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4 tips on teleworking

Since March 2019, the pandemic has posed a number of challenges for companies around the world, including how to ensure business continuity in times of total containment. As a result, telecommuting has gone from being the exception to the rule, crystallizing a number of issues around employee management.

For employees, this sudden paradigm shift has sometimes led to a lot of anxiety and deep questioning about the balance of their personal and professional lives.

In June, we conducted a survey on Hamilton Apps social networks(Linkedin / Facebook / Twitter) to find out the number of days worked from home. We collected data from 141 voters.

"How many days a week do you work from home?

  • 1 to 2 days a week: 18
  • 3 to 4 days a week: 26
  • Every day: 30%.
  • I do not telework: 25%.

In this concentrated sample a trend is emerging. We find that 3 out of 4 people are still teleworking.

While many companies and employees have already successfully integrated teleworking into their daily lives, we thought it would be interesting to look at a few tips to ensure a smooth transition.

1. Differentiate between personal and professional life

With telework, the line between working time and rest time is becoming increasingly blurred.

This new division is the result not only of the cancellation of commuting times, but also of the great flexibility of working hours that this organisation implies. It should be noted that additional complexity has been caused by the long periods of short-time working.

It is therefore essential to maintain some form of rhythm in the distribution and organisation of the day. One idea might be to replace your old commuting time with a sports session at home or outside.

Also, don't hesitate to take real time off where you can give time exclusively for you and your family.

In addition, logging in and out at specific times will be a major asset in planning your routine.

2. Create a routine

Creating a routine is the key to achieving balance and working effectively from home.

Indeed, it is recommended that you set up a schedule that allows you to determine the start and end times of your day, as well as break times that must be strictly respected. The lunch break will be more than ever one of the pillars of your day; give yourself real time to eat your meal without rushing. This will have a direct impact on your performance in the second half of the day.

Tip: You can use your phone's alarm to mark important times of the day and avoid the "head in the sand" effect.

Attention: the organisation of your time is directly linked to the organisation of your work space.

3. Designing your workspace

Sometimes the real challenge is that your living space is not scalable and yet it is now home to a large part of your professional activity.  

If you have a spare room at home, chances are you have already set up a dedicated workspace with all the comforts.

However, not everyone is so lucky, but this is still very important. At the very least, it is advisable to work on a real table, and to invest in a comfortable chair with armrests and a backrest that can be adjusted to the height of your table. An additional monitor, a mouse and a separate keyboard will be an undeniable asset in the long term.

This equipment allows you to greatly reduce physical risks and Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD).

Once you are well organised and settled, all you have to do is maintain human contact.

4. Keeping in touch with colleagues

Despite the distance, communication and team sharing are precious.

In order not to lose the feeling of belonging to the company and to harm the cohesion of the teams, internal tools such as instant messaging, email, video-conferencing, telephone or collaborative tools are a real plus in human contact. Managers can then set up weekly privileged moments outside the framework in order to create a moment of complicity while waiting to meet again. It seems, however, that human contact, which has recently been partly rediscovered, remains essential.