f there’s two things that we have learnt since Coronavirus came into the picture is that: one, you have to clean your hands constantly, which we should all be doing either way; and two, work from home and/or remote is pretty great and should be normal. We’re in the 21st after all.
At Teamy we’re pretty flexible when it comes to where we work in terms of the space. We have an office in Lisbon but the team can work from home and remote when needed. We understand that some people need their space to be creative and/or productive, so why not take these little things into account? We’re all up for building up a comfortable environment for everyone.
With the growing worry over Coronavirus, universities and schools are closing in a lot of countries and big and small events are being cancelled. The question here is, where do companies stand?
Since none of us are doctors, this post is not about the causes, precautions and effects of the virus. It’s about sharing our insights as a team that has remote and work from home members and how to get work done and maintain the team spirit.
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Just like you follow a calendar or a set of notes at work, the same can be done at home. We recommend to set up time slots on google calendar (or a to-do list) to plan out how the day is going to be. This way you will have a clear structure of what you have to do and when you have to do it.
It will happen; your mum will call and ask you to go pick something up downtown, then take the dogs for a walk and make lunch for the whole family. Make sure that your family and/or flatmates know that you are indeed working. You might be doing it in sweatpants, but that doesn’t make it any less work.
Just like you spin your chair and ask a coworker for help, if you find yourself in this situation ask them if you could jump in a quick call. Chances are they’ll also be home (or in need of help as well) and will appreciate chatting for a bit. Same with meetings. Do not cancel meetings because you can’t all be in the same room together. Hangouts and Zoom are great platforms to host meetings, you just have to make sure that your Wi-Fi is running smoothly and you’re set.
Stand-ups are short meetings that normally take place before everyone starts to work. During these meetings each of the team members announces what they have planned to work on during the day. When working remote it’s important to know where everyone is since the communication is not as fluid.
If it’s too much of a hassle, share on Slack or any other tool, so that your coworkers are on the loop.
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Being at home is comfortable, but don’t let it get too comfortable. We recommend to dress up as if you were to go out, there is no need to put a suit on, but you won’t get much done in your pajamas.
Just like when you go grab a coffee or a piece of fruit in the office, make sure you stand up and disconnect for a few minutes. Don’t let these few minutes be more than this, just a few minutes. For this reason, avoid working on the sofa or terrace since these two spots are normally associated with spaces to disconnect from responsibilities.
It’s no secret that working from home and remote is growing in popularity. We’re moving towards a future that will be all about flexibility and making it easy for workers to balance life and work. At the end it all comes to trusting the employee enough to not be always looking over the shoulder to see what they’re doing. When companies, and specially managers, start to realise this, maybe working from home will shift from being weird and uncommon to the norm.
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