The opportunity to work from home is a privilege that should be appreciated by all who receive it. This is a business perk not freely given to all workers. What a gift it is to be able to avoid a time-consuming and unproductive commute thereby freeing up more time to spend with family and friends or to more conveniently tend to personal matters.
To insure that your employer allows you to can continue enjoying this privilege of working from home, it is important that you be as productive at home as when you are working directly in the office. The best way to do that is by making sure your home office is fully-equipped and functional.
Minimizing distractions, keeping lines of communication open, and having access to your company’s network through an web-accessible cloud-based service such as IBM Cloudburst are just a few things to keep in mind for any home office.
Minimize Distractions
One of the toughest things when dealing with a home office is to keep the distractions to a minimum. One way to do this is to set up a legitimate workspace, ideally with a door to close off outside noise and interruptions. Simple things such as staying off the couch and turning off the television can make working from home become a whole lot easier. Turn off your personal phone and shut down your personal email. And, don’t let household chores that ‘only take a few minutes’ interfere with the work you need to get done.
Keep communication with the office
Work with your company’s IT department to make sure you can remotely and seamlessly tap into their existing communication infrastructure so your work colleagues can reach you as easily as if you were in the office itself. Make sure your office phone can be forwarded to your home office so that those that need to reach you will not have to remember a new number. Be sure that you can access your e-mail through your smart phone as well, so you may respond to any correspondence while you are away from your home office desk.
Get access to your office files
It is important to be able to mimic your work atmosphere at your home office. One way to do this is to be able to access all the files you’ll need to do work while you are at home. By setting up access to your company’s network and file sharing system, such as an internet-based or cloud-computing service like IBM Cloudburst, you will you be able to continue to easily collaborate with co-workers no matter which office you are working from.
Citations:
Photo Credit: title=”Home office” by DavidMartynHunt, on Flickr
Photo Credit: title=”Remodeling: Setting Up A Home Office” by emilydickinsonridesabmx, on Flickr
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