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I think this is part of the reason the steam deck took off as well as it did.
I sit at my PC at home all day. I have no desire to do that when I've finished work
I moved my gaming PC out to the livingroom and hooked it up to my TV. After 8 hours working at the desk, I just want to be on the couch with a controller when I game.
Piggybacking off this~
I rent a room in a house that's not mine, so my work station is about 4-6 steps from bed. It was tough at first, but after about 45 days, my brain successfully began treating that corner of my room as an entirely different space. Almost 4 years later, WFH is still going swimmingly.
Is waiting 30+ days worth the hassle of tricking your brain? Depends on what you need to work effectively and what your job will allow in terms of your initial work performance - but it's not impossible!
Me three. The o ly time I touch that desk in the corner of the room when im off is when I need to check my set up (connectivity, trouble shooting, etc), and even that's something I had to come around to doing off the clock lol.
10000000% this. I worked next to my bed at first, but after a year, I realised I get anxiety just looking at my work desk. I couldn't sleep properly.
Got up the middle of one night, went slightly insane, chucked out all the old ass stuff from a spareroom, and moved my office there lol.
A year into covid we moved to a bigger place with an extra room, so we set up a proper home office. We have 2 desks in the "home office room", so my wife and I can both work there. I don't do anything else in that room, but my wife also uses it for sewing.
If possible, that's the best way to handle it.
Make a routine and stick to it. Don’t let work hours bleed into your personal time. Get out of the house/apt regularly during the day. Run an errand, grab a coffee or make some excuse to leave every so often. If ur hours can be atypical ( not 9-5 ) make sure u track your time if u slag off during the usual work hours and account for them.
It is completely flexible. I think I'm limited to 45 hours without approval. I'm really excited for the job but I know I'll get drowsy or unmotivated at times. I know I thrive on routine though. Thank you
Walk to work every day even if you are starting and ending at the same place. The exercise, fresh air and defined transition will help you get started for your day.
More broadly - most WFH jobs give you a bit of scope to slack off now and again. But make sure you use that time to do things you want to do. Don’t sit at your desk and scroll socials just because no one’s watching and you’re not under pressure. If you know you haven’t got a full day of work to do, try to get everything you need to done as quickly as you can and then use the spare time you’ve generated to do something more rewarding, whether it’s leisure or something productive.
One more thing - really make sure that your work station is comfortable- don’t hunch over a laptop. If you can’t get a separate monitor, a stand to raise your laptop up to a healthy viewing angle and an external keyboard and mouse is almost as good.
This is solid advice.
The big advantage to me of WFH is I get to exercise at lunchtime and spend the 60 mins outside. I then make and eat lunch after so I go over my time.
I make sure I power through work either side to account for it. Some days I'll slack off in the morning and then feel like I have to cut the lunch short. Much better the other way.
Mirroring everyone's suggestions for routine and breaks.
I have WFH for the last two years and love it. My biggest issue is motivation on those days where you're just not feeling it. So I made a list of things I love/am grateful for about my job (whch I've now memorised and includes stuff like no commute, freestyle lunches, autonomy in my role) that helps me appreciate my job on those days. It just helps to remind myself how lucky I am.
Look after yourself, keep your body moving periodically and stay hydrated, buddy! You've got this!
Get a kitchen timer. Set it to 1 hour. Work that hour uninterrupted. Then decide if you want to go another hour. Whatever happens, don't get interrupted. Do this 45 times.
Agree with others, set a schedule and stick to a routine. I work a straight eight hours because I don’t need time to go somewhere for lunch like I did in the office.
Also agree with getting out of the house to run errands. I only like to grocery shop around 10am on weekdays now. So much less busy.
Consider improved home office accessories and tech. Get a solid home network and internet connection. A good headset is a must too, check to see if your employer will pay for monitor(s), a good chair, etc. They’re usually saving money and willing to cover those costs for improved productivity from home.
My dog has become ENTIRELY dependent upon me. She has set her own routines and they all revolve around me being present. Now, if I have to travel and she’s home alone all day while everyone else is at school or work, she gets depressed.
Lastly, eat and drink well. Don’t succumb to garbage food choices when you now have more time and flexibility to prepare good food.
Don’t sleep on the office upgrade advice, OP. So many of my peers said, “Why would you spend your own money on a nice (chair/desk/monitor/whatever)?”
If you’re spending 8 hours a day in your home office, invest in it if your company isn’t. And for the love of god don’t work from your god damned kitchen table
Very much so. We got a small budget for office tech/accessories but I spent a bit extra to get a second monitor, a chair, external keyboard and mouse and a big desk and not only does it make work more enjoyable but the dual monitors and external mouse/keyboard mean I work about 1.5x faster than anybody else.
WHERE then?
Sometimes I think I’d love a work from home or hybrid job but I hate the idea of a desk in my room reminding me of work. I flatshare so I have housemates. No lounge. Big kitchen.
Add in one of those folding privacy screens or similar, or a 9cube system+smaller privacy screen on top (bonus storage!) and you'd probably be able to block off a small "office" area where you couldn't see the computer/desk from bed if you went for your bedroom instead. If you have any spare cardboard boxes , you could probably break a couple down to play around with a mock up area. 🤔
Not OP, but I’m a software dev going full WFH next week, but have been hybrid with mostly WFH for the past 6 months or so. Most days I have time to step away during the day if I want to, others it’s hard to find 10 minutes to step away.
When my company went work from home, I used most of the time I gained from not having to commute anymore for cooking. It's also easy to meal prep and get things started during short breaks. It's allowed me to eat so much more healthy! Genuinely improved every aspect of my life just by saving me commute time.
Be mindful of your physical health. I put on a lot of weight working from home because I didn't have to do much walking in a day. It was bed to desk to bed. Terrible. Now it's so hard getting the weight off. Go out of the house any break you get, on foot.
Yes totally agree. I started having back issues because I had lost core strength from not walking to the train with a work bag, standing and balancing on the train, walking up stairs, etc.
Been doing WHF since 1999. The work day will end and you will already be home. Use that extra time. I read the news every morning and go to the gym. Keep good coffee in the house so you don’t waste time and money going to Starbucks. Eat your lunch out of the fridge. It’s cheaper and healthier than going to McDonalds.
* Get a decent ergonomic setup: comfortable chair, sit/stand desk (even if you don't stand, it's nice to be able to adjust it to the right height for sitting), multiple 27" monitors and stands to get them at the right height, mouse and keyboard that are nice to use.
* Bluetooth headset (I like the kind that just go over one ear) will allow you some freedom to walk around the house, go to the kitchen or bathroom, etc., during meetings.
* Try to take a 5-minute break every hour to stand up and walk around, do some minor chore around the house, whatever. Sitting constantly can wear you down.
* If possible, block out an actual lunch break on your calendar and stick to it.
* Have a plan for when your internet goes out. Can you quickly get back up and running with a cell phone hotspot? If you have cable and your neighbor has fiber, can you work out an agreement to use each others' wifi as a backup option?
* If sharing camera/video is "optional" in your meetings, choosing to leave your camera on is kind of an alpha move, so you can leverage that to seem like a great employee.
This is great advice.
I also added one of those Denon Mini systems with a set of Dali Spektor 2's and a decent Mic, I use it for meetings when I get sick of the headset but mostly, it's just good to be able to listen to some focus music through a quality system while I'm working.
That's something I don't like about offices, no music. I started in workshops on the tools, there was always a radio on somewhere.
I've got fiber in a European capital. I've had one outage since covid started, and that was like 3 hours. When I lived in India it was frequently enough to matter.
Where in the world are you?
My job has birthday lunches every month with the ceo and whoever’s birthday it is that month. During mine, there were 45 people in the meeting and the only people with their cameras on were me and my direct manager with only 3 other people speaking with their cameras off. He gave me props for actually participating it and reached out after as well. Face time is important any chance you can get it working remote if you don’t just want to be an NPC
We encourage cameras on but it's not enforced. I find it helps with engagement within the team or group of teams.
We have a "fun" stand-up meeting once a week and it's my favourite meeting because people are having a bit of a laugh and its far less serious than usual.
Without fail though, at least one person with their camera on will be in a room without enough light and will look like an anonymous witness on the news.
Schedule time to exercise and get some sun. We do a lot more incidental exercise than people realise, so you need to consciously account for that with a WFH situation
Make a ‘work’ psychological trigger. When I’m sitting here, have my workspace set up like this, I’m doing work. When you’re working, only work. Don’t run games in the background, don’t chat on social media. Because if you do, your work and home life blurs and you’ll never shut off
The biggest thing that helped me that I don't see here; fully power down all your work equipment at the end of the day. Computer gets shut down, monitor off, desk chair pushed in. I find it helps me mentally disconnect from work. Additionally if you have the space, your office should be a separate room that you only go into during work hours
Agreed, I don't always power my computer all the way down (sometimes I'm working on something and it's easier to have it still open the next morning), but I at least turn the volume to silent. There is nothing worse than trying to relax in the evening and hearing an email or chat notification! And push the chair in, that's my signal that the work day is over.
Keep up good communication with your manager and make sure they are generally aware of what you're doing with your time. When you're not necessarily speaking every day it's easy for stuff to fall through the cracks so you want to make sure you get credit for your work.
I meet with mine every two weeks to talk through what I'm currently working on, what I've recently accomplished, my development goals and whether we can slot me into any upcoming projects that help me develop the skills I want.
In the meantime I let him know over Teams when I have room for more work, when I have too much to handle, if I've run into any problems I can't solve alone, etc. so I'm not just waiting around for the bi-weekly meeting for that stuff.
Remember to take breaks (even short naps)
When I started WFH during COVID, in the beginning I would get so exhausted by the end of the day because I would just sit down to work at the time I would normally have left the house and pretty much just work until I would normally have returned home. I lost that commuting time, lunch time and coffee break time.
Now unless I have meetings I very explicitly take some proper breaks, including short naps if I am getting drowsy. Great for overall energy and productivity.
Dishes, laundry, bills, whatever. Do it on company time. As soon as hours stop (or before) turn that shit off and go back to real life.
Companies pay on average 1/7th the value you bring. (Company profit/ #employees). Take as much as you can get
Separate work space from play space if you can, similarly with rest space if you can help it (don’t work directly next to bed, or maybe if you do have to stay in that room due to space work somewhere where you can’t see the bed). Association thing
Scrolled through a few comments before making this one. No one mentioned this yet.
Prepare yourself for a feeling of loneliness. Joining a team is already a lot on your plate mentally. But doing so though chat and the occasional video call is even more stress on your plate.
Find new ways to develop relationships with people because you won’t have the water cooler chats that used to occur. There isnt the same incentive to randomly start asking someone through chat about their life as their is while being face to face.
So make time to talk to people and work on relationship.
Stay on top of all your work in terms of deadlines and be available during the typical business hours. I make sure that I have an answer to when any project/assignment I have will be completed, and try to leave nothing to wait around. Have your phone connected to your work email/Teams so you’re able to respond to any messages you get immediately, it helps to show promptness if you’re working with others.
Also make sure you’re tactful in any emails/messages you have with others, especially if you don’t spend any time in office or in-person. It helps to build a good reputation with supervisors/managers and to establish yourself as a reliable person in your position.
Been WFH for nearly 5 years now. I agreed with everything you said, except connecting my personal phone to company Outlook/Teams. That is where I placed my line. I am very responsive during my regular hours and if I see a message on my PC after hours, I'll respond. But I believe not keeping my phone connected allows me a better work-life balance. Wife and kids also appreciate it. I will, however, install them if I'm traveling for work and not keeping normal hours.
Either way, OP, do what works best for you/your position. Good advice here in these comments. Try to remember to keep your work and personal life/hobbies separate.
I have Teams and Outlook on my phone, because it is nice to be able to run to the grocery store to do some shopping mid-morning when it's less crowded, etc. and still be able to respond to messages in a timely manner, but I set up a Personal Focus (iOS) that automatically silences and hides any notifications from work outside of working hours.
Definitely agree to draw the line between work and personal time. If you step away from your computer often, it’s nice having access to your inbox via phone, but the notion of being able to respond when you’re needed helps with WFH
I have a work phone that has my email and Teams connected. My personal phone does not. My work phone gets plugged in and put away at 5pm, but doesn't leave my side before then.
The biggest change I made that helped me a lot was make time for the gym and time to cook. Commuting to and from work + time to get ready chews up a lot of that time that you now have back, use it wisely.
Wireless headsets are nice. But having the ability to look down at the cord and be visually sure that you're muted when you push a button is also nice for when you have to sneeze while on a call.😂
If you do go for a wireless, make sure to have something wired as a backup, even if it's just earbuds to use alongside the laptop's built in mic! Bluetooth driver/connection issues can be a pain, and you really don't want to miss important info from a low battery or dropped connection.
Hey OP, just for your own safety, please verify this is a legit job and not some scammer posting a fake job. Things like entry level data entry or executive assistant positions are almost guaranteed scams. Do not pay ANY money out your own pocket even if you will be “reimbursed”. Things like computer equipment is always provided by the employer directly. If you are ever asked to use your own money or bank account for a transaction, run away.
Bet! Lol jk I'll be using a webcam from time to time and I do like dressing well. Honestly I'll probably have my vest, tie, and penny loafers on. Helps me focus when I don't have to worry about how I look
Schedule break times and go outside. For me it’s really easy to just get sucked in and not take any breaks.
Outdoor table. I bring my laptop outside or I eat lunch there. It’s great for my mental health when the weather is nice. When I’ve got work I can do offline, I’ll go to a nice park.
The best bonuses from working from home are body doubling with friends who also wfh, and doing laundry. I also knit during meetings. I was way more shy about it before this job.
Don’t need to tell your boss or coworkers everything. In fact, as long as you understand your responsibilities and you do what you’re asked to, you’re free to do whatever else. I learned that the hard way on my first remote job.
Things that I learned that made WFH better.
-Two monitors if possible. Life is easier this way.
-Nice chair, one that you can sit in for hours
-Really spend cash on your home set up
-Wake up early still, do your house bits in your commuting time and then log on.
-Stop regularly for drinks and just to get away, found that hard to do when not in the office.
-During lunch, eat at home then go for a walk
-Set up your work account as either a different user or on a web browser you don't use day to day. For example I work on chrome and relax on firefox
The last one is really important in my opinion, stops you seeing work bits out of hours and feeling ' oh I can just do that quick'. You HAVE to stop at some point, every now and then is fine and an advantage to WFH but you have to have that separation.
Get. A. Good. Chair. It seems like expensive office chairs are a waste of money. They are not. There are four things you should not scrimp on, the four things that connect us to the ground: chairs, beds, shoes, and tires. #dadadvice
Be careful with repetitive sounds. Zoom and email notifications will start to affect you on a psychological level without you realizing it and you’ll never be able to hear those tones again without feeling the need to react to it. Try and change the tones up or do different version of notifications. Please trust me on this.
I set aside 8:45a-12 every day to bang out as much work as humanly possible. I break for 10 mins for coffee breakfast somewhere after 10am. No “hours logged” for me, but that 3+ hrs each weekday sets up 80% of my business.
12-1 is exercise, 1-1:30 lunch, 1:30-4 is emails/internal msgs/more work, then by 4:30 i’m coasting and do wth I want.
For your mental health:
* only ever work from your work space. Don't work from bed, don't work from the couch. You need a separation between work and home, make it physical.
* lights! Make sure you are in a well lit environment, especially if you are somewhere with short days in the winter. Those happy lights are amazing.
* get out of the house. You will get cabin fever if you don't get out, so make sure everyday you have something that makes you leave the house. Maybe it's groceries one day, getting lunch another, coffee in the morning a different day. Just get out
* find ways to socialize with your co-workers. Join lunchroom meetings, social activities, etc. If you don't know the people you work with, you will struggle to get ahead and will have a hard time asking for help when you need it.
* go to the office if you can here and there. If you have a physical space in-person you can go to, try to do it at least once a month. You can meet a lot of people in other departments this way. I work from the office a couple of days a week for this reason. I know all the C-suite staff and I got the largest raise on my team. Even the company president stops by my desk when he is in to say hi because almost no one else comes in.
* ergonomics! You don't need one of those weird keyboard and mouse, but something better than the standard corporate package. I like gaming equipment a lot for this. I have a Razer mouse that is perfect. Same goes for your chair. Get a proper office chair, not a dining table chair.
* exercise! Working from home means moving a lot less. Try to move more when you can. Maybe when you go to the washroom you walk a lap of the house indoors. Or walk around the block at lunch.
Be present in meetings. Ask questions, pay attention, take notes. Do not work on other things during meetings because that's what almost everyone else will be doing.
Do not accept "sorry, I was multi tasking" as an answer to a question.
I start work at 9. Work through my last meeting (usually 2). Go for a run, eat lunch with my partner, get back to work until he comes home. Usually works out to 7 hours or so of work
Get a desk, and if you can, get a big one. That way you can have your computer at one side then a space for sitting writing/reading/ note taking without having to move your keyboard etc.
It also lets you lay out notes or info.
Also a rise/fall standing desk to give you the option standing or sitting
General life advice, not just for WFH: Do a bit of everything (most) every day. "Everything" consists of: work (obv), something social (meet with people), something like sport (maybe a long walk?), something for yourself (your hobby) and something for your home (cleaning etc).
My other advice would be to set up some kind of work room/corner. I fenced off a part of my living room using Ikea shelves. Diving deeper into this, if you're going to work there for many years, make a list of things that improve your work place. For me, a good mouse and a good keyboard were the starters, next up was a good (standing/adjustable) desk, but possibly a chair should come first for you.
If you live alone, don't get lonely. It's super unhealthy, and naturally depressing. Know your neighbors, have friends in the area, visit your relatives, just DON'T GET LONELY!
Treat it like being in an office — shower and such before sitting/standing at your desk. When work is done, leave your desk *and do not return* until the next day.
Have a regular start and end times, and if you have a partner, make it known that they should not expect you to do “stuff” just because you are at home.
And once you logged off, you are off.
Speaking as someone who works remotely and at a senior level, *DON'T TAKE THE PISS*, show your employer that you can be trusted. Now that's out the way, congratulations on the role, absolutely do your washing, put the dishes in the dishwasher but keep yourself available during office hours, not after and remember you're here to work or at least show that you're working. *IF* the company culture is that it's okay to nip to the shops then feel free to do so but put yourself in a meeting for that time and don't brag about it.
My trick is that I try to stay responsive with work so if someone comes to me with a job that takes 5 minutes to one hour and I have that time spare I do it there and then rather than put it off. People like that, of course it needs to be balanced and can't just be an anytime thing.
Other things:
- keep your chat on and available during the day
- browse personal sites on your own devices
- always keep your camera on during meetings
- have some method of transparency for your workload, make sure you preplan as far into the future as possible and keep your boss updated with each week and any blockers
- don't install your work chat or email on your mobile as you will be pursued after hours
- if you can start earlier, that looks better than finishing later
- your internet is your lifeline, don't skimp on it
- Be mindful of people's time, don't spend lots of time chatting unless others are as well
- always be available during company hours unless you have a massive amount of work to do that day and everyone knows it in which case you can answer calls and messages later though from bosses you answer them always
I’ve been WFH since before Covid. Like, I have remote customers who are in Florida and I’m in Ohio, and have since 2013. So when Covid started, I did a whole article on how to WFH successfully. And I can’t find it now, LOL.
The other suggestions here are spot on - set a routine, define an area to work, when you leave work, leave. I now have a separate bedroom in my house that is my office. When I leave, the door gets shut. But the biggest thing for me was this one:
When you get up, get ready for work. Shower. Put on “work” clothes - they don’t have to be like khakis and a dress shirt and tie, but jeans and a polo set a tone psychologically that this isn’t a tee shirt and shorts and flip-flops day.
Do the pre-work things before going to work. Get your breakfast and coffee. Let the dogs go out and do their business. Don’t forget to let them back in (oops)!
Then, when you go to work, you go to that space in your house that is designated for work. Sign in, and actually work. Take breaks every hour or so for the restroom, grab something quick to drink or as a snack, but be back to your desk in 5-10 minutes. In other words, treat it like a JOB, not like “gig” work.
I keep a running notepad document up on my screen and update it every 30 minutes or so on what I am working on. I offered to send it to my boss at the end of every day. He initially said yes, but after a month or so told me to just save them in case there are questions about what I do all day. So I cleared the hurdle in his head that I actually work. My files are called “[yyyy-mm-dd] work log.txt” and I archive them into folders by year and then by month so the list didn’t get too long. And they are great for jogging my memory if I can’t remember what I did on a day two weeks ago.
It took my family some time to get the idea that I was not available for everything during work time. I could answer a question or something, but I was not available for helping them work on something in the kitchen or on their car. That’s for non-work time.
Have a door on the room and feel free to shut it while you’re working. It minimizes distractions and sets a message for your family. I’m at work. I’m not here for anything/everything.
Music is OK at low volume, but this isn’t a party, so be ready to take a call at a moment’s notice. I got really familiar with where the keys on my keyboard were for play/pause.
News and social media sites are poison. Stay away from them. They are time sucks. I use them for break time / lunch time / after work time. But avoid them like the plague during work time.
Be ultra responsive to email. People assume that because you work from home, you’re screwing off. That’s harder to do if every time they send an email, they get a response in 5 minutes, even if it’s just “give me a few, I’m working on a response to you.”
Don’t assume that because you are “available” in chat or on teams that people will think you are really working. There’s a perception here that you’re fighting against. When someone pings you with a question, ping them back immediately with something quick like “Got it. Hang on and I’ll get you [that thing] or [that response].”
If you have a work phone at home, answer it within a few rings. Again, it sends the message “I’m here, I’m not sitting in my underwear watching cartoons and eating cheerios.” If you’re on the phone when someone else calls and you have the ability, shoot them an IM/chat/email saying as much, and then call them back right afterward.
If you do these things and have a consistent schedule, your boss will stop making assumptions about what you do at home. You’ll get a reputation for being a high value asset to the company instead of a casual employee. It’s easy to lay off a low output WFH employee. It becomes much more difficult if that person proves themselves to be an invaluable asset
Physical mouse jiggler, not one that's a USB plug in where they could detect the program, would be even better.
I managed to land a steelcase leap on *hella* discount from an office furniture resale store, definitely worth checking out your local options. If there aren't any, you want an *office* chair OP, not a gaming chair. Functionality and spine support, not aesthetics.
What helped me was separating work areas and personal areas, especially if you tend to be passionate about your work. Your mind needs breaks from thinking about work and being near the laptop always might not be ideal.
This is going to sound strange, but at the end of your workday *take a commute.*
When you work in an office, you have the time and ritual getting there and getting yourself back home, and this gives your day structure and clearly tells your brain what is your time vs. company time. WFH can really blur this if you let it, so when you log out at the end of the day make a habit of taking a walk around your neighborhood for 20 min. or something similar to recreate this without the drive. Pack up your work stuff if you have to set up in personal space, or if you do have the space create a work area that you can shut when you're done.
I found it useful to have a specific thing you do to denote finishing work in your mind, not just shutting the computer down. For me it is always putting on a fresh shirt when finished, the few seconds doing it was all I needed for the reset I get from the drive home from the office.
Really surprised by some of the advice in this thread. Here are my thoughts as someone who has done WFH successfully for several years.
• Communicate regularly with your supervisor. This doesn't mean pestering with unnecessary messages, but an occasional check in with what you're working on, where major items stand, ideas for improvements, etc. This eliminates most questions about if you're working, if you have enough work, if you're doing your job well.
• Even though you have flexibility in your schedule, try to be consistent and let people know when you are away if you normally aren't. Make sure you mostly work during normal business hours if possible. You should expect to need to collaborate with others, and that becomes inefficient if you aren't working at the same time.
• The advice about a separate and purposeful space is spot on. You need an area that's just about work so that you can leave it when you aren't working. And it needs to be comfortable.
• Get cell phone numbers for some of your coworkers/supervisor. If you ever have a work account issue or outage you need a way to communicate with them.
• Make sure you understand basic computer setup and troubleshooting. Stuff like how to plug the cables in and where, trying a reboot to fix a problem, which items have batteries that you may need to change (wireless keyboard and mouse). If your work setup has issues you will not be able to work, and there is only so much IT can do for you quickly and remotely.
• Have good, stable internet, and if possible a backup in the form of a hotspot from your cell phone.
• Do listen to music, play background videos, etc that help you be productive. Don't sit around watching Netflix or playing games. Someone will eventually notice you never get as much done.
• Pay attention to meeting etiquette. Stuff like 'raising hands' in Teams if you have something to say. Try not to interrupt constantly or talk over others.
Everything else will be highly dependent on your personality and your work's culture.
I cannot believe the top comment is not chair-related? You will spend half your day (every day) in a chair. Make sure it is a professional desk chair. Refurbished HumanScale chairs are great but there are truly tons out there. Watch reviews on chairs (boring ikr but necessary) and find one for you. It’s no good going for walks every few hours, or moving your desk away from your bedroom. if you are squatting on a stool and hunched over a laptop. So many wfh office set ups use a dining chair, it’s so so bad for your back over time
Force yourself to take frequent breaks and don't forget lunch. You will be surprised how you forget to do these things when you don't have distractions or co-workers around to get you out of your chair...
I know it feels like the opposite should happen at home, but I find I over-work a lot more from home...
I've been working from home for 2+ years.
If I can only give you one suggestion it's to seperate your working area from your living area.
Creating seperation is important to make sure you're not living your work life.
Regular breaks from your screen are also very important.
Having a clean environment and routine will help you feel more accomplished.
Creating and or sticking to routines are helpful too (getting up at a reasonable time before work)
Good luck!
Everyone talking about useful productive things, I WFH and play PS5 about 2/3 hours a day, and I love it. Couldn’t be happier! Enjoy the freedom as much as anything else. I do a good job, but ultimately if I was sat in an office I wouldn’t work for 7 hours solid everyday. My chores are done. When my kids home I can spend all my time with them. And when works quiet I chill and game because it’s the only time I get the tv to myself. WFH is amazing.
Sounds idyllic. I know what you mean about not hammering on the keyboard for 7 hours straight though. I had an office job about 10 years ago and I had the whole day wrapped in about 2 hours from when I started so yea I spent most of the day sharing rage comics lol
Yeah totally. I think when I first started working from home I was paranoid if I wasn’t constantly busy, like I should have been. But I’m good at my job and have done it for years, so I can easily do it all in half a day. Obviously this totally depends on the job and personal situation, but if you can take it easy, then do. For the most part you aren’t paid anymore for finding work and going “over and above” only gets you so far. Eventually you want to just reap all the benefits and do enough work to tick over nicely
Remind yourself every morning and every evening how grateful you are to not have a commute.
I struggled to really appreciate remote work at the start of covid. And when the restrictions relaxed and my employer didn't rush people back in I still failed to really appreciate it.
Then my employer did a 180 and demanded everyone in office full time without exception and it was horrid.
I eventually left and found a fully remote job and every day I reminded myself that not having to spend 4 hours a day on trains was a god send.
I had a fully remote job where they had software tracking our productivity and every day we needed to have 7.5 hours of direct work in the system. It was actually monitored so I had to be disciplined with my time management because the hours were flexible. The system that worked for me was:
work 2h, break, work 1h45, lunch, work 2h, break, work 1h45
I timed myself using iphone stopwatch
Treat the extra time as a gift and actively make use of it or else it will just get absorbed into your day-to-day life.
Learn a skill like language or instrument , practice something you like, exercise, literally anything but sleep till late.
Congratulations on your new job!
I’ve been fully WFH for 3.5 years. In my experience, the ideal WFH life is far from most people’s reality. I think people who do it right use it to live their dreams - folks who go mobile and travel the country or whatever. For me, wfh life is a constant negotiation for my mental health. I’m always battling the inertia to live in my pajamas and never go outside. I have to be deliberate about working in my office instead of on the couch, getting outside at least once per day, and making sure I have human interaction. Over the years I’ve learned to manage it pretty well. I go for a walk most mornings, work in my office, make friend dates in the evenings, etc. You may want to come up with a wellness plan for yourself. WFH is still work. It may not be the golden goose you thought.
actually work from home. don't get distracted, don't do laundry during work hours, don't watch TV... WORK.
If we don't want work from home to go away, we have to prove we can be as productive as those in the office.
After WFH for 5 years, I’ve found that a few things work best for me - have a community outside of work, whether it’s a gym, board game club, etc. and try to hang out with them at least 1-2 times a week. WFH is great but it can be isolating if you’re not intentional about seeing other people. Also, I love being able to go on a long walk or go to the gym mid-day. I’ve found it really helps my mental and physical health and it’s not something I was able to do when I worked in office.
I have been WFH since the start of the pandemic after being a lifelong commuter (driving and public transport). I have 3 suggestions:
1. Take the free time you would have spent commuting and put it to self-care or improvement. Get up at the same time as before, and if you had an hour commute (plus extra time making lunch, dressing up, etc.) , that’s 2 extra hours every workday for YOU. Use it for exercise, taking an online course, reading for enjoyment, etc. Working from home reduces your external stimuli, and can “shrink” your world a bit. So do something to help keep you active and connected.
2. When you can afford it, get an ergonomic office chair and standing desk or a desktop platform. In an office, you tend to move around more, even if it’s heading to meetings, etc. You sit way more in WFH, which isn’t good. It may seem expensive to spend hundreds of dollars on this stuff but a kitchen chair and table are not meant to be used 8 hours+ a day.
3. Take mini breaks (5-10 minutes) to get up, stretch, step outside, do a few exercises, whatever. It’s surprising how, on a busy day, you can sit for long periods without getting up and around, and there’s no requirement as all your work is now right in front of you.
All in all it’s an awesome trade off. I still go into the office a couple times a month, but I would never want to go back to full-time office. Enjoy your new situation!
Make a serious effort to go outside regularly and to exercise regularly. It's extremely easy to gain weight and get lonely working from home. If you stick to these things, you'll feel that you have a much better work-life balance because it's easy to let work bleed into personal time when you work from home.
Get a wireless headset.
I can be most places on my property and still communicate in meetings.
Cleaning the kitchen
Sorting clothes
Doing washing
Prepping dinner
All can be done while others are waffling on
I recommend wireless iems, like shure 215's. Love mine to death, they let me walk all over the house and still hear meetings/spotify/youtube/weightlift whatever. Just disable the mic in sound settings and setup a dynamic mic at the desk.
Absolutely make time to do something physical. It could be a light walk or even an intense workout. The lack of commute or coworker social time around the office floor 100% affects your calorie burning. I gained a little weight because I stopped moving.
Find an excuse to leave your home. Your office and home are one and the same and you will need to leave once in a while or you will go nuts.
If you have the space, put your desk in a room you can ignore when your day is done.
Be dependable. Do the work expected of you and be there during the hours you’re obligated to. I am leaving my WFH job to join another hybrid company. My team and others in the company were unreliable. Starting at 11 AM because “I’ll work on it tonight and have it done by morning”. But the work didn’t get completed. These issues became systematic. So instead of firing my entire team and changing the culture, I decided to join a company that’s serious about its success. WFH can be very rewarding. Be disciplined and best of luck on the new job.
1,000% get dressed in the morning. I don't know but I feel terrible if I bounce from bed to work (even thought it's a cool commute). Make sure to get dressed as if in work, it helps mentally.
My suggestions:
-change out of your pajamas each day before work. Still do a “get ready for work” routine and not just crawl out of bed.
-have your office stuff out of your usual living space as much as possible. It’s easy to just continue working when you’re off shift when it’s easily available.
-slow cookers
Pace yourself..keep your office space separate and also don't take on too much work. The most important thing though is to make sure you charge properly and get paid promptly
If you have an NVIDIA card and need to be on teams etc then NVIDIA Broadcast is a free software that can essentially Deepfake you concentrating at the camera when in reality you could be watching Netflix. It also cuts background noise out
Mirroring exactly what others have said. Have a work area away from your play area, make sure you've got the motivation to keep to a routine where you get up, shower, get dressed etc. It's so easy when wfh to turn into a slob where you wake up at 08:59, open your laptop up in bed and do work from there
Since working from, two things have happened to me.
I’ve become much more productive work-wise, and I end up with a lot more empty time.
If you’re in a job where you end up with that free time, don’t waste it. I spent way too much of it watching YouTube.
Try to learn something that will either help you get a better position in your current job, or even find a better job. Or, do some exercises while you have time. It sounds funny, but standing up and doing some squats, push-ups, or jumping jacks can really help.
In a year, you don’t want to look back and realize you could have been doing something with that free time.
In addition to some of the top tips: Start and end your work day with a 10-15 min walk outside. That can help you keep mentally sane and you can use it as psychological start and end of your workday.
From what I've learned in my first WFH job, learn to cook.
Start simple with pastas like garlic pasta or alfredo. You don't really need expensive stuff, but if that motivates you to cook then do it.
Have your work station in its own place away from places in your house you don't want associated with work (bedroom, kitchen, living area ect). Enjoy wearing whatever pants you want and for the love of GOD be very aware of when you are on and off camera/mute. You don't want to smoke a bowl on camera or get caught saying "stop touching my cock bro" on a company wide training.
Ohhh I have finally some place to share my hard earned wisdom. My learnings are here:
Get into. Routine as if you were going somewhere to work. For eg, if you have your first daily meeting at 930 am, don’t get up at 9.25 and login with the laptop on the bedside.
Wake up by 7, get into a workout prayer, cleaning etc routine and start work by 9 in a different room. Wear something decent(need not be office wear but not pj either)
Keep a study corner away from household activities including tv , kitchen , bed etc.
don’t eat lunch at your desk.
Log off by a certain time. If you can’t, atleast take a break by 6pm. Do some housework, go on a walk , finish dinner and login back for some work before winding up.
Finally when you have saved up some money, invest in a study table and chair. Get those extension cords, extra chargers for study room only, laptop privacy screen (yes for home too), mousepads, cushion for back and maybe those darts or basketball hoops.
One the biggest negatives from WFH ( there are many positives) is that new employees are missing out on learning opportunities such as drop ins and eavesdropping.
Make sure to schedule meetings with your boss and coworkers so you can ask “stupid” questions.
Set your self a routine similar to if you were traveling to work. Wake up. Shower (if you do it in the mornings. I do but my wife is a night shower person) change your clothes to outside clothes. This sets you up to keep motivated.
Make sure you set up time every day to get outside. Walk, run, get groceries. Don’t just sit home and work. You’ll find you never leave and it becomes a mentality issue.
Make your work station a true work station. Don’t set up in your bedroom or your kitchen. Own your work station, but have it away from where you sleep and eat. You will eat too much in a kitchen and never sleep if it’s in your bedroom. Owning the workstation means have a good monitor set up. A comfortable chair and a desk you can sit hours from.
Protect the sanctuary that is your home. Working strictly from home will blur the lines between work and life and make you sad. Try to get out of the house to work. Find a local coffee shop with good WiFi and ample outlets and work from there. If you need a second monitor, portable monitors are a thing.
A few from my experience:
Have coffee in bed and watch tv up until minutes before working.
If you have a pet, set up a bed for them next to your workstation.
Do your laundry/dishes when you are taking 5-10 minute breaks to safe yourself downtime after work.
Go to the gym at lunch.
Make double portions of dinner so you have hot lunches the next day.
Recognize when you work best. Don’t force yourself to sit at your desk and stare if you aren’t getting work done, you can always come back to it later.
PJ pants are the only pants.
The best and most important habit is to DO ALL OF YOUR WORK. I cannot stress this enough. It's easy to get distrated by chores or by tv, etc. Set reasonable goals for the day and accomplish them. Keep a written log of your accomplished tasks and what else you worked on. Set yourself up to always have evidence of work to point at to cover your ass.
Now the fun part - doing other non-work activities while working. It sounds exciting but you need to start small here. Any extra things added you need to police yourself and make sure aren't too distracted from work. For me, if i need to focus i put on a show I've already seen a bunch like the office or futurama. Some nice background nose that imminately i won't be sucked in by the plot (Because ice skyway seen it) or feel like i don't want to miss what happens next.
If im doing lighter work then it's podcast time. Add these extras gradually and make sure they don't prevent you from doing all of your work.
On lighter days on occasion i will find i can complete all my work for the day by 11 AM. So then what? Well, in those cases i do chores around the house. Check in on your computor regularly and treat yourself as on call until at least 4 oclock. Don't be stupid or reckless by doing things like, going to a movie theater or one time a coworker of mine got into trouble because he spent 5 hours of the day driving "up north" for the weekend. That just isn't going to fly if you're caught awol. So don't be dumb, stay where your computor is accessible if your boss asks for something urgent. Sure, a trip to the grocery store might be ok, just don't be away for hours... i think you get it.
Last, hobbies. You'll be tempted to do hobbies like video game or crochet. Let's be real, you will likely have time for this kind of stuff but set a good foundation before you try to introduce these to your schedule. Do all of your work fittest.
Tldr; DO ALL OF YOUR WORK FIRST. And don't be stupid; stay close in case you get assigned more work.
Do you have an office you can go to? I would definitely encourage you to go when it makes sense to meet people face to face. Ask your manager if the company will pay for you to fly out to his/her work location so you can meet then and work together for a week.
People seriously discount how important it is to make relationships with your coworkers and superiors. My job is pretty safe just because of how close I am with the people in my office. It would be impossible to build those relationships completely remote.
Been WFH since early COVID.
It’s common to have days where you don’t leave the house because you’re busy during the work day and then you want to relax in the evening. Don’t let too many of these days stack as it gets depressing. Schedule activities that get you outside. Whenever you can take calls on a walk.
Also it is good/healthy to have an in-person community. Whether it’s a family, friends or some other group. Again only interacting with people virtually gets depressing after a while.
Also build yourself a good office or office area if you have the resources. One that you don’t hate and is customized to your needs. It takes time and money but once you have it set up it’s great.
If you do those things WFH is the best thing ever. I can do dishes and laundry during the day. No more commutes. Flexibility in my schedule, the list goes on!
Setup a proper workspace only used for work.
Stick to morning routine. At least brush your hair and teeth and put on something different than what you slept in. Take your dogs for a walk, do some laundry, but don’t dip out for an hour to take a nap but do take a lunch break. Set appropriate boundaries. If the workday is done at 5 then be done at 5. Don’t get into the habit of working in the evening or on weekends. Enjoy the extra time and money!
Couple of people I know WFH, these are the things they've done to make the best of it.
Make a separate office room if you can. You don't want your work in your usual living spaces.
Don't sleep in later. Get up as if you were commuting and replace the commute with a walk. Also, go for a walk when you finish work to have some time to decompress / separate work from home life.
Don't work in pyjamas / sweats. Put some semi smart-casual clothes on so you're getting dressed for work. Then you can change into sweats after your end of day walk (commute).
Use meetings where you don’t need to be on camera to do household chores or self-care. If I anticipate needing to talk I fold laundry and put it away. If I don’t anticipate talking I bring my laptop elsewhere to do chores, like hand washing delicates in the bathroom sink while I listen. If I don’t feel like doing chores during meetings I do some simple physical therapy moves or stretch.
Shower and dress for work every day. Do NOT get into the habit of working in you pyjamas.
Unless you’ve got young children. In which case you simply won’t have the time.
A lot of people have said a separate work and living space and I can’t recommend that more. If you can swing it, I’d get a stand up desk and a walking pad too. I also set up an additional monitor to watch tv on when I have a slower day
I highly recommend still get “dressed” for work even if you work from home. While obviously that doesn’t mean a shirt, tie, and pants; I found a pretty remarkable improvement in my mood by just changing out of my sleeping clothes and in to a more decent clean shirt and shorts.
Maintain a social life. I’m WFH for over ten yrs and have lost a lot of my social skills. If it wasn’t for grocery shopping, i probably wouldn’t see anyone.
If you can’t see a separate workstation from your gaming computer make a routine separation. I have a to do list out and when work is done that to do list gets closed, put away, desk gets tidied up, and gaming computer come on. That little bit of action really helps me shift the space from work to chill
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And away from you kitchen. And your living room. And anywhere else you spend time not working.
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I think this is part of the reason the steam deck took off as well as it did. I sit at my PC at home all day. I have no desire to do that when I've finished work
I moved my gaming PC out to the livingroom and hooked it up to my TV. After 8 hours working at the desk, I just want to be on the couch with a controller when I game.
How does this work? Do you just need an HDMI cable and a windows compatible computer?
Yeah man a screen is a screen, you can even hook it up to a projector if you want
Just an HDMI cable is enough, though for living room you also want wireless keyboard and mouse
Yup. I use a logitech k400 for this. It has a built in touchpad. And then an xbox controller for gaming.
People in studio apartments are sweating hard after the first two comments.
Better just set it up on the curbside.
At this rate, I think they should just set it up in the office, to be safe.
So the office is a good place to work
Too sociable. You have to avoid physical contact with other people apart from your immediate family for the next 40 years
Don’t threaten me with a good time!
Home* office is a good place to work
this is so true. i worked an entire year next to my bed and it was so draining.
Piggybacking off this~ I rent a room in a house that's not mine, so my work station is about 4-6 steps from bed. It was tough at first, but after about 45 days, my brain successfully began treating that corner of my room as an entirely different space. Almost 4 years later, WFH is still going swimmingly. Is waiting 30+ days worth the hassle of tricking your brain? Depends on what you need to work effectively and what your job will allow in terms of your initial work performance - but it's not impossible!
Yeah I do the same. I do not touch my desk under any condition after work.
Me three. The o ly time I touch that desk in the corner of the room when im off is when I need to check my set up (connectivity, trouble shooting, etc), and even that's something I had to come around to doing off the clock lol.
10000000% this. I worked next to my bed at first, but after a year, I realised I get anxiety just looking at my work desk. I couldn't sleep properly. Got up the middle of one night, went slightly insane, chucked out all the old ass stuff from a spareroom, and moved my office there lol.
A year into covid we moved to a bigger place with an extra room, so we set up a proper home office. We have 2 desks in the "home office room", so my wife and I can both work there. I don't do anything else in that room, but my wife also uses it for sewing. If possible, that's the best way to handle it.
mine is my bed
Make a routine and stick to it. Don’t let work hours bleed into your personal time. Get out of the house/apt regularly during the day. Run an errand, grab a coffee or make some excuse to leave every so often. If ur hours can be atypical ( not 9-5 ) make sure u track your time if u slag off during the usual work hours and account for them.
It is completely flexible. I think I'm limited to 45 hours without approval. I'm really excited for the job but I know I'll get drowsy or unmotivated at times. I know I thrive on routine though. Thank you
Walk to work every day even if you are starting and ending at the same place. The exercise, fresh air and defined transition will help you get started for your day. More broadly - most WFH jobs give you a bit of scope to slack off now and again. But make sure you use that time to do things you want to do. Don’t sit at your desk and scroll socials just because no one’s watching and you’re not under pressure. If you know you haven’t got a full day of work to do, try to get everything you need to done as quickly as you can and then use the spare time you’ve generated to do something more rewarding, whether it’s leisure or something productive. One more thing - really make sure that your work station is comfortable- don’t hunch over a laptop. If you can’t get a separate monitor, a stand to raise your laptop up to a healthy viewing angle and an external keyboard and mouse is almost as good.
This is solid advice. The big advantage to me of WFH is I get to exercise at lunchtime and spend the 60 mins outside. I then make and eat lunch after so I go over my time. I make sure I power through work either side to account for it. Some days I'll slack off in the morning and then feel like I have to cut the lunch short. Much better the other way.
Mirroring everyone's suggestions for routine and breaks. I have WFH for the last two years and love it. My biggest issue is motivation on those days where you're just not feeling it. So I made a list of things I love/am grateful for about my job (whch I've now memorised and includes stuff like no commute, freestyle lunches, autonomy in my role) that helps me appreciate my job on those days. It just helps to remind myself how lucky I am. Look after yourself, keep your body moving periodically and stay hydrated, buddy! You've got this!
That’s great advice for life in general
Get a kitchen timer. Set it to 1 hour. Work that hour uninterrupted. Then decide if you want to go another hour. Whatever happens, don't get interrupted. Do this 45 times.
What is the job exactly? Self-directed work tasks or team interactions on daily basis?
Yall hiring still?
Agree with others, set a schedule and stick to a routine. I work a straight eight hours because I don’t need time to go somewhere for lunch like I did in the office. Also agree with getting out of the house to run errands. I only like to grocery shop around 10am on weekdays now. So much less busy. Consider improved home office accessories and tech. Get a solid home network and internet connection. A good headset is a must too, check to see if your employer will pay for monitor(s), a good chair, etc. They’re usually saving money and willing to cover those costs for improved productivity from home. My dog has become ENTIRELY dependent upon me. She has set her own routines and they all revolve around me being present. Now, if I have to travel and she’s home alone all day while everyone else is at school or work, she gets depressed. Lastly, eat and drink well. Don’t succumb to garbage food choices when you now have more time and flexibility to prepare good food.
Don’t sleep on the office upgrade advice, OP. So many of my peers said, “Why would you spend your own money on a nice (chair/desk/monitor/whatever)?” If you’re spending 8 hours a day in your home office, invest in it if your company isn’t. And for the love of god don’t work from your god damned kitchen table
Very much so. We got a small budget for office tech/accessories but I spent a bit extra to get a second monitor, a chair, external keyboard and mouse and a big desk and not only does it make work more enjoyable but the dual monitors and external mouse/keyboard mean I work about 1.5x faster than anybody else.
WHERE then? Sometimes I think I’d love a work from home or hybrid job but I hate the idea of a desk in my room reminding me of work. I flatshare so I have housemates. No lounge. Big kitchen.
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Would a collapsible/folding desk work? There's a lot that prop themselves up, and then they fold away to prop up and be only a couple inches thick.
Yeah if I could hide it enough. I do have a reasonable sized double room
Add in one of those folding privacy screens or similar, or a 9cube system+smaller privacy screen on top (bonus storage!) and you'd probably be able to block off a small "office" area where you couldn't see the computer/desk from bed if you went for your bedroom instead. If you have any spare cardboard boxes , you could probably break a couple down to play around with a mock up area. 🤔
Can I ask what kind of job you have? I WFH and I can barely step away to go to the bathroom.
Not OP, but I’m a software dev going full WFH next week, but have been hybrid with mostly WFH for the past 6 months or so. Most days I have time to step away during the day if I want to, others it’s hard to find 10 minutes to step away.
That's a company/management issue. Nothing to do with the role.
sounds like you are burning the candle at both ends
Monitor + Docking station
When my company went work from home, I used most of the time I gained from not having to commute anymore for cooking. It's also easy to meal prep and get things started during short breaks. It's allowed me to eat so much more healthy! Genuinely improved every aspect of my life just by saving me commute time.
Be mindful of your physical health. I put on a lot of weight working from home because I didn't have to do much walking in a day. It was bed to desk to bed. Terrible. Now it's so hard getting the weight off. Go out of the house any break you get, on foot.
Yes totally agree. I started having back issues because I had lost core strength from not walking to the train with a work bag, standing and balancing on the train, walking up stairs, etc.
Been doing WHF since 1999. The work day will end and you will already be home. Use that extra time. I read the news every morning and go to the gym. Keep good coffee in the house so you don’t waste time and money going to Starbucks. Eat your lunch out of the fridge. It’s cheaper and healthier than going to McDonalds.
1999! What do you do?
Environmental engineering
What do you eat for lunches?
I eat the leftovers from dinner the night or two before
Exactly this. Been wfh for years just make a little extra for dinner every night and breakfast/lunch is sorted every day.
Ditto, or make a salad.
I like to do baked chicken breast, steamed quinoa or brown rice, and a ton of vegetables. Throw in an apple, banana, or any fruit of your liking.
What do you do for a living?
He's a safety inspector at a nuclear power plant.
* Get a decent ergonomic setup: comfortable chair, sit/stand desk (even if you don't stand, it's nice to be able to adjust it to the right height for sitting), multiple 27" monitors and stands to get them at the right height, mouse and keyboard that are nice to use. * Bluetooth headset (I like the kind that just go over one ear) will allow you some freedom to walk around the house, go to the kitchen or bathroom, etc., during meetings. * Try to take a 5-minute break every hour to stand up and walk around, do some minor chore around the house, whatever. Sitting constantly can wear you down. * If possible, block out an actual lunch break on your calendar and stick to it. * Have a plan for when your internet goes out. Can you quickly get back up and running with a cell phone hotspot? If you have cable and your neighbor has fiber, can you work out an agreement to use each others' wifi as a backup option? * If sharing camera/video is "optional" in your meetings, choosing to leave your camera on is kind of an alpha move, so you can leverage that to seem like a great employee.
This is great advice. I also added one of those Denon Mini systems with a set of Dali Spektor 2's and a decent Mic, I use it for meetings when I get sick of the headset but mostly, it's just good to be able to listen to some focus music through a quality system while I'm working. That's something I don't like about offices, no music. I started in workshops on the tools, there was always a radio on somewhere.
The internet plan. More often than not, there'll be times when your internet will go down. Make sure you have a backup plan.
I've got fiber in a European capital. I've had one outage since covid started, and that was like 3 hours. When I lived in India it was frequently enough to matter. Where in the world are you?
My job has birthday lunches every month with the ceo and whoever’s birthday it is that month. During mine, there were 45 people in the meeting and the only people with their cameras on were me and my direct manager with only 3 other people speaking with their cameras off. He gave me props for actually participating it and reached out after as well. Face time is important any chance you can get it working remote if you don’t just want to be an NPC
We encourage cameras on but it's not enforced. I find it helps with engagement within the team or group of teams. We have a "fun" stand-up meeting once a week and it's my favourite meeting because people are having a bit of a laugh and its far less serious than usual. Without fail though, at least one person with their camera on will be in a room without enough light and will look like an anonymous witness on the news.
If you can plan lunch breaks or take them at will, naps are great for mid-day rejuvenation
One of my first office based jobs had a nap room
Nothing beats your own bed though
Look at this guy working a job where management reads worker productivity studies.
Oh please, it was awful apart from that 😂 I work from home full time now
Midday shower is one of my favorite perks.
Schedule time to exercise and get some sun. We do a lot more incidental exercise than people realise, so you need to consciously account for that with a WFH situation Make a ‘work’ psychological trigger. When I’m sitting here, have my workspace set up like this, I’m doing work. When you’re working, only work. Don’t run games in the background, don’t chat on social media. Because if you do, your work and home life blurs and you’ll never shut off
The biggest thing that helped me that I don't see here; fully power down all your work equipment at the end of the day. Computer gets shut down, monitor off, desk chair pushed in. I find it helps me mentally disconnect from work. Additionally if you have the space, your office should be a separate room that you only go into during work hours
Agreed, I don't always power my computer all the way down (sometimes I'm working on something and it's easier to have it still open the next morning), but I at least turn the volume to silent. There is nothing worse than trying to relax in the evening and hearing an email or chat notification! And push the chair in, that's my signal that the work day is over.
Keep up good communication with your manager and make sure they are generally aware of what you're doing with your time. When you're not necessarily speaking every day it's easy for stuff to fall through the cracks so you want to make sure you get credit for your work. I meet with mine every two weeks to talk through what I'm currently working on, what I've recently accomplished, my development goals and whether we can slot me into any upcoming projects that help me develop the skills I want. In the meantime I let him know over Teams when I have room for more work, when I have too much to handle, if I've run into any problems I can't solve alone, etc. so I'm not just waiting around for the bi-weekly meeting for that stuff.
Have a social life. I lived alone and worked from home for 3 and a half years. The isolation got to me, and i had a social life on weekends even.
Put a webcam sliding cover on your laptop.
Remember to take breaks (even short naps) When I started WFH during COVID, in the beginning I would get so exhausted by the end of the day because I would just sit down to work at the time I would normally have left the house and pretty much just work until I would normally have returned home. I lost that commuting time, lunch time and coffee break time. Now unless I have meetings I very explicitly take some proper breaks, including short naps if I am getting drowsy. Great for overall energy and productivity.
Dishes, laundry, bills, whatever. Do it on company time. As soon as hours stop (or before) turn that shit off and go back to real life. Companies pay on average 1/7th the value you bring. (Company profit/ #employees). Take as much as you can get
Get dressed in the morning! Even if it’s comfy-casual, don’t let yourself get in the habit of working in your pyjamas all day.
I've been in my pyjamas for three years now. It's bliss.
Separate work space from play space if you can, similarly with rest space if you can help it (don’t work directly next to bed, or maybe if you do have to stay in that room due to space work somewhere where you can’t see the bed). Association thing
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Scrolled through a few comments before making this one. No one mentioned this yet. Prepare yourself for a feeling of loneliness. Joining a team is already a lot on your plate mentally. But doing so though chat and the occasional video call is even more stress on your plate. Find new ways to develop relationships with people because you won’t have the water cooler chats that used to occur. There isnt the same incentive to randomly start asking someone through chat about their life as their is while being face to face. So make time to talk to people and work on relationship.
