The ultimate guide to do remote work productively

Introduction : Earlier remote work was not given to everyone in the offices until pandemic began. Everyone out there in the offices sought remote work as they wanted a proper balance between their professional and personal life.

But remote work has not been as easy as it is being understood by us. Off course There are some benefits of it but at the same time there are challenges as well. Employer needs to have trust on his employees that they would work remotely as good as they used to work in the office. There are chances of employees to make unwanted excuses of being sick or being busy with other stuffs at home which will make the remote work tough to continue and employees can miss the social gathering, meeting with their colleagues and absence of physical presence of team mates when anyone is having any doubts regarding the work. 

And when we talk about its benefit so we come across some of it.

When remote work is given to employees we can reduce the operating cost of the offices, transport and we can reduce the travel time which will reduce the traffic as well. When we are working from home, we can support the team with extra hours as we are sitting relaxed at home.

We can reduce the leaves which we used to take earlier when we were working from office, now a days WFH is a trend which would continue in the future as well as employees have won the employers trust as employees have delivered the best work to employer in pandemic (COVID 19).

The New York Times reported mixed results on remote work and productivity: “ some papers have linked remote work with productivity declines of between 8 and 19 percent, while others find drops of 4 percent for individual workers: still other research has found productivity gains of 13 percent or even 24 percent.”

Decline in productivity may be due to blurred boundaries between personal and professional life, leading to burnout.

Isolation is another challenge of remote work. Employees may miss the social interaction with their colleagues. Remote employees can feel less connected to the company and less motivated to be productive.

Meanwhile, there are several possible points which needs to be followed by us while working remote.

  • Set your work space – We need to have a space where we can sit for long hours without being less disturbed and distracted from our family members or friends. We need to have proper setup of comfortable office chair and table with good supply of internet so that we can deliver the work effectively otherwise You might be tempted to work in bed. After all, it’s likely the most comfortable space in the house.

But when you associate your bed with work, it can interfere with your sleep. And trouble sleeping will affect your performance the following day. Most sleep experts recommend that your bed is meant for relaxation not for work as the sleep energy lies there so it will be difficult for you to work. So even though your bed might feel like a comfortable spot,  as mentioned above create a workspace somewhere else. If you don’t have the space for a home office, the kitchen table or a desk in the corner of the living room might be better alternatives to your bedroom.

  • Create a schedule – Without a structured workday, time can get away from you. You might find that you start shifting your workdays later and later as you sip an extra cup of coffee. Then, your work hours extend later into the evenings, which causes you to stay up later at night, as well.

Or you might find that you easily get off track or distracted while working. Projects that used to take 20 minutes are suddenly lasting 2 hours.

That’s why it’s important to have a clear schedule. Establish a time to begin and end work. Try to stick to it as much as you can.

  • Work in Small Blocks of Time – Blocking out small amounts of time—and planning what you’ll do during that timeframe—can make big tasks feel more manageable.

You might find you have more motivation when telling yourself that you just need to complete one invoice in the next 30 minutes, rather than telling yourself that you have 50 invoices to create by lunchtime. Scheduling your time will also hold you more accountable. You’ll be less likely to get lost on social media when you know you only have 15 minutes to complete a task. And you’ll be less likely to procrastinate when you’ve given yourself a tight deadline.

  • Limit Distractions and Interruptions – You might find that you struggle to get back on task each time you’re interrupted. You can stay motivated by limiting the distractions and interruptions you experience. This may mean muting your phone notifications and only checking your email once an hour. Or placing your phone on “Do Not Disturb” until you complete a specific task. If you’re working from home with kids, keep them occupied to reduce how often they interrupt you. Give them tasks to do and plan to check on them at a certain time. Establish some ground rules about what constitutes a legitimate reason for them interrupting you while working. Then, you can reward them for playing well on their own with a chance to do something extra fun when you’re finished working.
  • Practice “10- Minutes Rule” – It can be hard to convince yourself to start working on a task you really don’t want to do. Whether you know it’s going to be boring, frustrating, or just really challenging, convincing yourself to get started is tough. One of the best ways to get moving on something you don’t want to do is by using the “10-minute rule.” Tell yourself that you only have to work on something for 10 minutes. Then, after the 10-minute mark, you can take a break if you want. More times than not, you’ll likely find that at the 10-minute mark you’ll choose to keep going. Usually, getting started is the toughest part. But once you do, it’s easy to keep the momentum going.
  • Reward Yourself – You might find you work best when you know there’s a little reward waiting for you. For example, tell yourself you can watch your favourite show if you get your work done by 6 p.m. Or tell yourself you can have a cup of your favourite tea as soon as you finish this report.

A little incentive can often go a long way toward helping you get work done efficiently. And it’ll help you see what you’re capable of accomplishing.

  • Challenge Yourself – Sometimes, a little challenge can help get you moving, too. For example, you might try to write a certain amount of words in 30 minutes. Once you see how many words you write in 30 minutes, you might try beating that during the next 30-minute time slot.

You might also make some discoveries about yourself. Maybe you type faster when you’re sitting at the kitchen table, or perhaps you have better focus right after lunch. Learning these things about yourself might help you set up your day for success.

Being more aware of your time helps you use it wisely. And challenging yourself in some way might provide the extra incentive you need.

  • Practice a good self care – You’ll never be at your best if you’re exhausted and running on caffeine and sugar only. You need a healthy diet, plenty of rest, and good self-care strategies to perform at your peak. But, meeting your physical, social, and emotional needs right now will be a bit more challenging than usual. Eating a healthy diet might not be as easy when you’re limiting your trips to the grocery store. And video chatting with friends isn’t the same as meeting in person. So take a step back every once in a while and ask yourself what else you can do to better take care of yourself. As your stress level increases, your self-care should increase right alongside it.

Summary:

So, in my opinion, offices should provide an option to employees of remote work or possibly the hybrid modal and employees should take this advantage with the utmost honesty and we all as employees should refrain from the idea of disappointing employers with our silly excuses for taking leaves or not attending the meetings.

Remote work is so needed for girls in the country like India where most of the parents being orthodox don’t allow their girls to work in night shifts or to travel far if the office is far away from their homes keeping the safety concerns in mind which is real concern in the country like India.

We as employees should always look for the ideas which can be implemented in order to improve the quality of work with the thought to improve the remote work productivity. We should keep all the above points in mind to increase the quality of remote work.

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