5 Work From Home Tips To Make Your Business More Efficient

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more people than ever have transitioned to working from home. No one expected to be out of the office for more than a year, but remote work could be here to stay.

Work From Home Tips:

Although it can be tough to adjust to this new change, there are ways to keep your remote team productive. Here are some work-from-home tips to make your business more efficient.

1. Make Sure Your Employees Have Proper Equipment

Although remote work has been a nice perk for many people, some of your employees may lack the necessary equipment at home to work efficiently. Not having the proper resources to work can greatly reduce both your employee’s and your business’s overall productivity.

Make sure to check in with your team to see how they are coping with working from home. If they’re struggling to emulate the same productivity that they had in the office, offer to buy them some essential supplies like a desk or computer monitor, or even provide them a remote work stipend to cover the costs. You can also buy stand up desks for them to have a healthier workspace.

Although it may be an added cost, this is a great way to show that you value your employees and will ensure that everyone is set up for success. If you’re not sure you can afford these additional resources, consider applying for a small business loan to cover the expenses. A loan can give you the financial support you need to help your team, without having to delay their progress. Especially since remote work seems to be a permanent reality, investing in essential equipment for your employees will pay off long-term.

2. Communicate Often

A big difference between remote and in-person work environments is the amount of organic daily interaction that occurs between coworkers. Having a lack of communication amongst your team can be a huge pitfall to your business and can throw off the entire company’s workflow. To avoid this, make sure to communicate everyday with your employees to create a sense of normalcy and keep everyone engaged.

You can use cost-effective applications to connect your team and maintain your business’s efficiency. Slack is a helpful messaging tool where you can create group chats, direct message coworkers, and even create different channels where your team can discuss their hobbies and interests. This is a great way to maintain a sense of camaraderie and discuss more casual topics.

Zoom is another useful tool for remote workers as it allows you to virtually meet with your team and get some much-needed facetime. This is a great program to host meetings on as you get a similar experience to talking in person. Zoom’s free plan hosts up to 100 participants and limits your meetings to 40 minutes per session, but you can always upgrade to their paid plan if your needs go beyond that.

No matter how you decide to communicate, keeping an open dialogue with your team will help you keep each other accountable and can boost productivity.

3. Maintain a Consistent Work Schedule

Working from home can be distracting, especially if you live with others or have pets. Now that the typical 9 to 5 p.m. workday has become more flexible, it can be tough to keep your team motivated and productive. Despite these new changes, try to maintain a consistent work schedule among your team to give everyone some structure. Talk to your team about creating work schedules that work for them and help them stay on track.

This doesn’t mean that everyone has to work the same hours, but encourage your employees to choose a regular work schedule that works best for them. Discuss how they will organize their time, and make sure they will be available for important meetings. Having your team maintain a set routine will help keep them accountable, and as long as they’re working when they’re most productive, your business will benefit.

Encouraging employees to take that extra step and hold each other accountable for optimal scheduling will only make the transition easier and more efficient. Use the tools you have at your disposal to make scheduling even easier. Something as small as a Slack message can be used to remind a certain department that they need to be in at a specific time.

4. Set Work Boundaries

It can be difficult to maintain a good work life balance when your home becomes your new office. Now that your work environment has merged with your personal environment, it’s even more important to set strict work boundaries to make sure you’re not overworking yourself.

Try to create a dedicated office space so you can easily separate your work life from your personal life. Turn that old room or basement into a dedicated office to improve your home work productivity.

Creating an office space merely represents a boundary between work and home life, it will be up to you to enforce this split. Make sure that you communicate when you are working, and when you aren’t to cut-down on distractions that may arise when living with others. It can be difficult to tell your family, friends, or loved ones to leave you alone during the day, but sometimes, it must be done.

Setting both physical and mental work boundaries will help make sure that you’re as productive from home as you were in the office.