Tip of the Week: 4 Easy Ways to Make Working Remotely Work for You

Working remotely is made much easier thanks to today’s modern technology solutions. Many organizations have at least part of their workforce working remotely, but without the proper support, remote work wouldn’t be possible. With the latest technology and a couple of best practices, the remote worker can be just as productive, if not more so, than the in-house worker.

Here are four ways that you can maximize your productivity while working remotely.

Have a Dedicated Office
In the office, you might have your own cubicle or workspace. However, when you work remotely, the world is your office. As long as you have Wi-Fi, you could turn a restaurant booth into your desk, or a living room into a home office. Yet, this can often lead to counterproductive or distracting circumstances. Rather than let these distractions take over your workday, you should instead invest in a dedicated home office, where you have plenty of space and privacy. This is the place you want to go to if you need to get pressing work done. This also helps you avoid busy public places, like restaurants.

Set Specific Rules for Family and Visitors
Working remotely means that you’ll need a dedicated workspace, and as such, you should keep distractions out of it; this includes family or visitors, who may drop in unannounced. You should set clear boundaries to when they can (and can’t) drop by. Furthermore, you should keep your daily chores to a minimum while you’re working remotely. It might be tempting to do the dishes or clean up a bit so that you don’t have to do it later, but you’re working remotely to do your job, not clean.

Work Until the End of the Day
Sometimes you might get the impression that, since you’re working remotely, you could cut out early at the end of the day and nobody would notice. While you might be right, doing so could become a slippery slope that could affect your daily productivity. Before you know it, fifteen minutes could turn into a half-hour, then an hour, and so on. Be sure that you don’t abuse the privilege.

Implement the Right Technology Solutions
Since your remote workers aren’t in the office, they’ll need the proper technology to do their jobs as if they were in the office. This includes making your infrastructure as accessible as possible, but not without ensuring its security. A virtual private network and Voice over Internet Protocol can help your remote team stay connected to the office. If your business needs assistance making your infrastructure mobile-friendly, i-medIT can help.

For more information about how to keep your remote workers productive, contact us at 630-549-6199.