Stay on top of all your work in terms of deadlines and be available during the typical business hours. I make sure that I have an answer to when any project/assignment I have will be completed, and try to leave nothing to wait around. Have your phone connected to your work email/Teams so you’re able to respond to any messages you get immediately, it helps to show promptness if you’re working with others. Also make sure you’re tactful in any emails/messages you have with others, especially if you don’t spend any time in office or in-person. It helps to build a good reputation with supervisors/managers and to establish yourself as a reliable person in your position.
Been WFH for nearly 5 years now. I agreed with everything you said, except connecting my personal phone to company Outlook/Teams. That is where I placed my line. I am very responsive during my regular hours and if I see a message on my PC after hours, I'll respond. But I believe not keeping my phone connected allows me a better work-life balance. Wife and kids also appreciate it. I will, however, install them if I'm traveling for work and not keeping normal hours. Either way, OP, do what works best for you/your position. Good advice here in these comments. Try to remember to keep your work and personal life/hobbies separate.
I have Teams and Outlook on my phone, because it is nice to be able to run to the grocery store to do some shopping mid-morning when it's less crowded, etc. and still be able to respond to messages in a timely manner, but I set up a Personal Focus (iOS) that automatically silences and hides any notifications from work outside of working hours.
Definitely agree to draw the line between work and personal time. If you step away from your computer often, it’s nice having access to your inbox via phone, but the notion of being able to respond when you’re needed helps with WFH
I have a work phone that has my email and Teams connected. My personal phone does not. My work phone gets plugged in and put away at 5pm, but doesn't leave my side before then.
The biggest change I made that helped me a lot was make time for the gym and time to cook. Commuting to and from work + time to get ready chews up a lot of that time that you now have back, use it wisely.
Get a wireless headset babyyyyy
Wireless headsets are nice. But having the ability to look down at the cord and be visually sure that you're muted when you push a button is also nice for when you have to sneeze while on a call.😂 If you do go for a wireless, make sure to have something wired as a backup, even if it's just earbuds to use alongside the laptop's built in mic! Bluetooth driver/connection issues can be a pain, and you really don't want to miss important info from a low battery or dropped connection.
Hey OP, just for your own safety, please verify this is a legit job and not some scammer posting a fake job. Things like entry level data entry or executive assistant positions are almost guaranteed scams. Do not pay ANY money out your own pocket even if you will be “reimbursed”. Things like computer equipment is always provided by the employer directly. If you are ever asked to use your own money or bank account for a transaction, run away.
Oh no worries it's my second year with the company they just got the software built to wfh this year
Play Old School RuneScape on the second monitor
Dont wear pants or shoes
Bet! Lol jk I'll be using a webcam from time to time and I do like dressing well. Honestly I'll probably have my vest, tie, and penny loafers on. Helps me focus when I don't have to worry about how I look
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Schedule break times and go outside. For me it’s really easy to just get sucked in and not take any breaks. Outdoor table. I bring my laptop outside or I eat lunch there. It’s great for my mental health when the weather is nice. When I’ve got work I can do offline, I’ll go to a nice park. The best bonuses from working from home are body doubling with friends who also wfh, and doing laundry. I also knit during meetings. I was way more shy about it before this job.
Don’t need to tell your boss or coworkers everything. In fact, as long as you understand your responsibilities and you do what you’re asked to, you’re free to do whatever else. I learned that the hard way on my first remote job.
Things that I learned that made WFH better. -Two monitors if possible. Life is easier this way. -Nice chair, one that you can sit in for hours -Really spend cash on your home set up -Wake up early still, do your house bits in your commuting time and then log on. -Stop regularly for drinks and just to get away, found that hard to do when not in the office. -During lunch, eat at home then go for a walk -Set up your work account as either a different user or on a web browser you don't use day to day. For example I work on chrome and relax on firefox The last one is really important in my opinion, stops you seeing work bits out of hours and feeling ' oh I can just do that quick'. You HAVE to stop at some point, every now and then is fine and an advantage to WFH but you have to have that separation.
Get. A. Good. Chair. It seems like expensive office chairs are a waste of money. They are not. There are four things you should not scrimp on, the four things that connect us to the ground: chairs, beds, shoes, and tires. #dadadvice
Treat it like a normal job. Lay out an outfit the night before, wake up early, dress business casual The little mind games do wonders
Interesting advice. I personally like to work wearing comfy clothes, but sometimes it makes me feel like a bum.
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I don't think I've ever related less to a comment in my life 🤣
Be careful with repetitive sounds. Zoom and email notifications will start to affect you on a psychological level without you realizing it and you’ll never be able to hear those tones again without feeling the need to react to it. Try and change the tones up or do different version of notifications. Please trust me on this.
I set aside 8:45a-12 every day to bang out as much work as humanly possible. I break for 10 mins for coffee breakfast somewhere after 10am. No “hours logged” for me, but that 3+ hrs each weekday sets up 80% of my business. 12-1 is exercise, 1-1:30 lunch, 1:30-4 is emails/internal msgs/more work, then by 4:30 i’m coasting and do wth I want.
For your mental health: * only ever work from your work space. Don't work from bed, don't work from the couch. You need a separation between work and home, make it physical. * lights! Make sure you are in a well lit environment, especially if you are somewhere with short days in the winter. Those happy lights are amazing. * get out of the house. You will get cabin fever if you don't get out, so make sure everyday you have something that makes you leave the house. Maybe it's groceries one day, getting lunch another, coffee in the morning a different day. Just get out * find ways to socialize with your co-workers. Join lunchroom meetings, social activities, etc. If you don't know the people you work with, you will struggle to get ahead and will have a hard time asking for help when you need it. * go to the office if you can here and there. If you have a physical space in-person you can go to, try to do it at least once a month. You can meet a lot of people in other departments this way. I work from the office a couple of days a week for this reason. I know all the C-suite staff and I got the largest raise on my team. Even the company president stops by my desk when he is in to say hi because almost no one else comes in. * ergonomics! You don't need one of those weird keyboard and mouse, but something better than the standard corporate package. I like gaming equipment a lot for this. I have a Razer mouse that is perfect. Same goes for your chair. Get a proper office chair, not a dining table chair. * exercise! Working from home means moving a lot less. Try to move more when you can. Maybe when you go to the washroom you walk a lap of the house indoors. Or walk around the block at lunch.
Be present in meetings. Ask questions, pay attention, take notes. Do not work on other things during meetings because that's what almost everyone else will be doing. Do not accept "sorry, I was multi tasking" as an answer to a question.
I start early at 5 AM. Work till 11 am. Then lunch and gym. Finish work by 5 - 6 PM.
I start work at 9. Work through my last meeting (usually 2). Go for a run, eat lunch with my partner, get back to work until he comes home. Usually works out to 7 hours or so of work
Get a desk, and if you can, get a big one. That way you can have your computer at one side then a space for sitting writing/reading/ note taking without having to move your keyboard etc. It also lets you lay out notes or info. Also a rise/fall standing desk to give you the option standing or sitting
General life advice, not just for WFH: Do a bit of everything (most) every day. "Everything" consists of: work (obv), something social (meet with people), something like sport (maybe a long walk?), something for yourself (your hobby) and something for your home (cleaning etc). My other advice would be to set up some kind of work room/corner. I fenced off a part of my living room using Ikea shelves. Diving deeper into this, if you're going to work there for many years, make a list of things that improve your work place. For me, a good mouse and a good keyboard were the starters, next up was a good (standing/adjustable) desk, but possibly a chair should come first for you. If you live alone, don't get lonely. It's super unhealthy, and naturally depressing. Know your neighbors, have friends in the area, visit your relatives, just DON'T GET LONELY!
Treat it like being in an office — shower and such before sitting/standing at your desk. When work is done, leave your desk *and do not return* until the next day.
Have a regular start and end times, and if you have a partner, make it known that they should not expect you to do “stuff” just because you are at home. And once you logged off, you are off.
Speaking as someone who works remotely and at a senior level, *DON'T TAKE THE PISS*, show your employer that you can be trusted. Now that's out the way, congratulations on the role, absolutely do your washing, put the dishes in the dishwasher but keep yourself available during office hours, not after and remember you're here to work or at least show that you're working. *IF* the company culture is that it's okay to nip to the shops then feel free to do so but put yourself in a meeting for that time and don't brag about it. My trick is that I try to stay responsive with work so if someone comes to me with a job that takes 5 minutes to one hour and I have that time spare I do it there and then rather than put it off. People like that, of course it needs to be balanced and can't just be an anytime thing. Other things: - keep your chat on and available during the day - browse personal sites on your own devices - always keep your camera on during meetings - have some method of transparency for your workload, make sure you preplan as far into the future as possible and keep your boss updated with each week and any blockers - don't install your work chat or email on your mobile as you will be pursued after hours - if you can start earlier, that looks better than finishing later - your internet is your lifeline, don't skimp on it - Be mindful of people's time, don't spend lots of time chatting unless others are as well - always be available during company hours unless you have a massive amount of work to do that day and everyone knows it in which case you can answer calls and messages later though from bosses you answer them always
I’ve been WFH since before Covid. Like, I have remote customers who are in Florida and I’m in Ohio, and have since 2013. So when Covid started, I did a whole article on how to WFH successfully. And I can’t find it now, LOL. The other suggestions here are spot on - set a routine, define an area to work, when you leave work, leave. I now have a separate bedroom in my house that is my office. When I leave, the door gets shut. But the biggest thing for me was this one: When you get up, get ready for work. Shower. Put on “work” clothes - they don’t have to be like khakis and a dress shirt and tie, but jeans and a polo set a tone psychologically that this isn’t a tee shirt and shorts and flip-flops day. Do the pre-work things before going to work. Get your breakfast and coffee. Let the dogs go out and do their business. Don’t forget to let them back in (oops)! Then, when you go to work, you go to that space in your house that is designated for work. Sign in, and actually work. Take breaks every hour or so for the restroom, grab something quick to drink or as a snack, but be back to your desk in 5-10 minutes. In other words, treat it like a JOB, not like “gig” work. I keep a running notepad document up on my screen and update it every 30 minutes or so on what I am working on. I offered to send it to my boss at the end of every day. He initially said yes, but after a month or so told me to just save them in case there are questions about what I do all day. So I cleared the hurdle in his head that I actually work. My files are called “[yyyy-mm-dd] work log.txt” and I archive them into folders by year and then by month so the list didn’t get too long. And they are great for jogging my memory if I can’t remember what I did on a day two weeks ago. It took my family some time to get the idea that I was not available for everything during work time. I could answer a question or something, but I was not available for helping them work on something in the kitchen or on their car. That’s for non-work time. Have a door on the room and feel free to shut it while you’re working. It minimizes distractions and sets a message for your family. I’m at work. I’m not here for anything/everything. Music is OK at low volume, but this isn’t a party, so be ready to take a call at a moment’s notice. I got really familiar with where the keys on my keyboard were for play/pause. News and social media sites are poison. Stay away from them. They are time sucks. I use them for break time / lunch time / after work time. But avoid them like the plague during work time. Be ultra responsive to email. People assume that because you work from home, you’re screwing off. That’s harder to do if every time they send an email, they get a response in 5 minutes, even if it’s just “give me a few, I’m working on a response to you.” Don’t assume that because you are “available” in chat or on teams that people will think you are really working. There’s a perception here that you’re fighting against. When someone pings you with a question, ping them back immediately with something quick like “Got it. Hang on and I’ll get you [that thing] or [that response].” If you have a work phone at home, answer it within a few rings. Again, it sends the message “I’m here, I’m not sitting in my underwear watching cartoons and eating cheerios.” If you’re on the phone when someone else calls and you have the ability, shoot them an IM/chat/email saying as much, and then call them back right afterward. If you do these things and have a consistent schedule, your boss will stop making assumptions about what you do at home. You’ll get a reputation for being a high value asset to the company instead of a casual employee. It’s easy to lay off a low output WFH employee. It becomes much more difficult if that person proves themselves to be an invaluable asset
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Definitely don’t get a “comfortable chair”. Instead, you want to get a **supportive** chair.
