Top Tips for Working At Home Efficiently
More and more companies are encouraging their employees to work from home not only to save costs but to also increase productivity. One of the major concerns, however, is the lack of efficiency of an employee, if working from home. If you are willing to adjust your habits slightly, you can make work from home more productive than working in your office. But the most important rule here is to stick to your schedules and not slacking off after a couple of hours. Here are some of the top tips for being efficient while working from home.
Prepare a Schedule and Stick To It
The first and the foremost rule of working from home effectively is to chart out a schedule and stick to it. When you are at office, you will always be on your toes as you know that your boss would be watching and the need to stay back to finish your work for the day. When at home, think that you are in office and divide your work into smaller segments. Set mini goals for yourself and a time frame to achieve that. For example, divide your work into four segments. By the time it is 11 or 11.30 AM, you should be done with the first segment. Follow the same pattern for the remaining segments also.
Don’t Disrupt Your Routine
Since you will be working from home, you might feel like putting off stuff like exercising or taking bath to a later part of the day. Do not do this. Staying refreshed and exercising will help in keeping you active for the remainder of the day. So, do this as soon as you wake up. Wake up at the same time as you would have if you go to your workplace, get into a routine. This will condition you to work efficiently.
Create Your Own Mini Workstation
As you are at home, you might feel like working on your recliner with the TV on, and a beer and a bowl of popcorn. This is a counterproductive habit which should be avoided at all costs. Designate a place as your workstation and work from there every time you are working from home. Make sure that the set-up is as office-like as possible to ensure maximum efficiency.
Wrap Up on Schedule
You might feel like working late into the evening as you are already home. However, this is not only time consuming but will also give a bad impression to your employers. Set yourself a deadline and stick by it. This will improve your image with your employers and also give you time off to catch up with other stuff.
Flickr photo by LindaH
