10 Things I’ve Learned Working Remotely

With the onset of the recent pandemic, many have now been thrust into the new world of working at home – this can be challenging for some but if done right, it can also be seamless and even enjoyable!

Let’s face it, there are both benefits and drawbacks, it’s not for everyone, but I think remote work can be helpful for striking a better work/life balance, staying more connected to our local family/community environments, and with modern technology being what it is, collaborating and getting our work done without the need for a commute or even being in an office. I’ve been working remotely for many years at different organizations and here are ten things I’ve learned over the years:

1. Stay focused: find a quiet comfortable work space with everything you need (cables, printer ink, modems, whatever) and make this your domain. If younger kids are in the house, discuss this work space/setup as a family so that everyone understands that parents need to concentrate and should not be disturbed during certain hours. Let them know that it’ll be family fun time again during lunch or once the workday is over. Establish these boundaries and reinforce them as needed. You may need to tag-team with your partner, so they can get some uninterrupted time too.

2. Be patient: just because you fired off that Slack post five minutes ago doesn’t mean you should expect people to pounce on it. Co-workers may be in meetings, but they may also be WFH doing other tasks – so give them time to respond.

3. Use an (Ethernet) hardwired connection: we all jump on wifi out of ‘habit’ but wifi is prone to bandwidth issues and can contribute to choppy audio and video especially in meetings which can be annoying and counter-productive to everyone involved. Invest in a USB/Ethernet adapter or procure one from your IT department. This will make all the difference in network performance, especially in tandem with your VPN.

4. Pace yourself: take breaks, get up, make some tea, take lunch (and even take a walk!) so that you’re not head-down all day and don’t end up stir-crazy.

5. Reboot your network: remember, with others working at home with you, you may have more devices on the network and this can cause limited bandwidth. Reboot your network at least once a week to help refresh network services.

6. Be responsible: remember, your organization is entrusting you with doing your job in a ‘non-monitored’ environment. Don’t take that for granted, be mature and do your job just like you would in the office.

7. Connect with your team on a ‘personal’ level: our usual tasks will always allow us to communicate regularly, but take a couple mins here and there to reach out to your co-workers just to say hi (either individually or through a group message), share a funny story, find out what people are up to, tell them about a great new band you discovered or ask what they’re binge-watching now. Working from home can sometimes make us feel isolated and disconnected, especially if people are used to working with their team daily in the office, so apply the same socialization here (being mindful of everyone’s time of course).

8. Optimize communication: first, check your team’s shared calendars to see what everyone’s availability is that week, so you’ll know who’s around. If your question to your teammate is not urgent, send them an email. Otherwise, private message them.

9. Give your team a heads-up: if you know you’re going to lunch in 30 minutes, let them know ASAP. If you anticipate being out Friday morning for an appointment, add it to the calendar and let everyone know today, then remind them again on Thursday or Friday. This seems like a no-brainer but it also respects their time and priorities.

10. Factor-in time zones: if you’re working on the East Coast and your team is based on the West Coast, remember that there is a three-hour time difference – so plan your day accordingly. People may also need to be reminded what time you leave each day. To avoid getting tripped-up with the time difference for meetings, I’ve found it helpful to set your calendar to the local time zone, and people on the West Coast can sync to it conversely.