Prior to 2020, remote work was pretty much unheard of in the working world. Many businesses assumed that work would be uncompleted, and staff would be unproductive if they were working from home. However, when the pandemic hit, the rules dictated that anyone who could work from home must do so until further notice.
As the culture of remote work started to grow, businesses began to see the benefits of working from home, and many businesses decided to implement remote work as a permanent feature in their business. This was great news to lots of people as they had become comfortable in their at-home offices.
While working from home certainly does have its benefits, there are also a few downsides to being a fully remote worker. Not being in an office environment can be a little distracting at times, so you have to find ways to keep yourself organised and productive. One of the reasons remote working has been so successful is because we have access to technology that can help us perform our daily roles. Within this article, we will go over several ways that you can utilise technology when working from home. So, if you are a remote worker, then keep reading as this could help you out.
Keep In Touch With Clients
Being able to keep in touch with your clients is always a very important part of running a business as you need to ensure they are kept happy. Working in an office allows you to keep in contact with all your clients with ease as you are able to use office phones to do so. However, when you are working from home, sometimes your options are limited if you haven’t yet been provided with the means to contact your clients. If you are a business that deals with a lot of international clients, then it could be beneficial for you to invest in a mobile plan that offers you international minutes. There are plenty of SIM-only deals that allow you to choose which plan based on what your needs are. The ease of SIM-only deals means that you do not have to sign a contract to get started, you simply choose your plan, and you are good to go. Having access to international minutes will be super beneficial for you when working from home as it means you can keep in touch with all of your clients and make sure they are happy with the business you are providing.
Improves Efficiency And Productivity
As mentioned in the introduction, being a remote worker can be difficult as you have lots of different distractions around you. Because of this, it is important to find different ways to help keep you motivated and productive. While not everyone is able to have their own office at home, you should at least have a designated workspace for you to work at during the day. Having a separate space will help you stay focused as you are not surrounded by distractions. Another major distraction when working from home is your mobile phone. Being able to go on your phone whenever and browse can lead you to be distracted from your work. If this is the case, then you should get an app on your phone that blocks out some of your most used apps, just for a few hours. With these blocked, it will help you turn your focus from your phone and to your work. Then, once you have finished for the day, you can unblock your apps and catch up with your non-work life.
Communicate With Your Colleagues
Working from home can sometimes be a little isolating, which is why it is important to stay in touch with your colleagues. When working in an office, it is very easy to just go over to your colleague’s desk and have a quick chat and exchange ideas but working from home takes away this option. This means you need to find ways to communicate with your colleagues so that you can continue to casually chat and share ideas when you need to. It is important that you have some sort of instant messaging platform that you can use to chat with your colleagues about work or about other things. Having this platform can help break up your day a bit as it allows you to have a quick debrief if you need it. The good thing about most instant messaging business apps is that they allow you to have different channels, so you can have one designated for professional chat and another that is just for casual chat. Although you are at work, being able to casually chat with your colleagues when you need it can stop you from feeling isolated as a remote worker.
Organise Meetings With All Staff
One super easy way you can utilise technology as a remote worker is by organising meetings with staff. If daily staff meeting is something that is very common in your business, then you will need to find a way to make them happen while you are all working from home. Prior to the pandemic, you may not have had the need to use video calls, but now with remote work, video calls have become an essential part of working. Figure out early on which video call platform works for your business and make sure that all your staff can access it. Being able to organise and lead meetings is essential when working from home as you need to be able to give staff daily briefings. As remote work continues to evolve, you may find that your need for video calls or the platforms you use change as you start to figure out what works for people. Remote work has been in place for quite some time now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep evolving how you run your business.
Create Your Own Schedule
One disadvantage to working from home is that it can be difficult to uphold a healthy work-life balance. When you are working in an office, there is a clear distinction between work and home when you enter the office and when you leave it at the end of the day. However, when you are working from home, these distinctions can get a little blurred and it can be difficult to maintain a good balance of home life and work life. One way to overcome this is to create your own schedule and make sure that you have set working times. Technology can help you in this way as you can use different apps and programmes to help you manage your time. It could be helpful to create a proper schedule for yourself that includes a proper lunch break and a clear start and finish to the day. Using an app to help you create the schedule is super easy and it means you do not have to keep the schedule in your head all the time. You could even create different timers to go off when you need to be reminded to take your break. Working from home has been made possible because of technology, so you need to make sure you are utilising it in the best way you can. If you are looking for some latest technology news, check this site out.
