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Working From Home, 2 of 3: Pets, Family & Co-Workers

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Now that you have worked out where your office space will be at home, let’s work on tips to manage the relationships with your new and old co-workers. 

Co-workers: 

Keep social interactions as normal, just make them virtual. Ensure to find ways to still be social. WFH is extremely isolating so keep in contact with your co-workers just like you would in the office. Discuss last night’s TV shows, share a meme, etc. Check in on your co-workers via face to face video chat.  

Have team happy hours over face to face video (Microsoft Teams) calling – make each one a theme, wear your favorite hat or everyone introduces their pet. 

Pets: 

Shoo the pets from the room and close the door when you’re on calls. Even better, hang something on the doorknob telling the other people in your house to not open the door to avoid them barging in while you frantically wave at them to be quiet. Make it clear when they can pop in and say hello vs when you need quiet.    

Family: 

Have lunch with your family, this is a great opportunity to get some extra family time in. Why not take your lunch break and catch up with your kids? Everyone in your family will know between noon – 1:00pm mom or dad will be around. 

We hope these tips were helpful! Let us know in the comments below how you are staying in touch with your co-workers and adjusting to having new WFH co-workers. Keep an eye out for one more work from home blog-post regarding your routine. 

Working From Home: Tips and Tricks

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Was working from home something you used to look forward to on the occasional Friday, but now it has turned into an everyday reoccurrence?  

The work world has shifted quite a bit over the past month with some states even issuing a mandatory order to work from home. We are here to give you some tips and tricks on how to seamlessly transition into a work from home atmosphere. Or as a lot of people refer to it as, WFH. We have tested out many of these tips and tricks as a lot of our employees worked from home quite often before it was mandatory.  

We split WFH into three parts, 1) Your Office Space, 2) Your Co-workers, and 3) Your Routine.    

Your Office Space (Part 1 of 3) 

  • Creating an at-home office space can be tricky, in an ideal world everyone would have an extra room in their house with a desk and a personal library. But that is just not reality. Try to get creative, is there an old playroom that isn’t used anymore or an extra nook in the upstairs hallway? Ideally, this office space would not be in your bedroom. It is too easy to carry the stress of the workday to bed if you are working and sleeping in the same room.   
  • If possible, in a room with a door you can shut, but only shut the door if you feel you really need to focus or are getting on a call. WFH can feel very lonely when the rest of your family is on the other side of a closed door.  
  • If you must work in a common area, like the kitchen table, clear one end off for your workspace every morning, don’t let the placemats, yesterday’s mail, the kids’ schoolwork, or the cat encroach into your workspace.  

We hope these tips on how to make your office space the most productive helped. Be on the lookout for two more work from home blog posts touching on co-workers and your routine. Comment below with any tips you have on how you’re adjusting to your new WFH workspace.