Working from home is great, until your cat vomits on your computer, or your kid comes to your home office while you are making a presentation, excited to tell you what he did in school. And across the street, your neighbor, who you can only guess is working on a time machine, begins firing up all their power tools at once constantly all day. Many professionals have found that remote work has become a necessity rather than a luxury as a result of COVID-19. However, this begs the question: Which atmosphere is more favorable for productivity – the home office or the office setting? When it comes to getting genuine, heads-down work done in the office, your coworkers are frequently the most serious danger to your productivity. They come by your desk, strike up a discussion with you, and then invite you to lunch. When it comes to social benefits, it’s good to have them, but they might become a challenge when you’re easily sidetracked.
However, while family members might be a distraction at the home office, I have found that it is simple to become one’s own worst enemy when working from home. Because you aren’t surrounded by employees, you are free to let go of those worrisome embarrassments. No one is looking in on me at my home office. You may not feel the same level of peer pressure or sense of communal need to complete tasks as others. (In addition, you are not required to wear pants). Below are some ways that have helped me, and I hope will help you, to balance work and life when working from home.
- Create a schedule and set boundaries
- This helps your team because they know exactly when they can and cannot reach you, and you’ll be able to plan personal activities during your day outside of work, wake up and go to bed at the same time every day, and work a manageable number of hours.
- Use communication tools to indicate your online and offline hours
- Once you’ve determined a daily schedule that makes sense for you and your team, use different tools to publicize that schedule so your team members are mindful and respectful of that time.
- Set your Microsoft Teams availability so you don’t receive notifications before or after a certain time of day. If you indicate your working hours on Outlook Calendar, you can automatically decline events taking place outside of your daily schedule.
- Use personal activities to take breaks throughout the day
- To help balance work and life, you can use personal errands to break up your day when you need to take a couple of minutes away from your desk or computer. You’ll be able to take breaks from work that are still productive and help you get personal tasks done, perhaps getting in some exercise or mentally recharging.
- Make plans for after work hours to help balance fatigue
- After work, make plans and stick to them. If you have something planned for the end of the workday, such as happy hour drinks with a buddy or an exercise class, you’re more likely to sign off and stop working.
*Always confirm your schedule approach with your team and manager, ensuring you’re able to work your hours and deliver assignments as expected with colleagues.