Well we have a full blown pandemic across the world due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), which the first cases of this virus started in December of 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei, China. The World Health Organization declared it a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
People are being forced to self quarantine as employers are going to a work from home model due to pressures to distance people from each other. Many people are happy that they actually get to work from home, while others are not overly ready or prepared to do work from home. It is funny to see all the twitter posts on how to work from home, and what you need to do. Some make sense and other s are just someones personal preferences. Figure out what works best for you, and try different things at first until it works best for you.
My Work From home:
- Set a schedule (Wake up the same time every day)
- Get ready for the day (Get out of your PJ’s and take a shower)
- Have a separate place to work (My Desk is in my bedroom at the current time)
- Dedicated work area (My standup desk in a corner of my bedroom)
- Quite area for conference calls (No pets, kids, or TV’s)
- Take breaks (Get away from things – walk outside, step away for 10 to 15 minutes)
- Plan lunch breaks (Meet people, just get out of the house, actually take a break)
- Have an end of the day (when does the work day end for you?)
Working from home is not for everyone, no matter what I hear on Twitter. Yes it sounds great for many people to be allowed to work from their house and not to have to drive into an office. While it sounds great to just roll out of bed and be at work, that is not always the case. For those that have kids at home and no real office to separate your self away from everyone else, it is hard to not get distracted. if you do not have a headset with noise canceling microphone, the background noise will be heard by everyone and very distracting. Telling yourself you can multi-task, just stop lying to your self. You are just doing more than one thing half paying attention to one or both of them most of the time.
If it was not for me traveling frequently, working form home would get really boring and monotonous. I like to interact with people, not that I do not like to talk to my wife and kids, but they do not know anything about what I do for work or any of my hobbies. For some people who like to be alone and only want to see their family, that is good if you can work from home, but this is not for everyone.
So, if your getting to work from home or looking to get a job that allows you to work from home. Make sure it will work for you, it is not for everyone all the time.
Some see perceived benefits:
- No longer have a commute
- Save on gas not commuting (maybe)
- Save time not commuting (maybe)
- Get to stay home with spouse/pets/kids
- More quality time with family
- Kids will not have to go to daycare/babysitter
- Have more time (not sure on this one)
- Able to take care of person things
- Dr appointments when I want to go
- Go to the store when I want
If you get the opportunity to work from home get a plan to continue to show your value to your manager, otherwise you may have to go back to the office. This is the reason why many people do not get the opportunity to get to work from home is due to some slacker who could not handle it. Yes, your manager will believe you are not doing anything as they never see you. This could also impact promotions, as your not seen you tend to become invisible to people. Keep in contact with co-workers, your manager and show you can be productive no matter where you are.