In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, many companies in India and across the globe have asked their employees to self-quarantine and work from home. While it saves the time people spend on commuting between their workplace and home thereby should keep them productive for longer, there are many who struggle with time management and thereby face a decline in productivity while working from home. To help them out here, five CEOs have shared their mantra to work from home productively.
1. ‘Creating a boundary between work and personal life is the key’
"Getting organized and being mindful of creating boundaries between work and personal life is the key to working from home efficiently. Start your day early and stick to your regular working schedules every day. Scheduling all deliverables will help you meet deadlines and check the maximum items of your task list. Another important factor is to schedule your breaks as you would if you were working within the office premises and not take leeway and stretch these breaks. One can also utilize the time spent on ordinary days commuting to and fro from work in favour of family time and self-care," says Roma Priya, Founder of Burgeon Law, a new-age boutique law firm.
2. ‘Get-dressed-to-work setup can do the trick’
“A work from home setup can be exceptionally successful, if well executed. As a work from home employee, the key is discipline. A proper work station and get-dressed-to-work kind of setup can do the trick. Another important factor is communication. Proper flow of information, an aggressive approach to connectivity and regular follow up makes it successful. If executed well and taken seriously, the actual work hours in a work from home set up can turn out to be better than office set up,” shares Ms Shalini Sharma, CEO and Founder, MUMYU, first ergonomic start-up of Himachal. She has successfully led two different ventures while working from home and taking care of her children for the last eight years.
3. ‘Use sharing tools to collaborate live on documents’
“The absence of face-to-face communication can be frustrating. In this scenario, use sharing tools such as G Suite (Drive, Sheets, Docs, Slides) to collaborate live on documents when working in teams, share Neha Bagaria, Founder & CEO, Jobsforher, an online portal that enables women to accelerate their careers by connecting them to jobs.
4. ‘Set reasonable daily goals and create a daily to-do list’
"The general notion about working from home is looked upon as a less productive approach towards work as compared to a regular working environment. However, if you give a defined start to the day, and plan all the task along with timesheet then achieving targets are easier. Taking short breaks, while staying connected to your colleagues always helps in remote working culture. It’s important to set reasonable daily goals and not to multitask to get the maximum output. Also, to map the progress, one should create and update a to-do list regularly,” shares Narayan Mahadevan, Founder, BridgeLabz, an AWS recognized Incubator focused on solving the tech employability challenge.
5. ‘Declutter and organise your space into a workstation’
"Implementing and following a couple of work etiquette can help in efficient working. An important and effective way to focus on work and be productive at home is to treat it like your everyday routine. You can dress and sit for work as well as declutter and organise your space into a workstation to get into that routine. And, stay in touch with your colleagues online,” shares Aarti Gill, Co-founder of Oziva, a clean plant-based nutrition brand.