How to Make Working From Home More Productive

For many the thought of working from home is an absolute dream. Sitting in your favorite chair in your pajamas after your zer0-minute commute really doesn’t sound so bad. Working in an office is great, but seriously, wouldn’t it be cool to just work from home?

If you answered “yes” to that question, then you should be conscious of some pitfalls that arise through working from home, especially if you have a family. Here are six tips on how to achieve a healthy work-life balance when working from home:

1. Maintain regular office hours – This is extremely important when striving for a healthy balance between your work and personal lives. Establish hours when you will work and stick to them. It’s easy to log onto your work computer after dinner for a few minutes (and get roped in for hours), but if it’s past your work hours, don’t do it.
2. Establish a privacy system – This hint is important for those with families. Establish a “do not disturb” system, like a closed door or a door knob sign, so your family knows that you’re busy. Also, it could be helpful to have your family write questions that they have throughout the day on paper and hand them to you, which can be less disruptive than oral inquiries.
3. Lay some ground rules – Again, this is important for those with families as well. Make a list of activities that aren’t allowed during work hours, like your child’s clarinet practice, or your partner’s vacuuming. Conversely, make another list of activities that disallowed during family hours. For example, checking your work email, or answering your work phone.
4. Get an early start – Sure, it sounds great to wake up at 10 am and have a leisurely breakfast before reading the newspaper. However, you should avoid doing so. Wake up as you normally would and be most productive in the morning. At that point, you will have a lightened work load in the afternoon and you can slow down then.
5. Stay on task – For some, working from home is an exercise in staying on task. When you’re at home it’s easy to get distracted, so focus on two or three core tasks, as opposed to more numerous, smaller tasks, which will keep your productivity high throughout the day. Avoid becoming sidetracked and spending hours on Youtube or Wikipedia (the “random article” button has a mysterious, anti-productivity allure about it).
6. Protect your work with passwords – Another tip for those with families; keep your work password protected, especially if you’re doing work on a shared computer. The last thing you want is your children rearranging your spreadsheets after they have mistaken it for their homework.

Working from home can be a great experience, especially when you enjoy the company of your family. However, guidelines can aid in making your experience both a healthy and productive one, which will allow you to grow personally and professionally.

Office Preferences: Guidelines vs. Standards

When attempting to create a comfortable workplace, there are many pitfalls that employers are trying to avoid; uncomfortable furniture, low quality lighting, and poor office design are just a few. This daily clash between comfort and productivity is what organizations like Herman Miller – and Workplace Resource particularly – thrive on.

Different cultures have different stylistic preferences, and this holds true for the workplace as well. With an influx in international business relations, it is becoming increasingly important for organizations to accommodate multicultural workers. These workers often have different workplace preferences than their American counterparts. This is why it is important for employers to adopt workplace design guidelines, rather than strict standards.

One example of cultural differences in the workplace deals with simple definitions. To British workers the word “flexible” indicates a components ease of reconfiguration, while to French workers “flexibility” stands for the ability to adjust individual pieces.

By adopting guidelines instead of standards, organizations reinforce their unique corporate culture, while still respecting and celebrating workers’ preferences.

As an employee do you prefer guidelines or standards for your everyday work?