Remote work has been a hot-button topic ever since a majority of the world’s workforce was forced inside their own homes back in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. The fallout led to many businesses and corporations realizing the amount of money saved from not needing to rent or purchase a space for their employees to work out of, causing many people being moved to “full-remote” or “partially remote” workers. As we sit here today, almost six years removed from the boom of remote work–is it for the better or the worse?
Recently, New York Marketing has shifted into a fully-remote work environment and personally, this is my first time working remotely. Anecdotally, I worked in an “essential” retail position so I never experienced the exodus into our homes during the Pandemic. As I write this, I am adventuring into my first “official” day of remote work and I have already found that I see some hurdles ahead.
Communication
The main hurdle of switching from being “in-office” versus “remote” is communication. Proper communication is the gasoline that keeps the engine of any business running smoothly. When you are in an office, with all the cogs of the machine, it can be a lot easier to just get up and walk to the person you need to speak to. With the barrier of distance, you can bridge that gap through video conferencing on zoom, creating a group chat and utilizing sharing drives such as Google Drive. Although now there is the delay of waiting for a response but to overcome that hurdle, planning ahead is key.
How can you plan ahead to make sure tasks and projects are completed on time? Making sure that you and your team are all on the same page is most important. Weekly meetings to make sure each team member knows what is expected of them going into that week are a great way to start. Taking the necessary steps to convey to your team what they should work on is key during this period.
Remote work relies on discipline and trust from both employer and employee. For an employer, they must actively communicate with their employees, relaying their tasks, expectations and goals. If the employer doesn’t actively communicate with their employees while they work remotely on what is expected from them, it leaves a large margin of error. Essentially in all small businesses, the buck stops with the owner. When working remotely, the owner doesn’t have the ability they once had to see their workers and communicate instantly. This is why communication is vital to a business’s survival, especially when working remotely. An open line of communication is the best protection from mistakes and misperceptions.
On the side of the employee, your boss trusts that you are going to complete your assigned work within the structured time that you are supposed to work. This takes discipline. The employee must have the discipline to get up, get ready and start working without the regular routine they were accustomed to. The individual must also be disciplined enough to to separate the “Home” from the “Work”.
Separation of Home & Work
When working from home, the temptations and responsibilities of the household can weigh on your mind and distract you. The first step you must take as a remote worker is to create some sort of space that gives you the most optimal area to complete your work. If it means taking an underutilized space and turning it into a de facto office, do that. If you don’t have the space within your living quarters, find some cafe, library or quiet meeting place where you can get into the right mindset to get your work done. A lot of the time, moving into a place separate from your home can simulate the routine of going to work. If you find it difficult to work inside your home, remove yourself and find an ideal space for you to operate in.
If you do end up working from home, the responsibilities of your house will be beckoning your call or at least hanging out in the back of your mind. Make sure to be proactive with your chores and other responsibilities such as a pet. Schedule and set aside time before or after when you are scheduled to be working remotely to get these chores and tasks done. That could be taking your dog for a walk before you clock in. Doing dishes and sweeping your apartment right after work. Creating a new schedule and routine around your remote work is necessary to optimize your work output.
The same goes for your joys. Sometimes the line can blur when you are working from home, especially if your home used to be an escape from work. You might think “Oh I can get away with watching an episode of that show” or “I can take this time to relax” but it’s incredibly important to set strict boundaries between your work and your fun while working remotely. Looping back to a separate space, having a space that is conductive to work is a key step in figuring out how you remote work.
Creating a Conductive Space
When figuring out “How to create a space that will enhance your ability to work”, you have to be able to look inward and analyze what is best for your creativity and productivity. As mentioned above, you have to decide whether to step out and find a space or create a space within your own home. Finding that space can be as easy as a close quaint cafe or a local library. Transforming your own homespace into a workspace can be more of a challenge for some.
First, you have to figure out what circumstances are best suited for you. Similar to working in an office, did music or a podcast help you focus. A majority of what worked for you in an office setting should still work. Where a challenge may lay is understanding the where and a hows of forming your creative space. Rearranging a room to mimic an office is the most common approach. Setting up your desk and computer with your own personal flair can often give you that environment you need. Don’t have that extra space? Sitting on your couch with your laptop can get the job done, just make sure your surroundings aren’t distracting. It may be hard at times but that is where discipline comes in.
