How do we maintain productivity, especially when working remotely? Team productivity has a direct impact on both the present and the future of your organization. For that reason, finding ways of maintaining and enhancing productivity in a remote work environment is not an option.
In some cases, employees who operate remotely are more productive than those who work from the office. Ensuring productivity is high amid a shift to remote work is critically important.
How to Maintain Productivity When Working Remotely
Maintaining productivity is why working remotely is quite easy only if you know how. Many organizations are now working remotely, raising new challenges for employees, managers, and leaders in how they work and collaborate.
A number of these remote-work arrangements were implemented suddenly, leaving employees and managers alike to navigate a new work reality alongside personal anxieties and concerns about the public health crisis.
Without intentional efforts from workers and management, remote work especially during this tense, uncertain situation can leave staff feeling distracted, isolated, unmotivated, and stressed.
Working from Home
No matter what your role employee, leader, or business owner the challenge of working from home is to maintain productivity and stay just focused, and energized as you are in the office sometimes with lots of distractions, children playing in the background, and untimely deliveries knocking at your door.
Distractions aside, most of us also adopt a different mindset when we are home. We feel more relaxed, more family-oriented, and more tempted to watch newly released movies.
The key to being equally, if not more productive at home is structure and maintaining that connection with your peers, employees, and leaders.
Ways Remote Employees Are Staying Productive
Below are some tips as to how employees are staying productive in a remote environment;
- Equip your team with tech and productivity tools; First and foremost, one of the most important ways to help teams succeed while working remotely is to get them tools to help them stay connected and productive. These include project management tracking apps such as Asana and Airtable, chat or messaging apps such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, and video conferencing apps such as Zoom and Google Hangouts.
- Establish daily check-ins; with managers no longer getting daily face time with employees and employees not being able to chat around the proverbial water cooler, creating a daily check-in routine is an important way to set priorities and foster connections. A morning check-in via video chat, phone call, or instant message can create a sense of normalcy.
- Encourage dedicated workspaces; many regular office workers have never needed dedicated workspaces in their homes, but if they are now regularly working from home, managers should encourage the creation of home offices that are separate from communal space.
- Provide emotional and steady support; as working from home can contribute to loneliness and negative emotions, employers should do what they can to provide emotional support to employees. Leaders should set the tone for their virtual offices with a calm and upbeat presence, which helps create a level-headed workplace where people can still get things done.
- Dress for success; while it may not sound important to be dressed for business while working from home, psychologically it does help many workers to not be wearing sweatpants and pyjamas while trying to be productive. Dressing up for yourself can also mentally help you feel better, thus making it easier to focus on checking important tasks off your list.
- Don’t forget about non-work interactions and team building; lastly, one last thing that may not be obvious to managers is the importance of facilitating non-work interactions among remote workers. Creating time and space for workers to talk about news, hobbies, and other topics just as they would have done in the office helps them relieve stress and feel better connected.
If your business is now managing a full-time remote workforce for the first time, the tips above will help you through. You can also get more details here.
Why Do I Struggle to Concentrate When Working From Home?
Forty per cent of Americans are reporting anxiety at this because there is so much uncertainty involved. Working alone from home can create some anxiety. Difficulty concentrating can be a symptom of anxiety and depression.
Does Remote Work Hinder Productivity?
No. This is because several studies over time have shown that you become productive while working remotely from home. And it is better than working from an office setting. On average, those who work from home spend 10 minutes less a day being unproductive, work one more day a week, and are 47% more productive.
What is the Best of Remote Working?
A big benefit of working remotely is the freedom to move around. Exercise can help combat anxiety, stress, and even depression. Any of those ailments is enough to derail motivation and kill productivity, so get up and move!
What is the Downside of Fully Remote Work?
A lack of boundaries between your home and office can make it difficult to set boundaries and fully switch off after work. Being unable to disconnect can increase stress and other health problems for remote workers
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