Now and Forever
The tips and suggestions in this blog aren’t just for the duration of the current pandemic, you can use these suggestions whenever you work from home and even when you’re working in the office.
Staying Focused
One thing that a lot of people struggle with when working from home is staying focused and not getting distracted. If you’re working from your personal computer or laptop then a good idea would be to create a new user account on your system, you could call the user whatever you want however make sure you have a secure password on the account.
Only have the programs that you need to complete your work tasks on this account, close programs you don’t need. Make sure that you only have the essentials open so you don’t need to worry about checking that message that just popped up.
Stay Secure
While working from your computer you naturally want to stay super secure, this is even more paramount while you have work files on your computer. Ensure that you have all the passwords in place where needed and do NOT save passwords in your browser! We can’t stress this enough, use a password program designed for the job such as LastPass or something similar!
It is also a good idea to have virus protection on your computer, so speak to your boss about providing you with a form of antivirus protection. You can also do this yourself if needs be.
Protecting Your Privacy
If you are using your personal PC, then it is a good idea to separate your personal data from your work data, this ensures that you can keep your personal files separated from your work files. You should refuse to download any form of service or program tracker UNLESS they have provided you with the system to work on. Timekeeping programs are okay to use so your line manager can still see that you’re working however they don’t need to see what games you play over your lunch breaks.
Staying Healthy
Even though you may only take short breaks when you’re at work it’s good to take longer ones when you’re working from home. Remember that in the office you move around and talk to co-workers and have face to face meetings that break up your screen time. It would be a good idea to take 15 to 20 minute breaks every 2 hours to give your head and your eyes a rest.
Keeping Up To Date
One of the best ways to keep your systems safe is by keeping all of your software up to date, and yes that also means your operating system. Yes it can take a while but it’s a lot quicker then trying to fix a hacked machine.
Make Sure Your Team Has The Right Access
It’s good to make sure your team can access everything they need alongside the tight security provided by the password manager you SHOULD be using if you’re not already, so make sure you are giving your team the access to the tools they require.
Don’t Forget Your Homework!
One of the most important things is that you make sure that when you finish working from home you upload all your work to your online drive or storage platform. You will find it really hard to continue with projects that you started at home if you don’t have the project files when you return to the office.
While it has been an experience working from home I think a lot of people are getting ready to get back into the office or usual place of work and see all the people that make up your workplace. We just have to make sure that we are all prepared for what could happen and how to prevent anything going wrong. This might not be the end of it.
