Already relocated the workplace? The rapid spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus also presents the employee with great challenges. Many employees have already moved their workplace home - including us at the MediaTech Hub Potsdam.
Staying productive and building new structures is not easy for everyone. To make the process a little easier, we have summarized 7 tips here:
- Set up your workplace: Where in the apartment is the best place to work? The best place to work is in a place that is as similar as possible to the actual workplace. For exceptional home-office days, the kitchen table is usually sufficient. Even better, especially due to the fact that home office will now temporarily replace our workplace, are desk and office chair.
- Setting up a schedule, teamwork & virtual meetings: In order to avoid working beyond your actual working hours or taking your laptop to bed with you, it makes sense to set fixed times and thus communicate presence and absence to your colleagues. In the team of the MediaTech Hub Potsdam we use Slack as a team tool. It is easy to determine when who is available and most importantly, we stay in touch together. The meeting tools Microsoft Teams (here is an offer for free use for the next 6 months) and Google Hangouts have already worked well for us.
- Regular breaks: In the office, this often comes naturally: for many people, the lunch break is a set time to get together with colleagues and cook something or go to the nearest canteen. In the home office this is also a challenge for some people. Therefore it is important to keep these times and to plan breaks. If you don’t want to eat alone, you can arrange to have a Skype lunch, for example.
- Fresh air: Oxygen is and remains important. What otherwise happens quite casually on the way to work at the latest must now be actively sought out. This means that regular airing and, if necessary, taking a walk around the block are especially important now.
- Clothes make the man: A clear advantage of home office is certainly the less strict adherence to the usual dress code. Nevertheless it can’t hurt to get rid of your pyjamas or bathrobe. It doesn’t have to be the ironed shirt, but an outfit with which you can also present yourself well during video conferences simply makes you feel better. Because when the form is right, the content follows.
- Minimize distractions: Washing machine here, dishwasher there, and by the way, I’ve been wanting to sort out the drawer for a long time - moments that everyone in the home office probably feels confronted with. Here, too, time management must be set up and, above all, adhered to. Self-control plays a major role here, as the “social pressure” at the usual workplace must now be produced by yourself at home. Online tools such as Rescue Time can help to protect yourself from time-eaters. Agreements with your own family or roommates can also help to avoid being constantly distracted from your actual tasks. If everything doesn’t help, it might be best to put the phone in self quarantine for a few hours.
- Stay cool #stayathome: Even though the current situation is costing us all a lot of strength and nerves, it is all the more important to stay calm. Now is also the chance to try out new and own forms of cooperation, to organize yourself and to keep your own goals in mind. We at the MediaTech Hub Potsdam use the time to deal with topics and strategies in greater depth and see the hours gained as an advantage.
In short: Be your own CEHO (Chief Executive Home Officer).