With current advice being that we should work from home where possible, we understand that many are facing challenging and ever-changing situations. We sought advice from Sarju Mashru who has knowledge of working from home for long periods of time.
Sarju Mashru, Head of IT Infrastructure, Healthcare start-up
I've been working from home for over two years and will share the things I've learnt along the way. What I'm writing about isn't revolutionary and any search will come up with the common things to do and what not to do. What I want to touch on is the emotional toil it can take on you.
In the honeymoon phase everything is fine, you know, you get to have lie-ins, roll out of bed and straight onto the laptop, in your pyjamas, who knows. Sure it's fun for a while but what you're building are the foundations of self neglect and a relaxed attitude to work as well as things around you. The lethargy will creep in. As I say, at first it's fine but if you don't catch it early it can be a real struggle to break out of it.
So... Maintain your routine. Get up at the normal time, do the normal things you would if you were going into the office. Of course you will have a bunch of extra time in hand. Do something productive; For example putting the washing on, reading a book or in my case it's a mix of doing my physio exercises, preparing lunch, jumping on the cycle or going for a walk. The key here is to have a context switch, emulating the commute and getting the endorphins flowing - setting yourself up for the day.
Lunch... GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. You most likely won't have moved much. Do it. Even if it's for a short amount of time but have a change of scenery and remember those endorphins need shaking up. You don't realise it when you're in the office but nipping out to get lunch, chatting to people gets the feel good stuff flowing. On your own this doesn't happen as much. Personally I favour going for a cycle and or walking. There are remote worker meetups but from what I've seen in my network they've all been cancelled.
In the evening I'd normally say go out, even if you don't want to. Make contact with someone. Given the circumstances skype catch ups are probably our best options. Either way get out of the house for a bit.
Next is to be aware of the temptations... You're now at home for an extended period of time... I'll just put the washing on, I'll just pop the TV on whilst I work, I'll just nip to the shops before I start this next piece of work. Don't. Get everything prepped as you would if you were going into the office. To keep an eye on things I use a piece of software called rescuetime. It monitors all the activity on your computer. Just to be clear this is not so anyone can spy on you. This is for only you. You'll be amazed at how much time you lose just doing those five minute tasks. Slightly contradictory but remember to take breaks and let the team know when you do.
You'll be surprised at how lonely it can be and as cliched as it sounds, the walls really do close in. There is a risk of feeling low but by adopting your favoured feel good mechanisms and sticking to them this can be avoided. For single people the dynamic can be very different and having been in that position I can't stress enough the need for a solid mental health framework.
The other side of the mental health card is that you may be tempted to work more, have a good balance, you don't want to burn out. If you can, have a separate area you can work from. Have the ability to leave work for the day. You don't want to look at your sofa as a place of work and begin to resent it. Whatever workspace you choose remember you may be there for a while, who knows how long this will last for. Make sure it's a comfortable set up, maybe an improvised standing desk (you'll burn 100-200 calories an hour doing that).
Over communicate, over communicate, over communicate. If the walls start to close in run a hangouts session with video and mics muted so you have the feel of working in the office and have a bit of banter when you chose. Even if you do it for a couple of hours a day.
This isn't all doom and gloom. I personally know of many people that are not so lucky. If deliveries are running you'll be there to collect them, you get to pick your music etc... ;-) Enjoy the fact that you're not having to commute and saving some cash! Maybe support a local business? Or sign up to one of the local groups helping people that are self isolating.
https://covidmutualaid.org
https://reserves.redcross.org.uk/
Even though these are unusual times I hope this has been helpful. If it does bring up any questions drop me a line.