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14 Ways Your Team Can Boost Productivity While Working FromHome

This guide was written by Mauricio Prinzlau. Mauricio is the CEO of Cloudwards.net, a data and user feedbackdriven comparison engine for cloud apps and services. He enjoys writing and producing educational videos aroundthe cloud to help people find the best cloud service for their needs.

So, you’ve given your employees the option of working from home. A win-win situation for the both of you!

And why shouldn’t you; considering that working from home has become a popular trend in the corporate world.While working from home is the norm for most freelancers, for full-time employees it can come with its own set ofproductivity and motivational challenges.

On the plus side, your employees won’t have to make the long commute to office and might get a head start on theirwork. However, home is also where the heart is, making employees lazy during work hours, and potentiallydisconnecting them from the serious work atmosphere.

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So how do you balance the two – enabling your employees to be productive , while also motivating them to workhard, from the comfort of their own home? Experts believe that the answer lies in a combination of adopting flexiblemanagement practices, along with the latest in technology, to give employers control over their employees.

Let’s take a look at some of the most effective ways to keep work-from-home employees productive andmotivated.

Compartmentalize the Office and Living Space

This is work-from-home 101; telling your employees to create a dedicated workspace in their homes. If you’ve giventhem the liberty to work remotely, it’s the least they can do. Make sure that your employees have created adesignated work space in their homes, separate from their personal living space.

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This is crucial as research has shown that combining work space with personal space can cause employees toeither feel that they don’t have to work, or deprive them of sleep or relaxation as they get too immersed in their work.

Prioritize Tasks

Given that managing work-from-home employees is a purely human process, it’s always best to make youremployees perform the most crucial tasks first. This is the best way to get them to complete complicated tasks ontime. Because, let’s face it, no work-from-home employee will work for a full 8 hours when they’re at home. So, it’sbetter if they perform priority tasks first, so that they can complete the rest of their tasks comfortably, through thecourse of the day.

See this article on task management techniques to learn 7 different lists which help you prioritize your tasks and hitdeadlines.

For example, there’s the 6-box method . This organizes the top 5 tasks for the day into their own boxes, and the 6thbox is for everything else.

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They’re Still Part of the Team

One of the important aspects of managing remote employees is to remember that they are still part of yourworkforce, and that they need to know it.

It becomes increasingly important to keep work-from-home employees updated on the latest progress of anassignment or a meeting. Even if it’s a random ad-hoc meeting, just let your remote employees know it, so that theydon’t feel left out. Even when you’re delegating assignments & responsibilities, or brainstorming to resolve problems,always remember to include your remote employees, or you’ll end up making them feel isolated.

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Remotes.in is a way for remote workers to feel like they’re in an office together. If your remote workers could befeeling isolated, it’s worth checking out.

Establish a Time-Tracking Technique

Independent work schedules can make it difficult to track every remote employee’s productive work hours, aproblem that is amplified if they’re working in a different time-zone. The best way to overcome this is to establish aparticular schedule for tracking productivity or to communicate with them. Apps you can use for time-trackinginclude:

Work with your remote employees to establish mutually agreed time-frames for completion of work or to engage intwo-way communication. This will not only motivate them to work, but will also instil a sense of accountability.Weekly meetings are important, even more so when the employees are working from home.

Connect with Remote Employees

It is important to routinely connect with your remote employees, just as you would engage the employees who workin your office. Even if the remote worker is a freelancer, getting to know them better will help you assess them better,while also building a stronger work bond. This can be in the form of a casual email, phone call, or even textmessage; anything to show your employees you’re thinking about them.

Let Your Remote Employees Connect With Each Other

Being part of an organization goes beyond team meetings and working tight deadlines. And while most employeestend to bond over coffee breaks and water cooler gossip, work from home employees don’t spend their day in thecompany of their colleagues. And if your employees telecommute on a daily basis, they’re more than likely to be left

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out of ad-hoc meetings, or unplanned brainstorming sessions. This reduces their profile at work and disconnectsthem from each other.

As an employer, it is as important to keep lines of communication open between your subordinates, as between youand them. Today’s tech allows for conference calls, Slack, WhatsApp chat, and even video calls.

Schedule Regular Face-to-Face Meetings

No matter how far removed your remote employee might be, you’re going to have to schedule a face-to-facemeeting with them at some point. Once every quarter is minimal, but doing it as often as possible will help buildcompany culture.

