Tips for Working from Home

While some of us have worked remotely in the past, the rest of us are experiencing "working from home" for the first time. Our biggest advice is to reach out to co-workers and classmates. Don't turn "remote" into "hermit" and set up your experience right from the start.

Jessalyn King - 01 April 2020

Working from Home by Ed Shemps (@edfredned on Instagram)

There are a lot of resources for working remotely, and quite a few for working remotely when it isn't necessarily your choice to do so, as it is right now. Here are a collection of tips collected from those resources.

  1. Reach out to colleagues. This one can't be emphasized enough. If you need social contact, ask for it! We're all in a weird head space right now, but true isolation is not good for us. Set up quick social check-ins with people you'd like to catch up with, or group chats with your team, where you can also talk about things unrelated to work. Spend your lunch break on a video call with your best friend/father/daughter/brother/classmate. Think about who you most miss chatting with at work, and initiate a Google Chat with them. Some tools other than text messaging or picking up the phone:
    • Google Chat (available to you as part of the university's Google package). You can access it from your Gmail inbox, but if you want the group chat features, you'll need to access it from the chat.google.com website.
    • Zoom (you've likely already used this for meetings, but you can also use it for your "water cooler" chatter
    • Google Hangouts (similar to zoom).
  2. Set your boundaries.
    • It's not required that you respond to emails immediately and at all hours.
    • Be in communication with your supervisor.
    • Remember, you can still go to the washroom during your work-day without feeling like you're slacking.
  3. Make a work plan. Prioritize your day, set goals (make at least some of them achievable), and evaluate your day at the end.
  4. Set up an ergonomic working space (tips here and here). Keep a note for back or shoulder strain, wrist and finger strain, and eye strain that you don't feel when you're in the office.
    • If you're going to purchase equipment for your home office, look into reviews for ergonomic usage before you buy. Think about posture (and how easy it is to have bad posture on the device), arm position, height (and alignment of desk, chair, eye level, monitor), and leg position.
    • The most important pieces to add to your workspace are a good chair at the right height and a good pair of headphones with a microphone.
  5. Stick to your routine and set up your head space for working.
    • Get ready for work with your routine (whatever you would normally do before work at the office)
    • Wear work-appropriate clothes.
    • Have a dedicated space for your work (even if it's a section of your kitchen table). When you leave that space, you're off work.
  6. Take short breaks frequently throughout the day. It's easy to get focused and look up and you've missed lunch (unless you have a kid, in which case it's hard to get focused!) If you find yourself working through break time, set alarms and get up at least to pour yourself more water. If you want to try timing yourself at work with something beyond your usual phone alarms or calendar events, try using your washing machine or dishwasher as a timer to see what you can get done (bonus, you also get clean clothes or dishes), the Pomodoro method, or an hour-long playlist.
  7. Remember to stay active. Try to go outside for walks or runs every day (avoid people). When you're not allowed outside, try some online workouts. Take advantage of being already at home to work out at lunch or on your coffee breaks throughout the day. Here are some options for you:
  8. Figure out what you need to work productively.
    • Noise vs Silence? You know this already from working at the office. So replicate what you work best with at the office. If it's the sounds of people you really miss, try these Office Sounds, Coffee Shop Sounds (or these ones), or Library Sounds. Or try something new! It's a time of change, after all. White noise (try rain, fireplace, ocean, heartbeat, or airplane), "focus" music, video game soundtracks, your favourite background television (are you a History channel or HGTV type?), or your favourite playlist. If you need silence, and you don't have it at home, consider investing in noise-cancelling headphones. They'll help you when we're back at the office as well!
    • More Distraction vs More Focus? Do you get overly-distracted or overly-focused? If you're overly-distracted, think about distancing yourself from the distractions with headphones, turning around, or moving to another room. If you get overly-focused, set alarms and reminders to take quick breaks, rehydrate, and eat.
  9. Learn new things to keep up your spirits. Keep your brain active beyond your work tasks: take the time to keep learning stuff, especially if you have fewer at-home tasks to do than you normally would have.
    • Consider a lunch and learn from the LearningCentre at the U of A: Something like "Building Resilience" on April 8 at lunch.
    • With your extra time from not commuting, consider learning a new hobby and practice on your breaks. Learn to sing, draw, or play that flute sitting around. Build the bookshelf you've been meaning to build.
  10. Take care of your mental health. There are lots of things to do to take care of yourself, but the biggest is to realize this whole thing is a big upset that has an impact on your mental health and give yourself some space. Here are a few things to do.
    • Mental health reminders, like AHS's Text4Hope (text "COVID19Hope" to 393939 for a daily positivity reminder)
    • Follow @TinyCareBot for random health reminders on Twitter, or set up an IFTTT (If This, Then That) applet.
    • Consider setting up a gratitude habit. Review your day before bed and writing at least one thing you're grateful for, or that went well today. Review them at the end of the week.
    • Don't be afraid to pick up the phone or send a chat instead of sending emails - we're all getting a lot of email right now. Sometimes it's nice to hear your voice.

Extra reading: