The Covid-19 outbreak that has taken over the world in 2020 has changed billions of people lives both personally and professionally.

Many businesses both large and small will have to close their doors as a result of this pandemic however a number of those companies that are lucky enough to fight on are enforcing work-from-home scenarios for their employees to avoid a potential infection breakout in their workplace.

For many employee’s, having the flexibility of being able to work from home has been a dream scenario that they have pursued for a lot of their careers. It would be silly to say that a working-from-home setup didn’t come with some real benefits however it is important to acknowledge that there are also a number of big hurdles and challenges that must be overcome.

The Gulf Connexions executive search team has collectively put together some tips and advice to share to our followers in order to try and make your remote working experience as successful and productive as possible.

Assign a dedicated workspace within your home:

For those of you that are fortunate enough to have a spare room or already have a study in your house this task is super simple. You will be able to use one of these rooms to transform it into an effective workspace for yourself. However even though this luxury is not available to everyone, still going and identifying a specific place to work on a daily basis will be useful to your overall mindset. You could assign a spot in the corner of the living room, your bedroom or even the dining room specifically to use as your home office.

• Create to-do list for each and every day.

Every single morning, it is useful to have a to-do list of tasks that you want to get completed throughout that day. It is however important to remember that there are distractions that wouldn’t be in your normal environment so if you don’t complete all the tasks it’s okay. Use it purely as a guideline.

• Learn to manage your distractions.

Anyone working from home will inevitably face distractions throughout the day and these will be enhanced if you have a full house of kids that are home due to the coronavirus. However, you need to try and manage your distractions in the same way you would do when you are at work- Eg: Browse a news website for 10 minutes to give yourself a break instead of binge-watching Netflix which can last for hours.

• Learn from your previous workdays accomplishments.

As the days go by you will start to be able to understand how long it takes to complete certain tasks whilst working from home and therefore you can build those expectations into your daily schedule. This will without doubt help you get more productive over time and allow you to complete more jobs in a day.

• Take breaks as you would do in the office.

When you work where you live it is extremely important that you get away from your work space at regular intervals throughout the day. The Coronavirus outbreak makes this more challenging, but even if you can just manage a few breaks throughout the day to take a walk around your compound or block this can make a huge difference to your attitude, focus and concentration.

• Make sure to stay in constant contact with your friends and colleagues.

If you are apart of a strong social circle at work do not let working remotely take that away. Be sure to take advantage of technology and the increasing number of useful and innovative tools available to us during this time such as facetime and Zoom where you will continue to be able to interact together in large groups at the push of a button.

• Make your workplace at home as comfortable as you can.

When you are setting up your work space at home, do what you can to make it as comfortable and functional as possible.

• Set yourself realistic daily goals…Then beat them.

To keep yourself motivated and challenged during this period, it is sometimes helpful to set yourself some aspirational goals for how much you hope to achieve during any given work day. Compare your results day on day and try and beat them.

• Manage your feelings of being disconnected:

As good a Zoom, Facetime and other technology platforms are, nothing will be able to replace communicating on a face-to-face basis. Working remotely will naturally make many employees feel like they are out of touch with what is going on however during this period it is important to remember that everyone is in the same boat with the same feelings.

• Give yourself a break.

The reality of this situation is that you are not going to be as efficient or productive as you would be if you were in your office and in your normal work surroundings. You need to give yourself a break and don’t get down on yourself because of that. Even if at first you feel like you are achieving nothing, you will eventually get the hang of your new set up and find your bearings.

If Covid-19 has forced you into your first time working from home experience and it has you feeling overwhelmed don’t worry because you’re not alone. Almost everyone who has been forced to work from home during this time has gone through the same exact feelings.

You must try to have the confidence to know that you will get through this tough period and that by following some of these tips you will find success sooner than you think.