Stay at home: How to organize remote work

At first, it may seem that remote work is something cool. You can sleep longer, you don’t need to go anywhere. You get up, open the laptop in your bed - and are ready for work.

But over time, many people begin to notice that their productivity is declining. And the truth is there are too many things at home that can distract you from productive work.

So how do you avoid the traps and do it right?

1. Discipline

The first thing you need to get used to when working remotely is that now there are no colleagues and bosses around you. No one is breathing down your neck, and forces you to work faster/better.

You can easily open YouTube and watch a video, go to the kitchen for a snack, lie down on a couch ... And all that during working hours.

For this reason, it is very important to create a strict schedule for yourself. Write down all your tasks, set aside time for lunch, a few minutes every hour for a break. And make sure to follow the developed schedule.

2. Workspace

Separate work from home. Choose a place that will become your “office." There you should only have things related to work. It is important that everything you need can be found in one place, and not scattered around the house.

Thus, as soon as you sit down in your workspace, your head will switch to the “at work” mode from the “at home” mode, which will help you focus on fulfilling your tasks.

And after that you can return back “home”.

3. Cloud services

Cloud services are an ideal way to get all the necessary services and data anywhere, anytime and from any device.

Of course, depending on the company you work at, you may have your own list of necessary programs, but you will most definitely need the following services:

• Instant messengers. Messengers and video conferencing services are probably the most essential tools for remote work. Continue your daily meeting, but online. Messengers will also help in communicating with customers and in between departments in the company. It is important for the manager to have access to all company chats - this will allow them to stay in the loop and instantly respond to any changes.
• Task managers. Google tasks, Microsoft To-Do, Todoist, Jira... There are dozens of such services, you need to choose the most suiting depending on its capabilities and interface. Perhaps free task manager Teamsale CRM will be enough for you. If you still think that the task has to be set out loud or in the messenger and then you just wait for its execution, then your business can only be pitied. Business growth requires dozens of tasks completed every day. If your team has more than 5 people, it is absolutely required to use project management platforms. Just give it a try.
• Mail, documents and files storage and transfer. A set of services from Google will do just fine with this. Gmail for email, Google Docs for cloud-based storage of documents, and Google Drive for storing other files. In addition, they all work through the browser, and you don’t need to install anything on your device.
• Telephony. Or rather Cloud PBX. After its setup and configuration, you and your employees will be able to work from home and make/receive calls as if they were in the office. All you need is a smartphone application or program for your computer or laptop. By the way, virtual PBX has all the features of a full-fledged telephone system - from an interactive voice menu (IVR) to call recordings in the cloud. Now is the great time to get a PBX system, if you still don't have one, as Zadarma is offering 50% off its most popular price plans Office EU and USA/Canada.
• For creating transactions and maintaining a history of contacts with customers, a CRM system with cloud access will be perfect. Integration with your office PBX will allow you and your employees to make calls to customers in one click, plan tasks and do much more from any device and anywhere in the world. And as all data is stored in the cloud, you don’t need to worry about its safety. CRM is a single system that all employees have access to, but each employee may have limited access to functionality or data. We recommend the free Teamsale CRM system, already fully integrated with our PBX. Or you can integrate Zadarma PBX with popular CRM or your own software for free.

4. Breaks

For some, on the contrary, the remote work seems more comfortable and they begin to work more and more efficiently. They take on many tasks, sit until late in the evening...

At first, everything works well and even brings pleasure. But in times it's getting harder to get yourself to work and the initial itch to work goes away.

Do not try to do everything at once. Pomodoro – one of the most effective time-management systems –suggests that the most efficient division of time is into periods of work and rest (periods of 25 and 5 minutes). An eight-hour working day is divided into 14 segments. The main idea is that any distraction can wait for this 5-minute break.

5. Sweet perks

Working from home is a great opportunity to do something you are not allowed to at the office. Does your company have a dress code? You can work in a bathrobe and a towel on your head.

Remote work can also be a chance to showcase your hard work to your family. If you have children, they will definitely be interested to know what you do.