With the current situation many of us are now finding ourselves working from home for the first time. We are very lucky to have great flexibility and many of our team are working from home at least one day a week so we wanted to share some of our tips with you.

1 – HAVE A WORKSTATION
If you are able to, then try to set up a workstation within your home. This could be a desk in a spare room, the dining room table or we have even seen people selling “isolation stations” for those who need their office on their lap!

With many people having to juggle work and childcare you may need to work in the lounge to keep an eye on the kids. If this is the case, then try to make sure you have your allocated spot on the sofa with all your essential items around you.

Explain to your children that you are working and set boundaries for when they can ask questions so you are not being interrupted too much.

2 – “WALK” TO WORK
So with home working our commute has gone out the window (we love the photos of Londoners using their shower rails as pretend handrails for the tube!) but we should still make sure we are being active! Perhaps in your usual commute time you can go for a walk (if you are able to). If this is not an option you could do some yoga or a fitness video from YouTube; Joe Wicks is currently being P.E teacher to the nation at 9am Monday – Friday and we have been joining in with our children!

This allows you time to do some exercise and get yourself motivated for the day.

3 – MAKE SURE TO TAKE A BREAK
When working from home it is essential that you still take regular breaks and move from your “desk”. Perhaps set an alarm for certain times of the day for a coffee break and lunch. Make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids throughout the day and try to stick to normal routines in terms of the food you eat for lunch. Snacking at home can become a bad habit so if you used to take a packed lunch to work, try to have the same things when at home. Have some healthy snacks near your desk for when temptation hits.

4 – STAY IN TOUCH
Although we are social distancing we can all still stay in touch. We use Slack for team messages and for sharing questions, updates and general chat. We also have a Google Hangouts call with everyone on a Wednesday morning so we can run through our week so far and discuss things on a group call.

Staying in touch doesn’t have to be all business either. We have a weekly “game” slot to play a quiz together. Other companies have been doing their own MTV Cribs and virtual pub on a Friday. It’s a great time to get creative with how to have fun on a virtual basis.

5 – SWITCH OFF
Sometimes the problem with working from home is that people struggle to switch off once their working day is over.

In a report from Buffer and AngelList on The 2020 State of Remote Work, 18% of people said they couldn’t unplug. It is important to still have the distinction of work and home life. The workstation in point 1 will help here as well as communication. Say goodbye to your work colleagues on work messages when you are logging off like you would in the office. They then know you have finished and your workday has ended.

We hope this will help with working from home. As with all new things, find what works best for you and don’t be afraid to adapt if you need to but just remember to cover the key basics.