Personal interactions with work-from-home employees not only builds up camaraderie, but reminds the employeethat they still work for you even if they don’t see you all the time. Even if there’s no official purpose or need, inviteyour work-from-home employees to visit the office and participate in informal activities, such as coffee meet-ups,team lunches, and so on.

Appear.in lets you set a permanent URL for a video chatroom that stays open even when it’s empty.

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That makes Appear.in a great home for meetings and hanging out because, unlike Skype, calls aren’t started andfinished, they’re always ongoing which makes it more like a real office.

Don’t Micromanage

It’s obviously very important to stay connected with a work-from home employee in order to keep track of theirproductivity and schedule activities, there’s just no point in bugging them every 30-40 minutes asking for an update.This sort of micro-management is a thorough waste of time and productivity for the both of you.

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Mandate a Dress Code

This might seem unnecessary and annoying to your employees, but dressing for work during the productive hours ofthe day will allow them to focus on the tasks at hand. It also instils the sense of responsibility and accountability thatwould occur at the work place. They don’t have to wear a suit, but getting them out of their pyjamas should work.

A study from professors at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2012 showed thatemployees who wore clothes suited to their job performed better than those who didn’t.

“The influence of clothes depends on wearing them and their symbolic meaning.” – Adam & Galinsky

Request Family Members to Let Your Employee Work

Sometimes, family can be the biggest distraction when working from home. It’s important to remember that mostpeople’s families wouldn’t disturb them at work, and would typically wait till they got home, but a work from homeemployee might not be met with the same level of restraint.

Employees aren’t available just because they’re working from home, and should lay out some ground rules aboutwork time engagements. Any kind of interruption should be kept for later, unless it’s very urgent.

Restrict Social Media Use

Now this is a tough one because we all know how some people love interacting on social networks, all the time. Butremove social network platforms or blocking such sites (if it’s an office provided computer) means that not only willyour employees waste their time of social media, but will also reduce and urges to do so.

It’s very easy to get caught in the social media time trap, so eliminating the point of entry will ensure greaterproductivity.

For further reading, see this article on why it’s so easy to ignore your responsibilities and get distracted by Twitter.

Ask Them to Find a Distraction

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Work from home employees can find a million things to distract them, it’s how they use the distraction to increaseproductivity that matter.

Although it might seem counterintuitive, but having a distraction, baby/grandparent to take care of, adds somepressure on employees to be focused on work, while taking care of any issues at home. This concept works alongthe same lines as how some people simply work better under pressure as it teaches them how to manage their timemore efficiently and effectively.

Plan out Daily Work Schedules

If your employees are planning to work from home on a certain day or for a specific period of time, it would be agood idea if they planned out their work schedule for that particular period. That also means planning your day withthem, especially if they work with you on a constant basis.

There are some tasks that cannot be done at home, for example printing a 3D model from the office printer ormaking a client call from the company landline. Make sure your employees plan out their work days so they canoptimize their productivity.

Don’t Stay at Home

This won’t apply to a lot of WFH employees as they’re probably doing it because they need to be at home. Butworking from home doesn’t mean that you literally have to be at home, especially for those who just find itinconvenient to travel to work every day.

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You can ask your employees to work out of coffee shops, restaurants, or even their grandparents’ place, as long asthe establishment is Wi-Fi enabled, and allows you to work in a professional manner.

For some, the noise and bustle of a public place simulates the work environment, making them more productive. Abig plus of working from home but, from outside the house, is that it removes daily distractions such as laundry, oreven the TV.

It is estimated that more than 10 percent of employees in the United States alone work from home on a regularbasis. And if used properly, a work from home option can result in enormous time and money savings for both youand your employees- not to mention the convenience of working from you own home. So, whether you’re employeesare out on leave, find traveling inconvenient or just working remotely, following the above mentioned tips will allowthem to be just as productive at home as they would be in the office.

Use Cloud

Stop using those traditional methods of data transmitting. Using Cloud will give you flexibility and efficiency. Morethan 35% of businesses use Cloud or planning to use it soon. It’s safe and secure to use to it saves time. Everyoneone will feel more connected workplace as it allows easy collaboration between team members. Anyone can accessrelevant files and documents from wherever they are: a prospect’s headquarters, on a plane, or at home.

It is estimated that more than 10 percent of employees in the United States alone work from home on a regularbasis. And if used properly, a work from home option can result in enormous time and money savings for both youand your employees- not to mention the convenience of working from your own home.

So, whether you’re employees are out on leave, find traveling inconvenient or just working remotely, following theabove mentioned tips will allow them to be just as productive at home as they would be in the office.

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