Working from home will be the new normal for the foreseeable future. Making the most of what we already have is one way to ease the transition from office to home. Set yourself up for success. Use what you can find around your home and then invest in high-quality products that make your life easier and will improve communication with your colleagues.
Creating a workspace in our homes is about more than just productivity and work capabilities. Your WFH space is going to be a part of your image to coworkers, clients, and upper management. Keep a professional presence while working in your casual home environment with these essential work from home life hacks.
1. Designate a Workspace
Create a space that is your own, specifically for working. In a perfect world, everyone would have a home office with a door to close. If you don’t, your dining room might be the next best thing. Wherever your workspace is, set it up the same way every day and have a standard set up that promotes efficiency in your day.
You’ll likely need your laptop, phone, notepad and pen, a webcam, earbuds or microphone, and some water. Getting these things together before your work day starts will put you in the right mindset for maximum productivity.
2. Stick to Working Hours
Working in-office made leaving work behind easy once the day ended. You could walk out of your office and decompress on your commute, by the time you arrived at home you were able to concentrate on home matters. When you’re working at home, it’s easy to carry work into your home hours. Losing the commute means you no longer have that time to decompress and disconnect from your work day.
To limit stress, manage your work-life balance and be intentional about when you start and stop work—to the degree you have control over it. Putting away your work station, or locking your notes and files in a drawer, will help you disconnect once your day has ended. Then, take a walk around the block, perform an exercise routine, or meditate for 15 to 30 minutes to help transition out of your work day and into your home life.
3. Keep the Lighting Natural
Natural lighting keeps you awake and can help you stay focused on work. Set your work station up somewhere near a window. It may also help keep you focused to open the window and let in some fresh air while you’re working.
Another reason to have natural lighting—and to avoid the yellow lighting of lamps, overhead lights, and recessed lighting—is because it will make your video calls look more professional. Bad lighting can really impact how the person on the other side of the screen interacts with you and your message. Facial expressions can be missed and communication lines can get crossed. Good lighting makes your video calls look professional, improves communication, and keeps you in a good mood throughout the day.
4. Reduce Echoes on Video Calls
If you’re not accustomed to working from home, and especially if you’ve had to create your own temporary but now permanent workspace, you may not be aware of how much a room can echo when on video calls. Most rooms in your home are probably not set up to reduce noise. But if you’ve ever noticed the background noise and echoing coming from a colleague on a conference call, you know it’s important to take steps that will reduce background noise.
Adding fabrics to a room helps reduce noise levels significantly. Curtains and rugs will absorb sound so it doesn’t bounce around the room. Rugs or blankets on the floors quiet a passing spouse, child, or pet.
Using the right equipment also helps to ensure quality sound, but using what you have around your home can significantly improve your presence on video calls without the added investment.
5. Use Earbuds or Headphones
Avoiding speaker phone, or your laptop speaker, for video calls is the best way to control background noise. Connect your earbuds or headphones to your laptop while on calls to make sure you hear everything clearly, and to use the microphone so the other video call participants can hear you.
Most earbuds and headphones can link to any laptop, but investing in a microphone will only increase the sound quality of your voice as well as your professional image.
Even in an office setting, speaker phone and using your computer speakers is disruptive and often leads to communication breaks. Maximize your digital communication by using the right equipment to reach your coworkers and clients.
6. Schedule Virtual Coffee Breaks
No longer working in an office means no more micro-breaks with coworkers. As it turns out, these microbreaks were helpful but not for reasons most people think. Taking short breaks from work alone does not improve productivity, but according to one study, helping coworkers with their work issues did help increase work productivity.
When you schedule virtual coffee breaks with coworkers, you’re more likely to discuss work-related activities which will help you both come up with solutions, or realize other perspectives, and increase productivity overall in your work day.
Stay connected with coworkers and keep your focus at work by scheduling video calls and rountabling matters you may have otherwise discussed at the coffee machine.
7. Request Facetime with Your Boss
Virtual communication can sometimes leave you in the dark about your performance or cause you to feel anxiety around a certain request. If you’re hoping to connect with your boss about feedback on your work product, or to put in a specific request regarding work hours or vacation time, face to face communication can help alleviate anxiety and lead to immediate answers.
Not hearing tone of voice or seeing body language can create distance between coworkers or employees and managers.
In-office work provided the opportunity to pop in someone’s office and have a face-to-face chat. When working from home, it may seem like a better idea to email a request for feedback or time away from work, or send a message through chat. The problem with these communication methods is that you will have to wait for their response and you will not know how they’ve received your request. When asking face to face, you’re able to see their reaction to your request and likely get at least a timeframe as to when you can expect a response.
Improve your communication by requesting face to face time, especially if the request is particularly important.
8. Keep a Blazer Handy
You might be asked to hop on a video conference call last minute, if you’re used to working in your pajamas, a last minute call sounds like your worst nightmare. Keep a blazer on the back of your chair, or somewhere else close by. Having this one professional piece of attire handy will help you accept last minute requests to jump in and give you a boost of professionalism while you’re working.
Video conference calls are going to be happening on a more frequent basis as we continue working from home. One of the best benefits of working from home is that you can remain casual and comfortable, no need to scramble to get ready in the morning or waste sleeping time on “getting ready.” Wear your pajamas while you work, but cover up with a professional piece of clothing while you hop on calls with your colleagues and clients.
9. Clear the Background Clutter
Your scene will become a part of your reputation as work from home becomes more popular. If you have lots of plants in the background, a large library of books, or piles of laundry, your coworkers will see. The appearance of your background will impact the way you’re viewed while participating in conference calls.
Clear up all of the background clutter as best as possible. Move unsightly objects or clothing piles out of view. Keep the background clean and clear. If possible, keep the background of your calls closed. Open space behind your webcam view encourages passers by and other distractions to take away from your participation. Keep the focus on you and your ideas by using a clean and closed off background space.
10. Avoid Filters, Invest in a Good Webcam
Filters are tempting, because they can hide your background, or the fact that you’re not wearing makeup, or add some variety to your conference calls. The problem with filters is that overall, they look unprofessional. It’s not a good idea to request vacation time while using an island-scene filter.
Setting up a good workspace and using a high-quality webcam is the best way to exude professionalism while you’re working from home. There are many ways to make your home work for you, but when it comes to image quality, sound quality, and overall appearance, a webcam is the best way to improve your working experience as we adjust to this new normal.
Image is Everything
Working from home means that the way we present ourselves to our coworkers, managers, and clients has changed. Our new image will include our backgrounds, our sound quality, and our face to face participation.
Intentional facetime will be important as we continue to remain socially distant. Using the right equipment and setting the right scene will help improve your image and maintain your professional reputation.
