As hundreds of thousands of businesses have been shuttered over the past month & millions of workers are either working from home or furloughed under the Government Job Retention Scheme; we are all having to adjust to great changes & challenges to our daily lives.
There is however one sector of the economy who are more than prepared for the need to work from home & this is some of our 1.7 million self-employed home workers, Virtual Assistants & freelancers who work from home based offices, workshops & businesses day to day. Yes, we have seen a drop off in the need for some freelance services, but equally, it is this sector which are having to adjust the least to the needs of working from home.
We have all taken comfort from Her Majesty the Queen’s speech on Sunday, whereby she encouraged us all to pause & reflect for a moment, as we might never get an opportunity to do so again. She is right. I am hearing from people who are walking more, talking more to family & friends on the phone, via Zoom or through social media channels. There is more communication happening now than ever before, more connections being made & more families being given the opportunities to work together to keep each other safe.
We know it is not all plain sailing. There are some who are struggling at home, others who are alone & completely isolated & it those people we need now more than ever, to be mindful of.
It is with this in mind that Virtually Smart would like to offer some hints & tips about how to work from home or how to keep some kind of routine while being furloughed from your normal working environment.
Keep a routine
It will be extremely difficult to revert to a working routine, if you completely stop the elements of your regular daily life. Therefore, going to bed at the same time, setting your alarm (maybe a little later than normal) getting dressed, brushing your hair & eating breakfast; need to be kept as part of your daily routine.
Monday to Friday workers
If your regular working patterns are Monday to Friday, keeping tabs on what day of the week it is, is imperative. Find a calendar (make one if you don’t have one) or use a diary to mark off each day as it goes past. This really does help you to recognise what day of the week it is & help your mental state to remain focused on a regular pattern to your life.
Working from home
If you are working from home, try & avoid doing this in bed or on the sofa. Yes, if it is sunny, get outside & set up a work station if you can, but to enable you to avoid procrastination too much, set up a separate work station & stick to it. It may sound odd, but maybe make a point of closing the door on the room where your work station is set up & make a point of ‘going to work’ every morning.
Lunch
Would you normally take lunch to work? Maybe now is the time to start. Making a packed lunch the night before & eating this at a lunchtime really can help to give you some sense of routine.
Working hours
What are your regular working hours? Are you 9-5, shift working, part time, job share? Whatever your regular working patterns, try & keep to some semblance of a regular pattern. This will really help the adjustment back to work when the crisis is over.
Stay connected
Whether you are furloughed or home working, it is really important to remain connected. This doesn’t mean hours & hours whizzing through social media & getting nothing productive done. What it does mean, is making a call to a family member or a friend at least once per day. These phone calls can for some be an absolute lifeline right now. Text a friend, create a small messenger or Whatsap group to keep tabs on family & friends.
If you are furloughed & unable to work from home
Al of the above can apply to you, even if you don’t necessarily have ‘work’ which can be done. You can still create routines, learn something new, a new skill, maybe a new language or something else which might aid your work when you return. There are literally thousands of YouTube videos or online courses (check places like Wowcher for great deals on these) you could take.
Use this time to become a better human, research a topic you’ve always wanted to spend some time reading about, create a project for yourself, the possibilities are endless & you may come out the other side with a better knowledge base than when you were sent home.
We are all adjusting to life without movement, without the ability to see family & friends, without the regularity of a working environment & we are all in our own way struggling with a vastly different way of life. However, if we create routines, remain focused & remain connected to the outside world; for most of us, we can become stronger & we can face this together.
Written by Katy-Jane for & on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd.
