Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has become the new normal. For many companies, remote work is brand new territory. Managers had to quickly adapt and learn how to use new technologies to stay connected. Thankfully, at Curator, we had already established a flexible work schedule more than a year ago that allowed working from home twice a week, so adapting wasn’t too challenging.

 After putting remote work to the test, many companies are seeing the success and convenience that it can offer. In fact, large companies like Zillow, Facebook and Google have decided to continue to allow employees the option of working from home for the remainder of 2020. With the possibility of more companies following suit, employees need to continue producing efficient, quality work without direct supervision. Here are six tips and tricks that we, at Curator, have learned for effectively working from home:

1.     Create an effective routine… and stick to it!

Think back to your morning routine before you started working from home. It likely involved a morning shower, putting on work clothes, a hearty breakfast, and heading out for that early morning commute. Now that business attire and morning commutes are a thing of the past, it can be hard to maintain an effective morning routine. 

In a 20-year old study, Blake Ashforth of Arizona State University concluded that everyday role transitions are a large psychological aspect for individuals going from home to work or school. These role transitions can be anything from a morning commute to getting dressed in work attire. These practices help allow our subconscious to understand that we are transitioning from our “at home self” to our “at work self”. 

Employees should strive to maintain these role transitions prior to work, whether that means substituting your commute with a walk around your neighborhood or continuing to wear work clothes at home. Psychologically, this practice should help employees transition into “work mode” regardless of not physically being in the office.

Conversely, one of the challenges of “your at-home self” merging spaces with your “at work self” is knowing when to transition back “home.” In a traditional office setting, there are routines that send us home – we have a scheduled bus to catch or a child’s sports practice to get to. It’s just as important to psychologically transition out of work mode. There will always be projects that require a long day. But, for the most part, we have found developing a routine that has a start and stop time is a smart move.

Here are some comments about morning routines from a few members of the Curator team:

“I find a good morning routine to be vital to my daily success. I often go to great lengths not to disturb that routine. An example of this is going to bed as early as possible so I can wake up at 4 a.m. I’m clear, focused and energetic throughout the course of the day when I have an opportunity to get a good night sleep and work out in the morning.” 

- Boone Helm, Senior Account Executive

“I normally wake up and get ready while listening to music. Then, I make some coffee. While I wait for the coffee to brew, I walk out to the patio and sit outside (if it’s nice out) for a few minutes to help me prepare for the day. This routine, regardless of its simplicity, really helps me to clear my mind and get ready for whatever the day has in store for me.”

 - Belle Eliason, Account Executive

“We have dinner together as a family every night, and my wife and I like to have a happy hour most days before dinner so we can catch-up on our day. Knowing that is a standing commitment on my schedule I build routine around that. I’ve learned over the years I only have one reliable window to workout and that’s in the morning. So, even now that we’ve transitioned into WFH I start my day with a workout and a shower followed by a short commute to the home office and then I stop right before HH. Routine is important.”

-  Scott Battishill, Principal

2.    Set up a dedicated office space at home

 Invest in comfortable furniture, and ensure there is enough desk space for a laptop and/or desktop to efficiently get work done. A proper work environment is a major contributing factor to productivity. Think back to your days in school, when you needed to study at home; what worked best for you? Do you need complete silence to focus? Or perhaps a nice pair of headphones to listen to your favorite album? Avoid setting up shop in areas that you usually spend your free time, such as in front of the TV or in bed. Though everyone has their own preferences for the perfect workspace, establishing an ideal workspace is imperative to avoiding burnout and maintaining efficiency.

3.    Establish boundaries for others in your home, during work hours

 It can be hard to separate your work-life from home-life when living with roommates or family. The best approach to this situation is to establish boundaries with those in your home. Let everyone know your work schedule, when your breaks are and when others can or cannot interact with you during work hours.

