With governments taking measures to battle the coronavirus, businesses having their staff work from home, we figured @duomedia that we could help by sharing some useful advice on working from home. As an international agency, a lot of our team members are working remotely. Hence our B2B communication experts are an excellent source of information on how to be comfortable in that situation while remaining focused.
Schedule your activities
Dorien: Make sure you have a planning every day. It helps to keep you focused but also to stay motivated and productive. For people working from home with kids, it’s even more important to find a good balance between work and private life. Split up the day: morning – mom on duty / afternoon – dad on duty. Finding nice activities to keep kids busy, but also planning some moments to play together will help you survive the day 
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Monika: Teach family members (this does not work of course with babies & toddlers) and neighbours to respect your working hours and to not interrupt you. This takes a while, but it is necessary to ensure that your work life gets the attention it deserves and to avoid mistakes from distraction. If you do not regulate this, it will accumulate and create conflicts and frustrations on both sides. Tell people when you will have time for them and give them your full attention then. That way you’ll be finished more quickly because you’ll be able to work through your tasks in one go without disruptions.
Keep the communication going
Dorien: When people are working from home, there is no social contact anymore between colleagues. Therefore it’s important to plan regular update calls with the team so it’s clear to everyone what you and your colleagues are doing. It also enables you to vent off and discuss the COVID-19 crisis, it’s nice to have a chat with your colleagues. Also, good to keep in close contact with your clients to know if any changes to the campaigns and content need to be done.
Monika: Don’t use instant messaging or emails as your only communication tools with your team members. We are all human and we have a need to talk to each other. Email communication can rapidly cause problems. Far too easily a short email can be misinterpreted and cause unintentional tension. This is especially the case when working with international team members as what you are trying to say can get lost in translation.
Talk it over the phone, skype, WhatsApp or whatever tool or device you use within your team to have a voice call with each other. A short direct call can save time and avoid a string of emails back and forth that waste a lot of time. On top of that, a quick brainstorm meeting tends to give you much better perspectives and will invigorate you.
Lutt: Working from home can quickly become a bit lonesome. Therefore, it is important to schedule regular update calls with the colleagues to keep in touch or use the chat box more often to share a nice idea or a funny movie to keep the motivation going.
Catherine: The most important thing for me is regular communication with co-workers past and present. This helps me have some social contact and keeps me informed about what is going on – especially when it comes to what doesn’t make the news bulletins.
Catch your breath
Florence: Stay positive, enjoy the little pleasures of life – an easy win for me is a bit of chocolate, but also doing something I enjoy and clears my head like going for a walk. Try to keep a light spirit in the face of the events, we are all in this together.
Lutt: I find comfort in taking the time to prepare a nice cup of tea and then in taking the time to enjoy it. I prefer herbal tea that holds the promise to be good for your health, like i.e. ginger, lemon & thyme tea, and does wonders for a sore throat. Definitely a plus in these Corona times.
Catherine: I have had the ‘luxury’ of working from home for a number of years to enable me to be around for the children when they were younger. That is now paying dividends as occasionally I am lucky enough for them to make me a cup of tea. Sadly, it is not as often as I would like!
I tend to stay at my desk for working hours which keeps me focused and away from the biscuit tin.
With these 3 tips you’ll be able to stay mentally fit, get things done and have a better cooperation with your colleagues. Have you got any other tips and tricks for working from home? Share your ideas on our social media channels with everyone. Together we can beat this 
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