Working from home? Follow these tips for successful remote work

• Author: Joan Hope
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.31158
• Published date: 01 September 2020
• Date: 01 September 2020

September 2020 • Volume 37, Number 1 7

DOI 10.1002/ban© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

Working from home? Follow these tips for

successful remote work

BY JOAN HOPE, PH.D.

So you’re asked to work from home as COVID-

19 cases spread. Some jobs lend themselves to

remote work better than others, but if your organi-

zation says it’s time to head home, you can accom-

plish a lot, no matter what your job responsibili-

ties entail.

Here are some tips for remote work success

I’ve picked up from experts and from my own

experience:

1. Draw a line between work and home.

There are two main disadvantages to work-

ing from home: You are always at home and

you are always at work. Which of the two is a

bigger problem depends on you. Some people

find dirty laundry and dishes in the sink to

be incredibly distracting. I’ll admit not having

that problem. But walking past my desk in the

evening often reminds me there was something

I really wanted to get done that day. Clearly,

it’s important to get your work done, and you

need to have a life outside of work. Here are a

few tips for keeping your work and home life

separate.

• Create a space just for work. If you’re

working from home temporarily, that might

mean a folding table in a corner of the bedroom

or claiming the dining room table until you go

back to the office. If the arrangement is longer

term, a desk and comfortable chair, and ideally

an office with a door that closes, make a huge

difference.

• Keep a schedule. Sure, sleeping in a bit

is a luxury you should take advantage of. But

keeping regular work hours means you also

have designated hours when you’re not at

work.

• Don’t mix work and housework. It’s one

thing to throw in a load of laundry on your

lunch break (and do schedule yourself a lunch

break), but, overall, stick to work during work

hours so the other hours are free for other

parts of your life.

2. Use available tools. Meetings are one of

the easiest work activities to accomplish remotely.

Skype, Teams, Adobe Connect and Zoom are a few

of the tools that make remote meetings possible,

with video options for participants and screen-

sharing capabilities. You might find that the

biggest obstacle is that you and your co-workers

are enjoying your work-from-home wardrobes too

much to want to video chat. But keep in mind that

no one will see below your waist, so those pajama

pants can stay on all day. Seeing colleagues’ faces

is a nice way to combat the social isolation that

can come with remote work, and conference calls

with more than a few people on the line can be

confusing.

Another objection remote workers sometimes

have to video chat is that that’s their home in the

background, and who wants to be judged for their

housekeeping or decorator choices during a work

meeting? If this is an issue for you, consider how

you can position your chair for videoconferences

(e.g., back to a wall). And if a pet or child makes

an occasional cameo appearance, no worries. Your

meeting just got way cuter.

3. Set boundaries with members of your

household. The hardest part of working from

home is convincing others in the house not to

disturb you. If you have small children home

with you because of virus-containment efforts,

that will be even more challenging (and might

be impossible). If that’s the case and you have

a partner at home also working remotely on a

temporary basis, negotiate a work/child care

schedule that meets both your needs to the best

extent possible.

The most important thing to remember if you

are asked to work remotely during the viral out-

break is that you are doing your part to keep your-

self, your family members and members of your

community safe and healthy.

Joan Hope, Ph.D., is editorial director of Wiley’s

higher education newsletter series. ■