Establishing boundaries can be extremely difficult with children at home. This is why having a family meeting (or house meeting) and sitting down to talk about boundaries can be very helpful to set expectations. However, if you’re one of the many parents working from home with young children, you may have to think outside the box to find a solution to unwanted interruptions during work hours. Dealing with this is difficult and each situation requires a different approach. Don’t feel defeated if it takes a while for your children to understand that just because you are home, that doesn’t mean you have endless free time. Here are some first-hand accounts directly from some of the parents at Curator:

“My 9-month old son certainly keeps me on my toes, but he can’t talk back yet so we have a great working relationship! Adjusting to having all three of us at home 24/7 took some patience on all our parts. Good communication and planning our schedules in advance of the week helped prepare us for dual responsibilities and we were able to find a nice balance. This really harkens back to having a good routine.” 

- Boone Helm, Senior Account Executive

“My 5th grade daughter has learned that she can’t just run up the stairs and shout out a question when daddy is on a Zoom call, and my high school sophomore son has learned that playing an FPS game right after school is over can really suck up the bandwidth when I’m on back-to-back video calls. We have a nice routine where I check in with both kids about their ‘To Do’ lists for the school day before I get to work, and I take a couple minutes between each of my meetings to check in with them (and my wife) to see how things are going with school and their own Zoom calls, if they need help with anything, and then figure out a time where we can connect for a longer period if I only have a couple minutes right then.”

- Dan Miller, Senior Vice President

4.    Take breaks when you can 

Working from home can often be extremely relaxing or extremely tedious. Make sure to take plenty of short breaks in between projects; try refilling your water glass every hour, grabbing a snack when you’re hungry, or take a short five-minute walk outside. Taking short breaks in between projects can help your brain refocus itself, allowing you to look over your own projects with a different perspective. When you are focused on a single project for a long period of time, it can sometimes be hard to make proficient edits or ensure top-notch quality by the end of the project. Take a break and come back to your work with a fresh state of mind.

On top of this, make sure you are getting outside for some fresh air and sun (weather permitting) during your workday. Confining yourself solely to your home office can lead to work fatigue or burnout.

5.    Use an office-wide channel for communication

Just because everyone is working from home does not mean that you can’t still engage in office banter, ask questions and/or virtually interact face-to-face with your coworkers. Be sure that your office adopts some form of a group communication channel to improve collaboration and allow for some human interaction during work hours. With a plethora of free and premium communication programs available, companies have nearly unlimited choices and resources to utilize. Here at Curator, we primarily use Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Dropbox for day-to-day interaction and collaboration.

Companies should also engage in daily team video calls. By having a team- (or company)-wide video call, teams are able to get a recap of the work everyone accomplished, prepare for upcoming work and check-in to make sure everyone is doing well and in good spirits. At Curator, we make sure to have a daily Zoom call at the end of each workday to do just this. It’s refreshing to see familiar faces each day and maintain our workplace friendships and culture.

6.    Maintain Company Culture & Team Morale

 A company’s culture is something that develops over time and is entirely unique to that workplace, thus, ensuring the survival of a company’s culture is an utmost priority for team morale and productivity. Maintaining the office culture is especially important during a time like this, where nearly everything else about day-to-day life and work is undergoing drastic changes to accommodate our current societal climate. 

A big fear when shifting to a Work From Home environment is the lack of team building activities and interpersonal communication. This is why companies should continue to hold company-wide activities and happy hours (especially in a time when in-person communication is scarce).

Here at Curator, we have a team lunch or team happy hour each week where we take an hour break to talk with one another about non-work-related things. Whether the topic is sports, movies or music, we take a break from work to chat and connect with our co-workers like we used to in the office. In the past, we have also held virtual trivia matches via Zoom. The more creative a company can be with their team activities, the better!

 As we continue to work from home for the foreseeable future, it’s still very important to maintain productivity and continue working just as hard as we would in the office. Be sure to follow these tips to succeed at working from home!