Remote Teams

The 12 Best Working from Home Tips

Discover the 12 best working from home tips to boost productivity, manage work stress, set up your workspace, and build a healthy remote work routine.

Onur Ozgur OZKAN Onur Ozgur OZKAN
· 9 min read

Why Is Working From Home Essential for Every Company?

Working from home has become the new normal over the past few years, so every company should have a set of working from home tips ready. Many companies have also come to prefer that their employees work from home rather than come to the office. COVID-19 in particular made remote work a necessity rather than a luxury for many professionals. Working from home instead of at the office has helped employees save time and increase their productivity. It has also been a very important issue for companies in terms of cost: as long as employees work from home, companies spend less on office space, and companies that work fully remotely may not use an office at all.

Professional working at a multi-screen workstation with headphones in a home office

Given all this, companies have started to support working from home so that their employees can work with more motivation, more efficiency, and more happiness. When employees feel comfortable and happy, they become more attached to the company they work for and enjoy their work more, so the value they bring to the company increases. Employees can also benefit from reviewing working from home tips. Working from home can be advantageous for many companies, since what matters most is the happiness and productivity of their employees. That is why working from home tips are useful for these companies.

The Benefits of Remote Working

  1. Saving Time: Every day we wake up early, get ready, and spend part of our time commuting. To use this commuting time more efficiently, we sometimes read a book or the newspaper, and sometimes we sleep. Things are easier when we work remotely. With a few working from home tips, we can use the time we would have spent on the road to rest more and work more energetically, to take time for ourselves and do some morning exercise, or to start the day with a healthier breakfast with our family. In short, working remotely saves us a lot of time.
  2. Saving Money: Every time we go to work, we incur unavoidable expenses. For example, we pay a fare if we use public transportation; if we drive, we have to buy fuel and pay for parking; and we often have to eat out during our lunch break. All of these are costs for each day we go to the office. Therefore, another important benefit of working remotely is cost savings. We don’t have to pay for travel when we work remotely, we can eat whatever we want at home during our lunch break, and we can drink as much tea and coffee as we like at no extra cost.
  3. Feeling Comfortable: In general, we like to work in places where we feel comfortable, and we work more efficiently there. We can concentrate better and have more opportunity to catch and fix missing or incorrect work. When working remotely, we can create a much more comfortable working environment that suits our own preferences. We can also work in whatever way makes us most productive. For example, someone who works more efficiently while listening to music may not be able to do so in the office, but at home they can listen to music and keep working as they wish. So, we can use working from home tips to feel more comfortable.

Sometimes we may feel pressured or get distracted by other things while working from home, and working from home can be challenging if we live in a crowded household. Fortunately, there are working from home tips for dealing with these and many other challenges. So, what are they? Let’s examine them together and start applying them.

12 Tips for Surviving the Day Working From Home

Plan your day the night before or in the morning, and update your to-do list

The first tip addresses the fact that working from home can sometimes lead to a lack of discipline; after all, we are working in our comfort zone and may cut small corners. That’s why we should prepare for our workday by making a weekly plan or a to-do list the night before. This not only saves time and helps us work more efficiently, but also keeps us more motivated and disciplined.

Stick to a project management app

Another tip is to organize our work in a structured way. For example, if we use a project management app with our colleagues, sticking to it is very beneficial both for our self-discipline and for organizing our work. If our colleagues do not use such an app, we can still get one and use it ourselves.

Set up a separate workspace at home

If we are working from home rather than in the office, one of the most important tips is to create a dedicated workspace for ourselves. Without a set workspace, the comfort of being at home may keep us from working regularly. In the office, we are used to working with our desk, chair, computer, and the files we need, so at home we need a similar space where we won’t be disturbed by the people we live with and can stay motivated by keeping this routine.

Develop a ritual to start your day off right

A ritual that we enjoy can have a positive effect on our whole life. Especially when we work from home, building a habit and sticking to it consistently can help us work more happily. For example, we can take a walk, do yoga, or just listen to music. Doing something that puts us at ease lets us see the benefits of these working from home tips.

Set realistic expectations for yourself and stick to them

At work, we set goals for ourselves, and we work faster and more efficiently when we focus on them. However, if these goals and expectations are not realistic, they can disappoint us and reduce our motivation. Because we are at home, we may want to do more and work faster, but we all need rest. If we set realistic expectations for ourselves, we can adjust our working style accordingly and stay motivated. As we mentioned in the other tips, motivation is the most important thing in our working life.

Stay focused and avoid distractions while working at home

It can sometimes be difficult to concentrate and stay focused on our work while working from home, and it takes time to get into the zone. If we have a large family, this becomes even more challenging. So, during our working hours, we should stay in the workspace we have created for ourselves and not let outside factors distract us. The other tips in this list can help with this too.

Use video chat, not only voice

When working from home, we may not communicate with our colleagues as often as we do in the office, which can lead to communication breakdowns. To avoid this, it helps to use video chat. Video calls with our colleagues make us feel closer to them and to our work. In addition, when there is a problem at work, we can explain and solve it more easily over video.

Buy a good pair of headphones

Virtual meetings and phone calls are essential for remote work. Since we are not in the office, we have to rely on them to stay in touch with our team and colleagues. Because we are outside the office during these video and voice calls, background noise can be disruptive. For example, renovation work in our apartment building or the noise of children at home can negatively affect both us and the other people in the meeting. That’s why a good pair of headphones is a must-have for working from home.

Get comfortable office furniture

Feeling comfortable while working, whether at home or in the office, affects many things, such as our productivity, our willingness to work, and our motivation. That’s why another tip is to get office furniture that is practical and comfortable to use at home. A suitable desk and chair are even good for our physical health, so they are very important for remote work.

Take short breaks

The short chats and tea or coffee breaks we have with our colleagues at the office unfortunately don’t happen at home. This can lead us to work harder but less efficiently. To avoid this, it helps to take short breaks. However, unknowingly stretching these breaks can make us lazy, so we should take our breaks at regular times and keep them short. This tip is just as important to our work pattern as any of the others.

Listen to music

One of the best working from home tips is to do things that keep our motivation high while working. Listening to music that boosts our energy and mood in particular helps us focus more on our work and enjoy it. Music adds color to our lives, and it is up to us to add that color, so why not bring it into our working life as well?

Make sure you have an excellent Wi-Fi connection

Our most basic need when working from home is, of course, a Wi-Fi connection, and ideally an excellent one. The programs we use for work run faster and more smoothly with a good internet connection. We don’t want our work to be interrupted by our internet connection, so having excellent Wi-Fi is one of the most important working from home tips.

Conclusion

Working from home, which has become more widespread due to today’s conditions, can be much more enjoyable and efficient when these tips are taken into account and applied. Remote work brings difficulties, conveniences, and advantages for the company, managers, and employees alike. However, overcoming these difficulties is not hard for either side, and when the right practices are applied correctly, everything will run as it should. The first step is to read these working from home tips and start applying them somewhere.

Using the right tools can also increase productivity while working from home, so you can check out our blog post The 9 Best Zoom Alternatives For Video Calling.

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Written by

Onur Ozgur OZKAN

Onur Ozgur OZKAN

Co-founder & CEO

The Hipcall team builds an all-in-one communication platform for sales and support teams, combining business phone, call centre, CRM, and helpdesk into a single workspace.

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