Almost all global and domestic companies have, during the lockdown period, rolled out work-from-home policies amid the spread of COVID-19 and now it is realistic to assume that shifting to the ‘home office’ will be the new normal for many of us for a few more days. This might be the first time for most of us (including us) to work from home for such a long duration. Whilst most of you might have planned and taken adequate measures from operations and IT perspective or otherwise to ensure that you can deliver expected services to your organization, clients, etc., there would be some bottlenecks as we have not faced this earlier. We are sure some of us may find some difficulties while working from home. With the intent to minimize such hitches and to ensure self-discipline within us, we have collated and compiled a list of the Do’s and Don’ts to effectively work from home. You all are requested to read it till the end and hope you will find the same useful.
- Pretend like you are going into the office – It’s advisable you start your day and do your morning tasks as if you are getting ready for the Office. This will help you to be disciplined to start your work as usual.
- Maintain regular hours – Set a schedule and stick to it. Having clear guidelines for when to work and when to call it a day will help you maintain a work-life balance.
- Set Ground Rules for your workspace at Home – Inform your family members including your children at home when you are working and create the Do’s and Don’ts for them for the duration you are working.
- Structure your day like you would in the office. – You should plan your work in the same manner as you plan it while you are in the office. Group leaders should ensure the teams are continuing with updating their tasks.
- Take Scheduled Breaks – It’s good to take short breaks intermittently but it’s advisable that you follow the Company’s policy on long breaks like lunchtime so that all your team members are aware of your unavailability during that time.
- Communicate with Team – It’s suggested that you talk within your team members at least once or twice a day about the deliverables. Group leaders should discuss in the morning about the work to be done during the day and take the stock of the same at the end of the day. Considering the ongoing connectivity issues with some telecom networks, you may ensure your phone is kept at a position where you get sufficient network connectivity. You can also use the Conference call option on your mobile or use apps like Zoom Call available on the internet in case more than 2 team members would like to connect and talk.
- Work on your Machines and not Removable Drives – The first step you should take is to copy the data (that you have taken back up from Office) on to the system (Laptop or Desktop) from which you will be working from home. It’s not advisable to work for a longer time on Pen Drives or other Removable Disks as there is a greater risk of data loss.
- Use Social Media Effectively – Be connected by communication apps (either provided by your company or as simple as Whatsapp) with your workgroup. You may also mute other social media notifications to avoid distractions and could see those messages during breaks or at the end of your workday. This will also help you focus on your work.
- Look for Training Opportunities – Use your surplus time, if available, on online self-training on subjects/topics that you believe you need to improve at.
- Stay vigilant against Data Security Risks – Work cautiously while you are online and ensure your data is secured from cyber threats and hackers. Keep saving the file, on which you are working, regularly. Do not click any unknown pop-ups or unidentified links. While on longer breaks, kindly ensure you are not connected to the internet.
- Back up your Data – Kindly ensure you take a Backup, at the end of the day, of all the Data files. that you have worked on during the day. The Backup may be taken on a separate machine or pen drive or google drive or by emailing it.
- Eat Healthily, Stay Healthy and remain Happy – Last but not the least, eat Home cooked food, avoid Junk Food and Stay Healthy. Continue to give time to your family and near ones as you have been giving earlier and be Happy at all times!!
Do take care of yourself, your family and loved ones during this COVID 19 pandemic condition and we hope and pray we all will come out of this situation and soon meet each other in respective Offices again.
