COVID-19: Pros + Cons of Working Remotely
It’s already been 3 weeks since The Sampson House crew started learning to work from home. Every. Day. While we always had somewhat flexible schedules - we worked from wherever on Tuesdays, we’ve never had quite this much separation.
At this point, we seem to be in the swing of things. However, it took us a minute to find our groove. We are thankful that we get to work for our clients while working from home during this unprecedented time. However our new office views come with both pros and cons.
Whether you’re a newbie or a #WFH veteran, these tips from our office will help you maintain the balance you need to survive this pandemic.
PROS
Your home is your work space. You get to move your workstation all around, from the kitchen table to the couch then back to the table.
Laptop hack
If you don’t have a lap desk, use a big wooden cutting board. The bigger the cutting board, the more mouse space you’ll have. It gets the job done.
Stress-free. No longer do you need to worry about things like:
What to wear. The only dress code is comfortable attire. Working in PJs? No prob!
How to commute. No more traffic lights. No more rush hour. No more moving between schools, work, home.
Social distancing has simplified a lot of things in that way.
More family-time. You get to be with your partners, your kids, your pets, your friends all day.
CONS
Not being connected to the team. You might not realize until you’re there. You’re gonna miss having the socialization and team creative energy. There’s a lot of casual collaboration that won’t be available anymore. Whether it’s having an impromptu wine tasting, photoshoot, or turning to your colleagues for advice/idea help.
Easily distracted by home life things. Whether a “quick” IG scrolling, a few-hour binge of your dying-to-watch Netlix series, or your tending to kiddos’ needs, staying focused at home will take a little extra effort and motivation.
Difficult to manage and retain accountability. When working from home, everyone might have a different home schedule and it’s hard to stay completely aligned. Figuring out how to operate as a team with the given WFH scenario is challenging.
TIPS/TOOLS FOR WORKING FROM HOME
Having a checklist. You can jot down quickly your to-do-list and cross off once you’re done. That’s way you can keep track of your work flow. If you’re more of tech guy/gal or you need to work in a team, here’s a list of free management & collaboration apps you can download:
Staying in touch with your team. To maintain a team synergy, it’s important to have regular check-ins with your boss/co-workers to update your work progress and seek help. Because all communication is online, you should be more communicative and pro-active. Whether it’s to reply to emails ASAP or to join every possible virtual call meetings. If you’re still wondering which online meeting tools to use, here you go:
Keep it Professional. A distinctive work and home-life separation isn’t there at the moment and your daily structure might be chaos, But try to set some certain hours and focus entirely on just your work. Also, although it might be tempting to work from your couch or your comfortable bed, you will find it way more productive to set up a business-like work space.
Do you have any other tips, tricks, suggestions to share with us? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear how you are working from home.
Cheers!
