Do you take a break from work intended for a few minutes but ends up stretching for hours? Do you have difficulty juggling between everyday chores and work responsibilities? Have distractions from the household begun to pose as a major challenge to your productivity?
Work from home has been a welcome change for some of us and not for some others. Many have faced difficulty in adjusting to working from home and being productive, reducing their level of job satisfaction. In a highly competitive corporate work culture, most people relate their growth and career prospects with job satisfaction, which has been difficult to achieve in remote working, adding to their frustration.
Falling prey to Panic productivity:
Some people fell prey to panic productivity under the pressure and anxiety of performing well in remote work. They began working crazy hours and in unnatural amounts to become visible and out do others at work. However, they soon started facing major burn out and fatigue finding themselves unable work later in the lockdown. Such burnouts have added to the frustrations of the pandemic.
What is the solution then?
Experts cannot emphasise more the role of balance in keeping a healthy work-life ratio. Productivity is the amount of work done in a set period of time invested. The understanding of productivity in remote work is a little different as the boundaries between home and work have been blurred. You may as well be working while cooking or doing some other household chore. So, while you may be working more, you are not necessarily being more productive as you are investing more time as well. This is not healthy or recommended as in the long run it leads to demotivation and dissatisfaction.
Here are three easy ways to ensure your productivity is maximum without disrupting your work-life balance. And guess what? These are very simple steps that you need to keep in mind and can be easily inculcated in your lifestyle.
Infrastructure makes a huge difference:Where you are working from, your surroundings, the posture you’re sitting in affect your work in more ways than you can possibly imagine. Office spaces are designed keeping in mind these aspects, but at home you make use of whatever infrastructure you find at your disposal- be it the dining table and chair or a bed table.
Change this. Set up a proper working table. Most companies have provided their employees with work-from-home allowance to invest in necessary infrastructure. If not, raise demands within the company to do so because where you are working from might be making all the difference!
How to leave home at home: In normal times, the commute time from home to office and vice-versa used to act as a switch where you could get into your work mode leaving the worries of home behind. Work from home has disrupted this switch and you are constantly juggling work. It is important to create a boundary and follow a routine. Find a way to leave home behind even while working from home. Take a walk around the neighbourhood, take a shower and dress up for office like before- anything that might work for you as the ‘switch’.
Coffee breaks are important: The dynamics of workplaces used to allow employees to take effective breaks and reboot themselves. Coffee breaks, or a chat by the watercooler, or a light catch-up with colleagues post a meeting would not only rejuvenate us but also build bonds and give a feeling of camaraderie. Online meetings have taken that fun away from us making work monotonous and breaking essential channels of communication. As a team figure out a way to e-meet for coffee breaks or light chats even for 10-15 minutes. You might seethe consequences very soon!
Remote work is no longer a need of the pandemic. It has been chosen by a majority of employees as their preferred mode of work. In such a scenario we need to come up with policies and ways that
