When the restrictions ended, some companies allowed their staff to continue working from home, some businesses adopted a hybrid culture of a few days in the office/a few days at home, while others made all their staff return to the office full-time.
Before the pandemic, you may dearly have loved to work from home and now you’re living the dream. A much shorter commute from the bedroom to the spare room may even have prompted a move out to the suburbs and you found yourself checking out properties in estate agents and letting agents in Gants Hill (other suburbs are available) for a new home.
Two years on though, is the work from home dream all it’s cracked up to be? Working from home undoubtedly has its benefits, but productivity can take a dive, especially if you’re left to do your own thing and not expected to be at your desk between certain hours of the day.
With this in mind, below are three ways working from home is bad for productivity and what you can do about it.
Housework
It’s surprising how even the most slovenly amongst us can suddenly get the urge to do some cleaning when we’re supposed to be sitting down to do some work. Neglected skirting boards get dusted, grease-caked ovens get cleaned and even the under the stairs cupboard we’ve been putting off decluttering for at least eight years suddenly gets priority.
There aren’t really any tips to stop you doing housework instead of working - you’ll just need a bit of self-discipline. But next time you find yourself getting up from your desk to clean the bathroom mirrors instead of opening up a spreadsheet to work on some figures, tell yourself you’re not being paid to clean mirrors.
It’s surprising how even the most slovenly amongst us can suddenly get the urge to do some cleaning when we’re supposed to be sitting down to do some work. Neglected skirting boards get dusted, grease-caked ovens get cleaned and even the under the stairs cupboard we’ve been putting off decluttering for at least eight years suddenly gets priority.
There aren’t really any tips to stop you doing housework instead of working - you’ll just need a bit of self-discipline. But next time you find yourself getting up from your desk to clean the bathroom mirrors instead of opening up a spreadsheet to work on some figures, tell yourself you’re not being paid to clean mirrors.
Friends and family
This remote working productivity-killer is easier to solve. It’s all about boundaries. When you work at home, friends and family don’t always understand the ‘work’ bit. All they register is the ‘at home’ bit and think they can call round for a cup of tea or disturb you whenever they feel like it.
If this keeps happening, set your boundaries. Tell your friends you’re not available during working hours because you’re actually working. The same for your family. If you need to, put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your home office door and ask them to respect this.
I know it’s difficult to say no to your child when they want you to take part in an activity with them, but you’ll have to explain that not everyone goes out to work and some people work from home.
This remote working productivity-killer is easier to solve. It’s all about boundaries. When you work at home, friends and family don’t always understand the ‘work’ bit. All they register is the ‘at home’ bit and think they can call round for a cup of tea or disturb you whenever they feel like it.
If this keeps happening, set your boundaries. Tell your friends you’re not available during working hours because you’re actually working. The same for your family. If you need to, put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your home office door and ask them to respect this.
I know it’s difficult to say no to your child when they want you to take part in an activity with them, but you’ll have to explain that not everyone goes out to work and some people work from home.
Social media
If you find yourself scrolling through social media when you should be working, you’re not alone. Social media is designed to suck us in and keep sucking us in and the only way to free ourselves from it during working hours is to actually block it.
App and browser extensions such as StayFocusd and Freedom allow you to block any website completely or for a specified amount of time, so you can’t have a peek even if you wanted to.
Of course, blocking websites on your laptop won’t stop you from picking up your phone and having a ‘quick’ scroll on your phone instead, so if you can’t actually bring yourself to delete social media apps from your phone, at least put your phone in another room while you’re working.
If you find yourself scrolling through social media when you should be working, you’re not alone. Social media is designed to suck us in and keep sucking us in and the only way to free ourselves from it during working hours is to actually block it.
App and browser extensions such as StayFocusd and Freedom allow you to block any website completely or for a specified amount of time, so you can’t have a peek even if you wanted to.
Of course, blocking websites on your laptop won’t stop you from picking up your phone and having a ‘quick’ scroll on your phone instead, so if you can’t actually bring yourself to delete social media apps from your phone, at least put your phone in another room while you’re working.
Working from home can be good for productivity
Despite the above productivity-killers, working from home can actually be good for productivity. For one thing, there’s no dreaded commute resulting in us getting to the office stressed and irritable, there’s a constant supply of tea, coffee and snacks and, when it’s going home time, we’re already home.
However, there’s no denying working from home can have its downsides. It can be lonely with no colleagues to chat to and, as stated above, self-discipline can be difficult, which results in a loss of productivity.
But ignoring the housework, banning our friends and family from disturbing us and blocking ourselves from social media will all help us to be more productive when working from home.
Despite the above productivity-killers, working from home can actually be good for productivity. For one thing, there’s no dreaded commute resulting in us getting to the office stressed and irritable, there’s a constant supply of tea, coffee and snacks and, when it’s going home time, we’re already home.
However, there’s no denying working from home can have its downsides. It can be lonely with no colleagues to chat to and, as stated above, self-discipline can be difficult, which results in a loss of productivity.
But ignoring the housework, banning our friends and family from disturbing us and blocking ourselves from social media will all help us to be more productive when working from home.
*Guest post
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