4 Remote Work Best Practices

The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t a good time for anyone, but if anything good came out of it, it would be the prevalence of remote work. If you’re new to remote work or a remote worker looking to boost your productivity, you’re sure to benefit from these best practices for remote workers.

The major challenges in remote work

Remote work brings with it many benefits, but it’s not without challenges. Distractions at home, technological difficulties, and the blurring of the line between life and work can cancel out any advantages you might enjoy when working at home. Here are some of the major hurdles of remote work.

1. Staying focused

Unlike your typical office space, remote working places, especially your home, are abundant in distractions. Add the lack of over-the-shoulder accountability and it’s easy to lose focus and take a hit in productivity.

2. Overworking

A lack of focus is a problem, but so is too much of it. Remote work can blur the line between life and work, making it easy to lose track of time and overwork yourself.

3. Lackluster communication

The latest tech has made remote work viable for plenty of jobs by facilitating remote communication that’s “good enough” to get work done. Even for teams that embrace the async way of working, questions can be left unread in the inbox for hours or even days before being answered.

Best Practices for Remote Workers

In any work setup, challenges can be constant. However, knowing remote work best practices will greatly help in making sure they don’t affect your productivity.

1. Build accountability

When working remotely, only you can hold yourself accountable. One of the best practices for remote workers is the use of timers and trackers. Before you even begin working, it’s ideal to plan out your working day by allocating time for each task and activity, including breaks. You can also set alarms for tasks so you can make sure you aren’t spending too much time on one task. Having your workday planned can encourage you to stay focused, making it harder to get sidetracked. 

2. Set up a distraction-free workspace

Make sure you have a space dedicated to work that is free of distractions. Depending on the size and layout of your home, this can either be trivial or extremely challenging. But don’t worry, as there are plenty of tricks you can apply to improve the quality of your workspace. 

• Put up a barrier - If you don’t have a separate room to act as a workspace, find something that can separate you from the rest of your home. A curtain or an actual divider that blocks out everything else in your home from your view, giving you peace and quiet — which might be just what you need to be more productive.
• Put away unnecessary media - Notifications from your phone or sounds coming from the TV in the living room can derail an otherwise productive day. Make sure these potentially distracting devices are as far away from your workspace as possible. Also, put your phone on silent mode for good measure.
• Keep your desk clean - Clutter on your desk might seem benign, but it can be just as distracting as your mobile phone. Make sure your workspace isn’t just neatly organized but is also free of any unnecessary items.

3. Set up defined boundaries between life and work

Remote work blurs the boundaries between work and life by nature, and it’s up to you to reestablish those boundaries. Here are some techniques you may follow.

• Shower and dress up for work - It may feel liberating not having to shower and dress up early in the morning, but doing so can condition you to focus on work. It can be a good idea to wear work clothes as you work, and once you take them off, it means your workday is done, too. 
• Turn off notifications when the workday ends - If your job permits it, turn off any notifications regarding work outside working hours. 

4. Step Out

Stepping out every now and then一maybe working from a cafe or the park for a change of scenery can be good for you. With Spot, you can even take your meetings while walking. Walking meetings enhance the physical and mental well-being of everyone who participates. It refreshes your mind, boosts your creativity, and keeps you from getting burned out. 

Final words

Remote work can be challenging, but it’s a challenge worth overcoming given the advantages it provides employees and employers. Mobile-first toolsets like Spot can be the edge that you need to get the most out of remote work.