Tips and tricks for staying sane when working from home
Working remotely can be hard if you are used to being around your colleagues every day. The isolation and lack of structure can put you at increased risk for burnout. It's essential to establish some structure around your day. Make sure you take breaks, so you don't work intensely and at all times. Remember to get out; fresh air and sunlight are crucial.
Most people need, and everyone benefits from having social interactions during the day. Chatting, remote meetings online etc. can make a big difference. Here are some tips and tricks from members of our network and our own experience in working remotely.
Social Calls
Social lunch call. An idea from a member was to open up a video call for just normal chit chat. Talk about how things are going - for example during lunch where you would generally be socialising.
Open work-calls. Switch on the camera and be in the same room - virtually. Even if you are not working on the same thing, you can still ask spontaneous questions and get reactions immediately without having to pick up the phone. We have found that useful at ConnectMinds.
Add time for socialising in online meetings. Some in our network include extra time at the start of the online session purely for social chatting; a time-boxed slot to "get that out of the way". Otherwise, it is sure to pop up numerous times and distract the focus during the remainder of the call. The duration and frequency of these slots could vary.; the need won't be the same within every team.
Online games for socialising
"A game a day" was an idea from another member. Since implementing work from home employees on a communications channel (here using Slack) started a 'game a day'. The challenge is to spur interaction throughout the day. One was a 'share a favourite recipe'. Another was a contest to share the funniest meme.
If you have other tips and ideas for staying sane when working from home, please tell us!
We would love to have more tricks to share with all of you in our network.