Working from home successfully, hints and tips?

[Longhairmightcare]

I'm due to start a new job in about 6 weeks, which includes working from home around the school run some days. Never worked from home before.

Any sage advice? Little things I won't have thought of. Lighthearted or serious tips.

I'm sure the novelty will wear off, but I'm quite excited about it at the moment.

Spur a jumper over your PJs when you have a teleconference 😉😉

I found a really needed a separate office space and to treat it as going into work.
I did prefer to start work early so really appreciated working from home, and mai my got a lot of the general admin or routine emails done first.
I had coffee break and lunch outside the office and made a point of having a decent lunch break.
I had to be disciplined with myself otherwise I'd have been distracted and not productive. I also made sure I didn't give more hours than I was paid for, easy to just 'go and check emails' at all hours. Bigger issue nowadays with smart phones.
The other thing I realised was that I didn't have to be doing something all of the time and that some of my work requirements was actually to have thinking time. Took me a while to accept this was necessary work.

I love WFH OP, it's far more productive for me. As long as your own team and any wider teams you work with are aware of your working arrangements you should be able to minimise any 'getting left out' of stuff that a PP has mentioned - I would make sure I got the message out rather than rely on my manager / word of mouth to do this.

There's some great advice upthread about how to manage your time effectively and that does include taking time for you, i.e. going for a walk, doing washing, etc.

I'm very strict when WFH - I don't turn on the tv or have music on so that I'm not distracted. Having said that I do allow myself time to look at my phone during breaks - this is always frowned on in the office but for me it gives me a 5 minute brain break and then I'm onto the next task. I also find it easier to take time to think about what I'm doing rather than just doing it - in the office I find I get busy just because everyone else is, whether it's actually productive or not.

It is isolating which is the biggest drawback for me but I also don't get sucked into office dramas which I'm very happy about

If I ever struggle to motivate myself I think what I'd have to give up / miss out on if I couldn't WFH. For me that would be missing out on school runs, school plays, etc and that's too important to me to mess with.

I deliberately haven’t put my work emails onto my phone as I know I would check them too much. Having to go out into the garden to my “office” helps separate the two.

Wow, I wfh full time and it sounds like I break every rule in the book! I almost always work in loungewear, at the kitchen table and spend my “break” lounging on the sofa, lol. I also do all my housework during “work hours”! Though, that being said, my work is fully flexible, as in I could do it at midnight if I wanted, so breaking off to do other things isn’t a problem. I have to do 7 hours a day and my work laptop is on from around 8am to 6pm so my hours do get done. Surely the point of wfh is to have the “perks” of that? As long as you do your hours/work. But, given how I do it seems the opposite of everyone else, best not take any advice from me OP

If you are having a stressy day, padlock the fridge! Found this out the hard way

Thanks backforgood it's good to know what I'll be asking for isn't too out there.

Having worked in an office for the last 14yrs, the idea of Just disappearing off for 2 hours then resuming (outside of designated breaks) seems quite outrageous 🤭, even if you were doing all of your required hours and achieving everything needed!

It'll be refreshing to get out of the 'office' mentality in that respect and I'm looking forward to it. I'll still be doing some of my days in the office so hopefully will keep my face in the picture.

I know this is probably a mundane thread to most, but I've enjoyed reading all of your replies, it's going to be such a positive work/life balance change for me

I've enjoyed reading the replies. A lot of what people say is true of what I do too, and I hadn't actually necessarily realised that I do it or why I do it.

I sometimes work in PJs. I sometimes lie on the couch and work while I watch TV because that's all my brain is capable of that day, especially if I've just taken migraine meds.

The other thing I realised was that I didn't have to be doing something all of the time and that some of my work requirements was actually to have thinking time. Took me a while to accept this was necessary work.

Absolutely!

If I ever struggle to motivate myself I think what I'd have to give up / miss out on if I couldn't WFH. For me that would be missing out on school runs, school plays, etc and that's too important to me to mess with.

Also this.

And some days, especially during the summer, I work from wherever I am watching my children - that might be a beach, a picnic bench by a lake, a doctor's waiting room, a train. I work for myself, so I answer to myself, and especially during summer school holidays I do what I can, knowing I will have much more to give once the holidays are over.

the idea of Just disappearing off for 2 hours then resuming (outside of designated breaks) seems quite outrageous

I think this is why I started keeping such a close eye on the precise hours I was doing, and keeping track of it for anyone to see. I'd done 21 years in a job with no chance of 'nipping out' anywhere in the middle of the day, and it took me about 8 years to shake off the "guilt" of taking an hour or two in the middle of the day to do something during 'normal' working hours, that could only be done then, and then responding to e-mails or writing a report or updating some training or whatever, in the evening to make up.

@BackForGood

Agree about having to lose the 'guilt'. Initially I felt I had I had to get things done well within time otherwise I'd be somehow judged by my boss and peers.
That's when I found myself checking emails at silly o'clock and work began to creep into down time. OK if you work for yourself and want to do this, not so for a large organisation who didn't give a toss.

I then thought about the actual office environment I dipped into and how people worked there ... and realised however busy someone claims they are they are not working all the time. There is social interaction, coffee making, walking around and quite a fair bit of hidden inefficiency. Once realised I felt better about taking time away etc.

Also an important thing, make sure you have firm boundaries e.g. when I first wfh it was as part of a project providing courses for NHS. Sometimes staff would see flyers/information when on duty and would think nothing off phoning during a break. Fine in the day, rather annoying at 9.30 at night. It was easily solved with anwserphone and message but initially not something the team had considered. One colleague was phoned on Boxing Day!!
So as I say just think about what and how you are prepared to wfh.

Enjoy it. I certainly did. Nothing like sitting in the garden on a spring or autumn morning 'working'

If you need to make lots of calls or join conference calls (a lot of this in my role) get a great Bluetooth headset with a decent range so you are not shackled to the desk :) If video conferencing or web-ex check the view behind you for other people. Become an expert at phone mute on/off

This is because my work phone links to my laptop, rather than to my personal mobile.