At first, working from home sounds like a dream come true: no rush hour traffic, wearing your pajamas all day—what’s not to love? While working from home is rewarding for a lot of reasons, it can also be really difficult to work efficiently and productively. Home comes with a lot of possible distractions, and if you’re working for a company remotely, you don’t have the same team building experience that you might have in an office. If you are trying to decide whether or not you want to work from home, or if you’re having trouble creating a productive work environment at home, check out all of these helpful tips.
- Set Aside Space
It’s important to set aside a space in your house that is dedicated to your job. If possible, this space should be completely separate from the rest of your house with a door that can close. This will allow you to feel as though you’ve entered into a work environment instead of your living room. By limiting distractions, you can sustain a productive mindset. According to Kerry Hannon in “10 Tips for Working from Home,” you may be eligible to deduct your home office from your taxes.
- Stick to the Program
Set specific work hours for yourself. You’ll be more productive with the time that you have given yourself if you set boundaries between your work and home life. If these boundaries become blurred, it may be more difficult to keep track of the work that needs to get done and your personal life.
- Dress for Work Everyday
It’s tempting to wear your comfiest pajamas, leggings, or t-shirts to work when you work from home, but getting dressed will help you mentally prepare for the work day. In fact, studies have shown that getting dressed up for work can positively affect your performance.
- Save Your Personal Life for After Hours
Try to avoid doing chores around the house during your working hours. If you have lunch in your kitchen and want to clean up your dishes, that’s one thing, but vacuuming during the middle of the day or doing laundry will only be distracting and will take up time that you’ll have to make up for later. Treat your cell phone, email, and social media sites like you would at work.
- Go Outside
Working from home can be lonely. If you don’t have face-to-face social or collaborative interactions with others during the day, it can be difficult to network, feel as though you are a part of a team, or develop friendships. Attend networking events and consider using social media sites, like LinkedIn, to keep in touch on the web. While this is important for your working life, it is also important for your social life. Join a gym or yoga studio, or find events in your community where you can meet people.
Staffers is Jackson’s leading boutique staffing firm. We specialize in office administrative positions and offer temporary, temp-to-perm, and permanent positions. For more tips on staffing and working life, check out our blog! Contact Staffers today.