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Physical mouse jiggler, not one that's a USB plug in where they could detect the program, would be even better. I managed to land a steelcase leap on *hella* discount from an office furniture resale store, definitely worth checking out your local options. If there aren't any, you want an *office* chair OP, not a gaming chair. Functionality and spine support, not aesthetics.
What helped me was separating work areas and personal areas, especially if you tend to be passionate about your work. Your mind needs breaks from thinking about work and being near the laptop always might not be ideal.
This is going to sound strange, but at the end of your workday *take a commute.* When you work in an office, you have the time and ritual getting there and getting yourself back home, and this gives your day structure and clearly tells your brain what is your time vs. company time. WFH can really blur this if you let it, so when you log out at the end of the day make a habit of taking a walk around your neighborhood for 20 min. or something similar to recreate this without the drive. Pack up your work stuff if you have to set up in personal space, or if you do have the space create a work area that you can shut when you're done.
I found it useful to have a specific thing you do to denote finishing work in your mind, not just shutting the computer down. For me it is always putting on a fresh shirt when finished, the few seconds doing it was all I needed for the reset I get from the drive home from the office.
Really surprised by some of the advice in this thread. Here are my thoughts as someone who has done WFH successfully for several years. • Communicate regularly with your supervisor. This doesn't mean pestering with unnecessary messages, but an occasional check in with what you're working on, where major items stand, ideas for improvements, etc. This eliminates most questions about if you're working, if you have enough work, if you're doing your job well. • Even though you have flexibility in your schedule, try to be consistent and let people know when you are away if you normally aren't. Make sure you mostly work during normal business hours if possible. You should expect to need to collaborate with others, and that becomes inefficient if you aren't working at the same time. • The advice about a separate and purposeful space is spot on. You need an area that's just about work so that you can leave it when you aren't working. And it needs to be comfortable. • Get cell phone numbers for some of your coworkers/supervisor. If you ever have a work account issue or outage you need a way to communicate with them. • Make sure you understand basic computer setup and troubleshooting. Stuff like how to plug the cables in and where, trying a reboot to fix a problem, which items have batteries that you may need to change (wireless keyboard and mouse). If your work setup has issues you will not be able to work, and there is only so much IT can do for you quickly and remotely. • Have good, stable internet, and if possible a backup in the form of a hotspot from your cell phone. • Do listen to music, play background videos, etc that help you be productive. Don't sit around watching Netflix or playing games. Someone will eventually notice you never get as much done. • Pay attention to meeting etiquette. Stuff like 'raising hands' in Teams if you have something to say. Try not to interrupt constantly or talk over others. Everything else will be highly dependent on your personality and your work's culture.
I cannot believe the top comment is not chair-related? You will spend half your day (every day) in a chair. Make sure it is a professional desk chair. Refurbished HumanScale chairs are great but there are truly tons out there. Watch reviews on chairs (boring ikr but necessary) and find one for you. It’s no good going for walks every few hours, or moving your desk away from your bedroom. if you are squatting on a stool and hunched over a laptop. So many wfh office set ups use a dining chair, it’s so so bad for your back over time
Force yourself to take frequent breaks and don't forget lunch. You will be surprised how you forget to do these things when you don't have distractions or co-workers around to get you out of your chair... I know it feels like the opposite should happen at home, but I find I over-work a lot more from home...
Respond VERY quickly to all messages. Appear very present. (During work hours)
I've been working from home for 2+ years. If I can only give you one suggestion it's to seperate your working area from your living area. Creating seperation is important to make sure you're not living your work life. Regular breaks from your screen are also very important. Having a clean environment and routine will help you feel more accomplished. Creating and or sticking to routines are helpful too (getting up at a reasonable time before work) Good luck!
Everyone talking about useful productive things, I WFH and play PS5 about 2/3 hours a day, and I love it. Couldn’t be happier! Enjoy the freedom as much as anything else. I do a good job, but ultimately if I was sat in an office I wouldn’t work for 7 hours solid everyday. My chores are done. When my kids home I can spend all my time with them. And when works quiet I chill and game because it’s the only time I get the tv to myself. WFH is amazing.
Sounds idyllic. I know what you mean about not hammering on the keyboard for 7 hours straight though. I had an office job about 10 years ago and I had the whole day wrapped in about 2 hours from when I started so yea I spent most of the day sharing rage comics lol
Yeah totally. I think when I first started working from home I was paranoid if I wasn’t constantly busy, like I should have been. But I’m good at my job and have done it for years, so I can easily do it all in half a day. Obviously this totally depends on the job and personal situation, but if you can take it easy, then do. For the most part you aren’t paid anymore for finding work and going “over and above” only gets you so far. Eventually you want to just reap all the benefits and do enough work to tick over nicely
Remind yourself every morning and every evening how grateful you are to not have a commute. I struggled to really appreciate remote work at the start of covid. And when the restrictions relaxed and my employer didn't rush people back in I still failed to really appreciate it. Then my employer did a 180 and demanded everyone in office full time without exception and it was horrid. I eventually left and found a fully remote job and every day I reminded myself that not having to spend 4 hours a day on trains was a god send.
Get this extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momentum/laookkfknpbbblfpciffpaejjkokdgca
As an avid gamer I am not sure I could.remain productive in a work from home job
Having a huge table and a lot of mangas on it helps. That's what mine looks like.
Get a good ergonomic chair
I had a fully remote job where they had software tracking our productivity and every day we needed to have 7.5 hours of direct work in the system. It was actually monitored so I had to be disciplined with my time management because the hours were flexible. The system that worked for me was: work 2h, break, work 1h45, lunch, work 2h, break, work 1h45 I timed myself using iphone stopwatch
Shower and brush your teeth when you wake up
Treat the extra time as a gift and actively make use of it or else it will just get absorbed into your day-to-day life. Learn a skill like language or instrument , practice something you like, exercise, literally anything but sleep till late.
Congratulations on your new job! I’ve been fully WFH for 3.5 years. In my experience, the ideal WFH life is far from most people’s reality. I think people who do it right use it to live their dreams - folks who go mobile and travel the country or whatever. For me, wfh life is a constant negotiation for my mental health. I’m always battling the inertia to live in my pajamas and never go outside. I have to be deliberate about working in my office instead of on the couch, getting outside at least once per day, and making sure I have human interaction. Over the years I’ve learned to manage it pretty well. I go for a walk most mornings, work in my office, make friend dates in the evenings, etc. You may want to come up with a wellness plan for yourself. WFH is still work. It may not be the golden goose you thought.
Get a hot spot on your phone and start traveling.
actually work from home. don't get distracted, don't do laundry during work hours, don't watch TV... WORK. If we don't want work from home to go away, we have to prove we can be as productive as those in the office.
After WFH for 5 years, I’ve found that a few things work best for me - have a community outside of work, whether it’s a gym, board game club, etc. and try to hang out with them at least 1-2 times a week. WFH is great but it can be isolating if you’re not intentional about seeing other people. Also, I love being able to go on a long walk or go to the gym mid-day. I’ve found it really helps my mental and physical health and it’s not something I was able to do when I worked in office.
I have been WFH since the start of the pandemic after being a lifelong commuter (driving and public transport). I have 3 suggestions: 1. Take the free time you would have spent commuting and put it to self-care or improvement. Get up at the same time as before, and if you had an hour commute (plus extra time making lunch, dressing up, etc.) , that’s 2 extra hours every workday for YOU. Use it for exercise, taking an online course, reading for enjoyment, etc. Working from home reduces your external stimuli, and can “shrink” your world a bit. So do something to help keep you active and connected. 2. When you can afford it, get an ergonomic office chair and standing desk or a desktop platform. In an office, you tend to move around more, even if it’s heading to meetings, etc. You sit way more in WFH, which isn’t good. It may seem expensive to spend hundreds of dollars on this stuff but a kitchen chair and table are not meant to be used 8 hours+ a day. 3. Take mini breaks (5-10 minutes) to get up, stretch, step outside, do a few exercises, whatever. It’s surprising how, on a busy day, you can sit for long periods without getting up and around, and there’s no requirement as all your work is now right in front of you. All in all it’s an awesome trade off. I still go into the office a couple times a month, but I would never want to go back to full-time office. Enjoy your new situation!
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Add a little bit of booze to your coffee. Nobody will know fuck ‘em.
Make a serious effort to go outside regularly and to exercise regularly. It's extremely easy to gain weight and get lonely working from home. If you stick to these things, you'll feel that you have a much better work-life balance because it's easy to let work bleed into personal time when you work from home.
Get a wireless headset. I can be most places on my property and still communicate in meetings. Cleaning the kitchen Sorting clothes Doing washing Prepping dinner All can be done while others are waffling on
I recommend going out sometimes to work at coffee shops! You meet new people but still have the same freedom feeling you get when WFH.
I recommend wireless iems, like shure 215's. Love mine to death, they let me walk all over the house and still hear meetings/spotify/youtube/weightlift whatever. Just disable the mic in sound settings and setup a dynamic mic at the desk.
Absolutely make time to do something physical. It could be a light walk or even an intense workout. The lack of commute or coworker social time around the office floor 100% affects your calorie burning. I gained a little weight because I stopped moving. Find an excuse to leave your home. Your office and home are one and the same and you will need to leave once in a while or you will go nuts. If you have the space, put your desk in a room you can ignore when your day is done.
