The Challenges Of Remote Working

When we think of working, we are most likely to immediately think of a typical office as our workspace. But for many people around the United Kingdom, the workspace can be anything from their home to a cafe. A study from 2014 found that 4.2 million workers in the UK were home workers and this number is only expected to rise in future years.

Virgin Media Business predicted in 2014 that up to 60% of employees who are currently office-based will work from home regularly from 2022. Remote working can have great benefits, in particular for smaller or newer businesses that may not be able to afford pricey office space.

As well as this, there are HR executives who believe that allowing employees to work remotely will help to boost their productivity. A survey from 2015 found that 60% of HR directors agreed with this belief, so there is a chance that we could all become remote workers in the future.

For those who can work from home or away from the office, we’ve come up with some useful tips that will help to make remote working easy.

Your Environment Is Important

While you may be excited to stay at home to work or simply just not be in the office, it’s important to remember that your location is important to your productivity. Try to find somewhere that will not provide you with many distractions.

Some distractions may be unavoidable, for example if you work at home with children. For cases such as working in a cafe or other crowded area, considering using headphones to block out any unnecessary noise and allow you to focus.

This may not be the case for everyone of course; some people may be completely fine with noise and may find it more soothing than no noise. What is important is that you have to find what will work for you.

Keep A Clear Schedule

Working away from the office can often mean creating your own schedule. A 9-5 day may work fine in an actual office space, but for those who are working away this may not suit their needs. Create a clear schedule and ensure that this is easily available to others so they are aware of when you are free.

An advantage of working in an office can often be that you are fully aware of when it is time to finish and go home. This can be because you are simply aware of the time, or it can be because others start to leave as well.

When working away from an office, time can often become harder to keep due to not being in a stricter environment. Keep an eye on the time and ensure that you are not accidently working more than you should be.

Make Sure To Take Breaks

In line with keeping a clear schedule and knowing when to finish work, it is equally important to maintain breaks. An issue with remote working at home can be that you may feel tempted to get a cup of tea, and instead end up on what may be considered a break for far longer than you intended.

In an office, people will notice if you are continuously taking long breaks, however at home there will be only you to notice. While you may accidently take too long on a break, there is also the unfortunate chance that you may forget to take a break entirely.

Make sure to clearly plan in breaks in your schedule and consider creating alerts or alarms that will notify you when it is time to take a break.