The pandemic has taught us to adjust to many things and one of the most notable skills many workers around the world have had to adjust to is working from home. I call it a skill because that is what it is – we have had to do it repeatedly over a period of time, sometimes through trial and error, to determine what are some of the best ways to manage working from home. For example, learning to best adjust daily life in cross-roads between work and family has been a learning lesson for many.

A consistent feedback I keep hearing from people in workplaces that have not been historically used to allowing employees to working remotely is that they do not feel there is any more boundaries when it comes to professional hours versus personal hours – it has all become one now. But that is not how working from home has to be and you can use the tips below to keep that balance in dedicating the necessary and required number of hours to your workday life from home.

1. Use a Planner: They say, ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’ – so please, do not fail to plan just because it is not something you are used to doing. Whether you prefer to have an electronic planner or a calendar diary booklet where you can list your priorities in order, having some form of daily structure or routine helps keep things in order to the extent possible. It also helps you better manage when you know where to look for what, whenever you need to look for it. Keeping yourself organized saves you time and unnecessary stress of wasting time looking around for things which you would other be readily have access to with some help of personal planning and organizing.
2. Build a Permanent Work Space at Home: We are in 2021 and if you haven’t already done so, now is the right time to build yourself a permanent work space at home where you have access to a laptop/PC, printer, scanner, telephone, and all other office supplies that help you carry your day-to-day work. It is just as important to make sure you create this space as friendly to you as possible. For example, make this home office space in a well-lit, preferably a room with plenty of natural lighting and surrounding yourself with everything that helps you perform at your peak. For instance, if you prefer sitting on a gym ball, do it; or if you prefer treating yourself to music of your choice in the background while working, do it. As long as anything you want to add to your home office environment does not add on to becoming a distraction from work at home, you can think of many things to keep you going in the hours you dedicate to working from home.
3. Create Clear Boundaries to Help Separate Work Time and Personal Time, When and Where Possible: When you have kids at home, it is not possible to tell them not to disturb you while you are working in your home office space, but it is possible for you as a parent to create regular breaks as part of your working from home schedule to keep a check on the kids and spending quality time with family. Parent supervision and guidance is critical so that kids do not feel any psychological or emotional distance from parents who, while may be physically present at home, are not physically with the kids.
4. Increase Your Communication With Your Team: Ever heard of the phrase, ‘out of sight, out of mind’? This has never been more applicable than now when working from home. In the past, experts used to write that people who spend more time in the office and are more visible to the management are likely to get promotions because the perception is that they are “seen” to be working, whereas other people working in the field or remotely were passed over for promotions. In 2021, working from home – whether by choice or by circumstances – you are best positioned to keep your communication with everyone in the team or work network more active than ever before, and your actions and output counts more than before because of the extra effort people have to collectively put into getting work done from home.

Working from home has been a long-awaited blessing for many workers who now save up time on long daily commutes. Having worked in a large multinational organization that was run like a military boot camp and hostile to change, I am of the belief that the post-pandemic work of work is far more decentralized and it has presented great many opportunities to empower people in taking charge of their work more responsibly and finding meaning in jobs that are more fulfilling and aligned with personal values.

What has been more important to you after the global Covid-19 lockdown? Is it working from home or going back to the office? How has your workplace adjusted to creating a post-pandemic work of work that actually works in 2021.