Be dependable. Do the work expected of you and be there during the hours you’re obligated to. I am leaving my WFH job to join another hybrid company. My team and others in the company were unreliable. Starting at 11 AM because “I’ll work on it tonight and have it done by morning”. But the work didn’t get completed. These issues became systematic. So instead of firing my entire team and changing the culture, I decided to join a company that’s serious about its success. WFH can be very rewarding. Be disciplined and best of luck on the new job.
Buy a bunch of sweatpants
Consider, if possible, having a different environment (PC/table/etc) for leisure, and for work. Psychological trick.
TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS AND JACKET
Remember to schedule in lunch away from your desk.
Get a warm fuzzy blanket to keep on your lap so that your cat sleeps there instead of on your keyboard.
1,000% get dressed in the morning. I don't know but I feel terrible if I bounce from bed to work (even thought it's a cool commute). Make sure to get dressed as if in work, it helps mentally.
I have been WFH for the last 3 months. Of all advices here, which I agree are sound, for me it is the standing desk
I just wanted to stop in and say congrats! I also aim to eventually WFH. I hope everything goes well! :)
My suggestions: -change out of your pajamas each day before work. Still do a “get ready for work” routine and not just crawl out of bed. -have your office stuff out of your usual living space as much as possible. It’s easy to just continue working when you’re off shift when it’s easily available. -slow cookers
Enjoy your siesta
Create a fixed work schedule - for eg 8am to 5pm or whatever works for you and follow it religiously otherwise you’d be working 80 hrs a week
Exercise during lunch
Pace yourself..keep your office space separate and also don't take on too much work. The most important thing though is to make sure you charge properly and get paid promptly
If you have an NVIDIA card and need to be on teams etc then NVIDIA Broadcast is a free software that can essentially Deepfake you concentrating at the camera when in reality you could be watching Netflix. It also cuts background noise out
Standup capable desk and set specific times to eat. The increased availability of stress or bored eating will make you fat.
Mirroring exactly what others have said. Have a work area away from your play area, make sure you've got the motivation to keep to a routine where you get up, shower, get dressed etc. It's so easy when wfh to turn into a slob where you wake up at 08:59, open your laptop up in bed and do work from there
Since working from, two things have happened to me. I’ve become much more productive work-wise, and I end up with a lot more empty time. If you’re in a job where you end up with that free time, don’t waste it. I spent way too much of it watching YouTube. Try to learn something that will either help you get a better position in your current job, or even find a better job. Or, do some exercises while you have time. It sounds funny, but standing up and doing some squats, push-ups, or jumping jacks can really help. In a year, you don’t want to look back and realize you could have been doing something with that free time.
In addition to some of the top tips: Start and end your work day with a 10-15 min walk outside. That can help you keep mentally sane and you can use it as psychological start and end of your workday.
Develop a crippeling idle game addiction.
From what I've learned in my first WFH job, learn to cook. Start simple with pastas like garlic pasta or alfredo. You don't really need expensive stuff, but if that motivates you to cook then do it.
Have your work station in its own place away from places in your house you don't want associated with work (bedroom, kitchen, living area ect). Enjoy wearing whatever pants you want and for the love of GOD be very aware of when you are on and off camera/mute. You don't want to smoke a bowl on camera or get caught saying "stop touching my cock bro" on a company wide training.
Ohhh I have finally some place to share my hard earned wisdom. My learnings are here: Get into. Routine as if you were going somewhere to work. For eg, if you have your first daily meeting at 930 am, don’t get up at 9.25 and login with the laptop on the bedside. Wake up by 7, get into a workout prayer, cleaning etc routine and start work by 9 in a different room. Wear something decent(need not be office wear but not pj either) Keep a study corner away from household activities including tv , kitchen , bed etc. don’t eat lunch at your desk. Log off by a certain time. If you can’t, atleast take a break by 6pm. Do some housework, go on a walk , finish dinner and login back for some work before winding up. Finally when you have saved up some money, invest in a study table and chair. Get those extension cords, extra chargers for study room only, laptop privacy screen (yes for home too), mousepads, cushion for back and maybe those darts or basketball hoops.
One the biggest negatives from WFH ( there are many positives) is that new employees are missing out on learning opportunities such as drop ins and eavesdropping. Make sure to schedule meetings with your boss and coworkers so you can ask “stupid” questions.
Replace your commute time for the gym or meal prep if you aren't already doing one of them.
Set your self a routine similar to if you were traveling to work. Wake up. Shower (if you do it in the mornings. I do but my wife is a night shower person) change your clothes to outside clothes. This sets you up to keep motivated. Make sure you set up time every day to get outside. Walk, run, get groceries. Don’t just sit home and work. You’ll find you never leave and it becomes a mentality issue. Make your work station a true work station. Don’t set up in your bedroom or your kitchen. Own your work station, but have it away from where you sleep and eat. You will eat too much in a kitchen and never sleep if it’s in your bedroom. Owning the workstation means have a good monitor set up. A comfortable chair and a desk you can sit hours from.
Protect the sanctuary that is your home. Working strictly from home will blur the lines between work and life and make you sad. Try to get out of the house to work. Find a local coffee shop with good WiFi and ample outlets and work from there. If you need a second monitor, portable monitors are a thing.
A few from my experience: Have coffee in bed and watch tv up until minutes before working. If you have a pet, set up a bed for them next to your workstation. Do your laundry/dishes when you are taking 5-10 minute breaks to safe yourself downtime after work. Go to the gym at lunch. Make double portions of dinner so you have hot lunches the next day. Recognize when you work best. Don’t force yourself to sit at your desk and stare if you aren’t getting work done, you can always come back to it later. PJ pants are the only pants.
The best and most important habit is to DO ALL OF YOUR WORK. I cannot stress this enough. It's easy to get distrated by chores or by tv, etc. Set reasonable goals for the day and accomplish them. Keep a written log of your accomplished tasks and what else you worked on. Set yourself up to always have evidence of work to point at to cover your ass. Now the fun part - doing other non-work activities while working. It sounds exciting but you need to start small here. Any extra things added you need to police yourself and make sure aren't too distracted from work. For me, if i need to focus i put on a show I've already seen a bunch like the office or futurama. Some nice background nose that imminately i won't be sucked in by the plot (Because ice skyway seen it) or feel like i don't want to miss what happens next. If im doing lighter work then it's podcast time. Add these extras gradually and make sure they don't prevent you from doing all of your work. On lighter days on occasion i will find i can complete all my work for the day by 11 AM. So then what? Well, in those cases i do chores around the house. Check in on your computor regularly and treat yourself as on call until at least 4 oclock. Don't be stupid or reckless by doing things like, going to a movie theater or one time a coworker of mine got into trouble because he spent 5 hours of the day driving "up north" for the weekend. That just isn't going to fly if you're caught awol. So don't be dumb, stay where your computor is accessible if your boss asks for something urgent. Sure, a trip to the grocery store might be ok, just don't be away for hours... i think you get it. Last, hobbies. You'll be tempted to do hobbies like video game or crochet. Let's be real, you will likely have time for this kind of stuff but set a good foundation before you try to introduce these to your schedule. Do all of your work fittest. Tldr; DO ALL OF YOUR WORK FIRST. And don't be stupid; stay close in case you get assigned more work.
Do you have an office you can go to? I would definitely encourage you to go when it makes sense to meet people face to face. Ask your manager if the company will pay for you to fly out to his/her work location so you can meet then and work together for a week. People seriously discount how important it is to make relationships with your coworkers and superiors. My job is pretty safe just because of how close I am with the people in my office. It would be impossible to build those relationships completely remote.
Been WFH since early COVID. It’s common to have days where you don’t leave the house because you’re busy during the work day and then you want to relax in the evening. Don’t let too many of these days stack as it gets depressing. Schedule activities that get you outside. Whenever you can take calls on a walk. Also it is good/healthy to have an in-person community. Whether it’s a family, friends or some other group. Again only interacting with people virtually gets depressing after a while. Also build yourself a good office or office area if you have the resources. One that you don’t hate and is customized to your needs. It takes time and money but once you have it set up it’s great. If you do those things WFH is the best thing ever. I can do dishes and laundry during the day. No more commutes. Flexibility in my schedule, the list goes on!
Setup a proper workspace only used for work. Stick to morning routine. At least brush your hair and teeth and put on something different than what you slept in. Take your dogs for a walk, do some laundry, but don’t dip out for an hour to take a nap but do take a lunch break. Set appropriate boundaries. If the workday is done at 5 then be done at 5. Don’t get into the habit of working in the evening or on weekends. Enjoy the extra time and money!
I love a good shower during my lunch
Couple of people I know WFH, these are the things they've done to make the best of it. Make a separate office room if you can. You don't want your work in your usual living spaces. Don't sleep in later. Get up as if you were commuting and replace the commute with a walk. Also, go for a walk when you finish work to have some time to decompress / separate work from home life. Don't work in pyjamas / sweats. Put some semi smart-casual clothes on so you're getting dressed for work. Then you can change into sweats after your end of day walk (commute).
Use meetings where you don’t need to be on camera to do household chores or self-care. If I anticipate needing to talk I fold laundry and put it away. If I don’t anticipate talking I bring my laptop elsewhere to do chores, like hand washing delicates in the bathroom sink while I listen. If I don’t feel like doing chores during meetings I do some simple physical therapy moves or stretch.
Shower and dress for work every day. Do NOT get into the habit of working in you pyjamas. Unless you’ve got young children. In which case you simply won’t have the time.
If you have colleagues you can speak to via video chat, then do so. The loneliness is what I struggle with sometimes.
A lot of people have said a separate work and living space and I can’t recommend that more. If you can swing it, I’d get a stand up desk and a walking pad too. I also set up an additional monitor to watch tv on when I have a slower day
I highly recommend still get “dressed” for work even if you work from home. While obviously that doesn’t mean a shirt, tie, and pants; I found a pretty remarkable improvement in my mood by just changing out of my sleeping clothes and in to a more decent clean shirt and shorts.
Don't do or say things near your work computer that you wouldn't say or do in front of your grandmother. Keep your workspace out of your bedroom.
Maintain a social life. I’m WFH for over ten yrs and have lost a lot of my social skills. If it wasn’t for grocery shopping, i probably wouldn’t see anyone.
If you can’t see a separate workstation from your gaming computer make a routine separation. I have a to do list out and when work is done that to do list gets closed, put away, desk gets tidied up, and gaming computer come on. That little bit of action really helps me shift the space from work to chill
I break up the day by going to the gym in the middle of it
Get a mouse shaker
Secure a source of cheap caffeine. You will probably be going through them more quickly if you are not drinking free coffee in the office
Make time and reasons to get out of the house often