It’s fair to say that the last few years have been tough on the world’s population. We saw a global pandemic sweep across the globe and our lives had to adapt to a “new normal” that involved repeated lockdowns and restrictions on our movement. In addition, many of us were no longer allowed to work from our company’s office sites and we were given the option of home working. This was an expected benefit of Covid-19 because for significant numbers of employees this has offered distinct benefits to our working week and has improved our work-life balance. Today, many organizations still offer models of remote or hybrid working patterns for their workers. In this article, some ways of working more effectively from home will be explored to ensure that you remain productive without work eating into your personal and family time.
Take Regular Breaks
It is easy to lose track of time when working from your home office. There tend to be fewer distractions and colleagues are not in your working space. Whilst this can be highly beneficial to your productivity it can also result in you spending too long on a task without taking adequate breaks. Experts recommend that all workers who use computer screens should take a five-minute break every hour when working. This has been proven to reduce eye strain over the working day and gives an opportunity to stretch and walk around. In addition, this will help you to focus across an 8-hour working day. When we concentrate intensely for periods longer than an hour our minds become tired and work rates begin to plummet. It is far more beneficial to take regular short screen breaks to grab a coffee or move around before coming back to the desk more refreshed and alert. When you’re working from home you’ll also have more time to deal with housework that you’ve been putting off so this might be the best time to get custom home builders in Sacramento to help you renovate your home while you work.
Invest in a Stand-Up Desk
It makes perfect sense to invest in a decent quality stand up desk to help you in your working day. When sitting for eight hours a day at a desk it can be quite hard to maintain the correct posture and over time this can lead to back problems. Having a stand-up desk means that you can use it in a sitting position for some parts of the day and then switch it, so you are standing up for other periods. There are numerous benefits to using a stand up desk, these include the fact that they can help to reduce the risks of obesity and diabetes along with reducing back pain and the likelihood of acquiring heart conditions in later life.
Stay Connected With Teammates
It can be easy to lose regular contact with your workmates when you are not in the same building. The social aspect of work is of vital importance as it ensures that you continue to create social bonds with your other workers and communicate effectively to complete tasks together as a unit. Good managers will ensure that the team have regular catchup meetings at least once or twice a week on video conferencing platforms such as Skype and MS Teams. In addition, it can be beneficial to have a virtual meet-up mid-week that is simply to discuss general topics that are removed from the working world. This helps to keep team spirit high and social contact intact.