Work from home like a pro

Nearly a quarter of Indian workers work from home at least once a week, and that number is expected to continue rising, as organizations realize the importance of allowing flexibilities to its workforce. But is working from home actually productive? Definitely! Many studies have found that it not only increases productivity, it also increases employee retention and reduces absenteeism.

That said it can be easy to get distracted at home. It’s great to be able to wear your favourite yoga pants without judgement and stretch in your bed, but for some of us it can also be as easy as grabbing a snack break in front of the idiot box morphing into an impromptu Game of Thrones marathon.

Here are some tips for making your work-from-home day the most productive day, better even than your work-from-office day.


Nothing works better than comfy when it comes to work.

Create a dedicated and comfortable workplace at home. This can be a corner desk in your bedroom, a mahogany sofa in your drawing room or even a table at a cafe.
All you need to do is to make sure that it is comfortable enough to stay there for a couple of hours and have easy access to snacks, a restroom and internet connection.


Don’t turn “working from home” to “working all the time”

To maintain separation between work and your home life, establish your deadlines and boundaries. Set up a rough schedule (say, 9am to 6pm) and include a dedicated lunch or fun break. But since you are setting your own schedule you can also make sure to dedicate your most productive hours to work, and your less-productive hours, like that post-lunch slump, to break time.

Quit checking email

Working from home is a chance to savour a big chunk of quiet, uninterrupted time to work on big-picture items or intensive tasks. Turn your IM status to “Busy” for at least an hour. Set aside specific times to IM/chat/check emails: You can even set yourself a reminder if you want to. But after your email break is over, stop checking it. Give yourself a glimpse of sunshine

If you are working from home for more than a day without seeing daylight, chances are that you will forget what a day looks like. All jokes apart, it does affect the mental health of a person. So, make sure you change your clothes and go outside. Getting some fresh air, smiling at some strangers and hearing some birds chirping do help; this cannot be overstated.

Work over? Close the laptop and leave the room

Are you one of those for whom personal time and work time is a blurred line? If yes, then this one is just for you. Studies have found that working from home appears to have become instrumental in the general expansion of work hours, facilitating workers’ needs for additional work time beyond standard workweek. To avoid working too many hours, make sure you really and truly log off after 6pm or whenever you decided earlier in the day. Technology has made it too easy to be working all the time, but SIGN OFF! It is better for your productivity. If you didn’t quite get done, take solace in the thought that you probably got more done than you would have at your office.

(image credits: bookboon)