s not possible and you need music to block out household noise, try to find music without lyrics so it doesn’t harm your concentration.
  4. Keep hydrated – Always having a drink of water on the go as it’s important for focus and health. You may also want to prepare snacks for boosts of energy throughout the day such as fruit or cereal bars.
  5. Take regular breaks and don’t sit for too long at a time – After sitting for a while, get up and stretch your legs, go grab a drink or snack. Maybe have a quick conversation with someone else in the house as a refreshing change of scenery and activity before returning to work.
  6. Keep in regular contact with teammates – Ensures easy and streamlined collaboration, enabling you to work together on projects and complete meetings through conference calling. You could arrange a social video call at some point to keep motivated and speak to your colleagues like you would in the physical office.

 

These are just 6 of our favourite tips for working from home! We hope you found them useful and can implement a few of them into your working from home sessions. If you’d like any more information about some remote working tools, here are some links:

Office 365 https://smsbusinesscloud.com/products/microsoft-office-365/

Microsoft Teams https://smsbusinesscloud.com/products/universal-communications/microsoft-teams/

Business Voice https://smsbusinesscloud.com/products/universal-communications/microsoft-teams/microsoft-365-business-voice/

You can also speak to one of our friendly sales team on 01925 818448.