Tips for Remote Working During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Coronavirus has left most teams shattered, working from home instead of an office. The point of a ‘place of work’ is more than just an address to file with Companies House – it promotes ideas of shared accountability, cooperation and coordination; regular meetings can ensure that plans and targets are reviewed with everyone in the room. But, with that out of the window for the time being – it’s time to embrace telecommuting, teleconferencing, and virtual whiteboards to make sure that we can remain as effective and as productive as possible.

Conversations, Ideas, Reports

Pinging off an email isn’t going to cut it when a team is spread over more than a few square miles. So, let’s take a look at some of the best ways to keep in contact during office hours when we’re not even remotely near the office!

Teleconferencing and Telecommuting

There are quite a few applications available for robust, feature-rich and useful telecommuting and teleconferencing – here are some of our favourites:

1. WhatsApp Groups – For file-sharing, screenshots, voice notes and text-chat (great if you need a written record), a private WhatsApp group is encrypted, customisable and can be controlled with admin privileges for team leaders.
2. Skype – Offering many of the same text-based services as WhatsApp, and conference video call services.
3. Zoom – Zoom offers up to 40 minutes of free videoconferencing for a limited number of users and is available on PC, Mac and Smartphone.
4. Discord – Discord is an incredibly customisable teleconferencing solution that is based around individual servers (akin to a WhatsApp group), and also rooms which can be text-based, or act as a teleconferencing suite. While talking in Discord you can share your screen, or type complementary material into another, text-based Room which users in the voice channel can see. File-sharing and image uploads are also available.

Project Management

Keeping track of projects is important – particularly when you have multiple people working on different parts of the same project. To avoid duplication of effort and maximise clarity – Trello is a great way to delegate tasks and ensure deadlines are met, information is given, and communication lines remain open. Other options include Monday.com, Project Manager, and Microsoft Teams (which is included in Office 365)

Keeping the Work Ethic Going

Working from home effectively requires one of two things – discipline, or deadlines. As you’ll definitely have deadlines, it’s time to focus on discipline. Here are some great tips for keeping the industrious you bold and healthy!

1. Avoid the temptation to sleep in, treat every day like it’s Friday, or otherwise disrupt your sleeping pattern. If you normally work 40 hours a week Monday to Friday, work 40 hours a week Monday to Friday. Eat Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at the same times you would normally, and go to bed as if you have to go to the office tomorrow.
2. Leave for work in the morning. At first, this might sound a little silly, but it’s all about keeping your routine stable. After going through your morning routine, leave the house and walk/cycle to work. It may only be a ten-minute walk around the block (while observing social distancing of course) or a cycle to an arbitrary imaginary workplace and back before you get back home to start working. At the end of the working day, go out again, and do the trip in reverse. Not only does this keep your exercise levels up – but it ensures that you can properly ‘switch off’ when you leave your home office to go back to your home.

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