The Pandemic has changed the way people work. Previously, the norm was to visit your office and work at the common facility from 9 to 5 on most days of the week. But that was the thing of the past. The spread of a demonic pandemic has changed previously accepted behaviors. The main impediment post coronavirus has been on the physical proximity of people that needs to be avoided at any cost because the virus tends to propagate through personal interactions.
Since early 2020, our world has changed and now almost more than 4 million people work from home at least half of the time, according to the Flex Jobs research. It was also found out by the majority of managers that telecommuting employees are now more productive when they work from home.
It’s not as if only remote workers are more efficient, what is more, important is that around 82% of telecommuters now admit lesser stress while performing jobs– which eventually led to higher morale and lower absenteeism. It was the IT industry, BPO, customer service, consultancy, or public utility services- they all embraced work from home, the new reality post corona.
During the lockdown, and even afterward many startups in the social media were launched that began their activity by incorporating work from home. Connect app, helo app was one such India-based social media app that was launched a few months back with most of their employees working well secured from their homes.
However, working from home presents its own unique challenges to employees – including physical and mental health to work and professional obstacles. But those who wish to be more productive can help themselves with certain tips especially when they telecommute and try to keep their body and mind healthy.
Fix a Routine
One of the hallmarks of working from home is having the freedom of being able to establish your own schedule. There’s so much power available to you in feeling like you can do what you want when you want. This is the ideal situation that never existed. You are now the master of your destiny and can handle a job as per your state of mind. There are no external barriers to completing your job within the strict timeline of normal office hours. In fact, now people working from home, the office has virtually become the 24x7x365 workplace where all activities are adjusted around your core functions – your job.
In fact, most organizations have realized that now there is no need to maintain large offices with mega setups. They have toned down their facilities with lesser commercial spaces needed to maintain their day-to-day activity. Moreover, since most of the services are available online, the customers are also not complaining.
Think of your college days when you had just two classes a day and spent the rest of your time doing things that you usually enjoyed. So, while you were still in college, it wasn’t your classroom you were spending time in. Either you were happily chatting in the canteen, practicing your backhand on the tennis court, or taking singing lessons from your music teacher.
Life was so much fun. Well! It appears old times are back with the new reality of working from home- you are back to the same charming world where you are the virtual master of your destiny. It’s not your employer who is setting the agenda- it’s you who is in charge. You know there is a job to be accomplished, and you know the timings. You just have to manage your time and resources to finish your job. That’s the kind of freedom working from home can feel like.
So just like back in college, it’s crucial to establish a tight routine, failing which you’ll suddenly find yourself in a YouTube time-suck at 5 p.m., having accomplished nothing throughout the day. Stick to the routine. Eat your meals at the same time every day, and start work and stop at the same time. By doing something as simple as setting a schedule, you can visualize how long things will take and make room for things like meetings, calls, discussions, breaks, and even entertainment.
Create your Schedule
Creating a schedule is important because it may help you with the overarching day-to-day activities, and batching your work can further help you get more done in less time. There were multiple surveys that proved that multitasking actually makes us less productive. But batching work is just the opposite of multitasking. Here, you can easily set aside more time to accomplish something in its entirety.
You can plan an entire week on a Sunday night because this way you’re only concentrating on a single task at a time until it’s completed, and everything related to it is also taken care of. Therefore, try spending the first Monday of the month planning all your social media posts across different channels for the rest of the month. Or if your job is all about creating a content calendar for the quarter – spend a few days writing every single article that you plan to post in the next 90 days. You will realize that soon you have a sizable bank of content that you can use as per your wish and requirements.
