The COVID-19 pandemic has tested our working culture and environment critically. Who knew that this pandemic would transform the work culture along with a drastic shift of working from home? Every organization that we come across today is struggling with something or the other. The transformation has changed the life of the employer and employees in indescribable ways. Here are thoughts on boosting your productivity while working from home.
The job of managing remote teams seems challenging for organizations that have never been into remote teams. As for the employers, the same is the scenario with the employees. The work-place environment is a lot different than the home environment. The big task lies in maintaining a good work-life balance and delivering the expected results to your employer.
While some people are used to working from home, others might struggle with productivity. The level of commitment, discipline, planning, and consistency is always higher when you’re working from home.
You might have everything in your head. Putting down these things will help you to focus on the work that needs to be done. If you plan your day, you will know and be prepared for the next day. Building your mindset a day before is an important factor that will help you to be productive throughout the day.
When you list down the things that need to be done, the tasks will seem easier. It is a brilliant way to stay away from forgetting the list of your daily tasks. Being at home might bring many distractions, but a to-do list can help you stay organized. There are various tools for keeping track of your to-do list. I have tried to curate the best ones in this article you will find below.
Even if you are working from home, have your specified work desk or area. It increases your focus and allows you a professional environment. Having a separate desk also soothes your mind that has a positive effect on productivity. Need advice on how to set up the perfect home office space; here’s a brilliant guide.
Limiting your distractions allows you to concentrate on your work. You can always start slow. For instance, keeping your phone on DND mode for 30 mins and then gradually increasing it to 2-3 hours. It will allow you to work for the preferred working hours.
Taking 10 minutes breaks after every hour or two breaks mental fatigue. It is a helpful way to stay focused on your work. However, you must take the right type of breaks. If you take the wrong breaks, it can become harder for you to focus when you re-start. Here is an article that will tell you all about taking breaks.
A lot of people say that you need to be dressed as if you are going to work. But it does not work for all of us. You need to explore what suits you the best. Some might feel confident in formal clothes, whereas some might be comfortable working in pajamas. Choose your clothes wisely and get through the day.
Some people like to work with music or podcast and others might find it comfortable in a silent environment. Find out what brings in the most enthusiasm in you while you work. You can try some soothing soundtrack, jazz, or even let the natural sound come to you by keeping the windows open. There is some productivity-boosting music that is a must-try for all of us. Here is a detailed resource on finding the best music for you.
Being entirely new to work-from-home would need some tips and tricks and tools that can help you get acquainted with the new normal. Various tools can help you in working closely with the remote team. Let me help you by differentiating them based on their unique nature.
Lack of communication might end up creating problems for the entire team. It is difficult to pass on real-time information with remotely working teams and ensure whether it is understood correctly. Here are some real-time collaboration tools that might help you get real-time information from your team and colleagues.
Slack is a remote messaging application that helps the teams to work in sync. Your team can now have all the communication in a single place. It has a unique feature where you can create a hashtag and follow the communication in that particular area. It offers a fully native application for iOS and Android that allows you to complete the functionality of the tool.
Troop Messenger is an instant messaging tool that keeps your team’s conversation-flow in real-time. It is an ideal tool for any business size. Troop is a feature-packed tool that includes video calling, flagging, screen sharing, audio messaging, and more. They also provide small tutorial clips for all features in case of any need.
Chanty is an AI-powered application that allows users to connect with the team in no time. Its user-friendly nature enables the users to try their hands on all the features without any help or tutorials. It is designed to share files, unlimited messaging, support third-party apps like Google Drive. Make your remote team communication fun by sharing emojis and animated gifs on Chanty.
Working from home is not easy. There can be a lot of distractions and you might not be able to concentrate. When I started as a freelancer, I could hardly work for two hours straight. Eventually, I fixed my timings and started as a full-time freelancer. I also keep a planner that helps me to complete my tasks efficiently. Some people use an online Calendar as their planner.
There might be times when you feel overwhelmed and would need a tool desperately. I have listed some tools that might help you to increase your productivity. Besides the below tools, a simple physical planner works wonders.
Google keep is a note-taking service that allows the user to strike off the job when completed. You can simply toggle between emails and the list or download the Keep mobile app for easy handling. You can use it for various types of files such as lists, audio, images, and text.
Asana is not only an individual productivity tool but can also be used for the entire team. It is not 100% useful if you’ are a single worker or freelancer. But it is a great tool for teams where you can keep a track of your projects, assigning users for various tasks, and so on.
Freedcamp can be used as a core tool for strategizing, organizing, and taking action. It is a user-friendly application where you can share your to-do list with other team members and join in the discussions. The biggest turn on for using Freedcamp is that it offers a ton of features for free. If you need any add-ons like CRM or invoicing, you can simply pay for what you need. It is one of the coolest applications that you won’t regret exploring.
There are several applications in case you wish to monitor the time taken for completing various tasks. These applications can also be used if you are a manager and would like to see whether your subordinates perform their duties.
Toggl is a simple work from home monitoring tool that tracks time just by pressing the Toggl button. It is one of the most used applications for tracking down the time taken to complete various tasks. You can also fetch reports to see how much time you took to complete your tasks throughout the week.
Time Doctor is a SaaS tool that can help you with tracking your working time along with the breaks. It is one of the best time tracking tools that enable you to track your team member’s time. You can even look for the time spent on individual tasks by you and other members. If you want some screenshots from your team, simply specify the intervals and it will do the job for you.
A group founded Hubstaff while they were looking for a better way to manage their freelancers. Its metrics allows the manager or employers to manage their team. You can ensure your team’s productivity while you manage the remote team and their tasks. It has a unique GPS and geofencing feature that notifies the manager if they leave the job site.
Because remote work — in the manner it has to be done because of the pandemic — is the reason why there are a lot of disagreements and debates in this area. We are going to discuss some of the top statistics to understand the positive side of it.
Doesn’t this study by CoSo Cloud have astounding facts? Who could believe that remote working can boost productivity? This is a win-win situation for both – the employer and the employee. It is a great opportunity for businesses to cut down expenses and boost employee productivity at the same time. In contrast, the employees can work at their convenience and that eventually reduces stress and helps in improving the quality of work.
A study by Stanford found that work from home increases employee performance by 13%. The work from home scenario allows employees to do more work in a day and boosts work done each minute. The aspect of more work done with less time or resources is important for employees and employers.
Image Credit: andrew neel; pexels
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