5 proven tips for productive remote working

Remote working and coronavirus are, without doubt, two of the most common words used in searches recently. Working from home is a lifestyle coveted by many people, but it requires a good dose of self-discipline if it is to be profitable and sustainable over time. 

Even if you’re glued to a computer all day, it’s easy to fool yourself into doing things that look like work but aren’t. If you are an entrepreneur or self-employed, attending to social networks and reading certain blogs may be necessary to keep up to date and maintain your brand, but not at the cost of not advancing your projects.

But, for a lot of people, working from home will be their first time. If you have never worked from home before, it’s easy to lose motivation or feel distracted; you are at home (maybe with children around), you can have a coffee or a snack whenever you want. Therefore, we’ve prepared a list of tips that you can follow to face the most common problems of working from home and to improve productivity when you’re doing so. 

1. Prepare a working space at home

Even if people tell you that you can work from anywhere with a computer and a mobile phone, it’s not true. If you want to achieve the standards of efficiency and productivity, you should have a real home office.

If possible, it should be separate from the rest of the areas of the house. If you don’t have enough space, you can set up your office in a corner of the living room. Provide this space with good lighting and an adequate temperature, and set it up with a desk with enough space for you to place your computer and your other work tools, and some decorative elements that motivate you, such as some pictures and plants.

Get dressed

Don’t spend the day working in your PJ’s, it doesn’t help you prepare your head to cope with the activities. Getting dressed will also help you to mark the separation between home and free time.

2. Create a routine

When you are working from home, you are your own boss, but if you don’t have meetings that will give you small breaks during the day, you may lose concentration. You should create a schedule, dividing your tasks through the day with specific times to complete them. It’s not good getting up at a different time each day. Our advice is that you should maintain similar routine as if you were working at the office, with small breaks to stretch your legs. Some tools such as Google Calendar would be helpful to keep a detailed list of tasks to do through your day.

3. Avoid social media

Social media are designed so they're quick and easy to see, but if you are working, this can be detrimental to your productivity.

4. Talk about what you hope to accomplish with someone who’s at home with you

You may be working from home, but have company. Make sure your co-workers, siblings, parents, partners, and even pets (well, maybe not pets), respect your space during work hours. Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you are at home.

5. Get a reliable Internet connection

Whether you are a freelance worker, or you work for a company, having fast internet connection at home is crucial. Broadband connectivity is now an essential utility in the home and an essential part of life for many.

Your Co-op is the only UK telecoms cooperative and we aim is to build long, sustainable relationship with you. If you have many people at home using the internet or streaming, we’d recommend you try our Superfast or Superfast Fibre Plus packages.