Working from Home ...

A lot has changed over the last couple of weeks, most of the world has been summoned to be at home and stay safe. COVID-19 has dramatically changed the way we operate, face to face and inter-personal social interactions have deemed to be of absolutely no importance against our health safety and remote is the new normal for non-essential business.

Some of us are realizing now, remote work is not as easy as it seemed before. It's a challenge to transition from face to face and being physically in an office to accomplish targets vs being remote and try to achieve the same.For some job roles it't not even a possibility and for some we need to create innovative solutions.

In the current era of digital transformation, remote work provides us with the wide spectrum of opportunities to achieve our work goals from the comfort of our home.

while there are a lot of benefits there are equally challenging times, I say this from my experience of working from home for the past 4-5 years. Most of my projects in the last couple of years have been remote. I live in Chicago and I have successfully lead the projects for NY, PA, AZ, TX etc. from my home base office here, with almost NO travel or travelling when absolutely needed.

I am sharing my personal experiences for others to benefit from in my community. I work in the IT services industry and the below may/may not be applicable for other work streams but my hope is that everyone can have some takeaways. This is my small contribution in times of need to my friends, family and my community.

Benefits:

1. Time time.. more time  - my workplace was 40+ miles away and when I used to drive to my office in Lombard a few yrs back, at times traffic was a nightmare with 2.5-3 hrs stuck in peak traffic. Later our office moved to downtown Chicago and my train commute was about 3 hrs. round trip. In cases when I started taking the train downtown I was somewhat productive by completing part of my work during my commute. This was however subject to laptop having enough power, I was seated in a Quiet car or not, and if I could contribute to some critical calls due to security and NDA's of others overhearing what I had to say!! Sometimes there was just a lot of background. It was not always a good experience for other attendees while I was speaking, not to mention when the network was lost while we switched cell towers. When I started working from home, I just had so much more time in my hands!!
2. Productivity - I felt my productivity increased drastically since I was able to manage my time better
3. Discipline - I found myself more disciplined and that went a long way in finalizing my routine and my well being. I had time to invest in my hobbies and family. We also adopted a puppy recently from a rescue shelter. Let me just say that life is hectic and busy, with ample time in my hands to reflect and streamline my thoughts.
4. Flexibility - with the flexible hours from some clients when possible, I have managed my time well (started Yoga and Zumba classes), learnt some good smart working techniques and improved drastically in my time management skills, I am planning to get work certifications, I have revisited my hobbies - started blogging again.. the list is endless!! 

This new new world of quarantine life has so much to offer, please visit my blog to get some pointers on how to adjust to the new normal 

A Dummies Guide to Quarantine Life

I have currently observed how my hubby is trying to adjust to working from home (he is in IT consulting services as well) and my daughter was trying to adjust to her e-learning from school! My suggestions for both of them showed improvements and i am witnessing more progress everyday as they are evolving as a better remote worker/learner.

Here are my foolproof mantra of working remote and how to setup yourself for success. If you have any more pointers, I am very interested to know so, please leave a comment below.

Discipline - This is #1 on my list, it’s very important that you understand that remote work does not mean you or another remote worker will be available 10-14 hrs. a day, early mornings and late evenings.

• Set expectations on the time you will be available based on the needs of your work and role you are performing.  
• Always publish your phone number you can be reached at after hours during a critical need, and setup your out of office or message on your IM status reflecting the same when you are not working or on PTO. 
• Understand the boundaries of your team members as well.  It’s important to be able to differentiate your work from your personal life, it is often easy to get distracted and derailed during the day for you.
• It is not ideal if you have a portable workplace with you wandering all over your house as a functional long term solution. Soon you will find how ineffective that is. Dedicate a good space in your house to act as your functional workplace, I certainly prefer mine with a view and good lighting.
• Needless to say try to keep your home workstation clean and uncluttered, believe me - it goes a long way. 
• Beware of your pets / children / spouse interruptions when you are working towards a deadline or on an important call. Try to manage and set expectations with them early on and make arrangements with their routine for the day. Things will fall in place eventually.
• Follow discipline of what activities to do before you start work and after. i.e. gym, morning walk, coffee, even an afternoon 30 min power nap after lunch or after work is over is recommended for being re-vitalized for later :-) 
• Find a routine that creates a good balance between your personal and your work life. After all, one of the great perks of working remotely is having more flexibility!
• Audio/Video calls - Let's hope your organization uses a good tool for calls - both audio and video. This is key, if you face challenges in this area - raise a ticket with your help desk and help your company understand what needs to be done for you to be successful doing remote work to perform your job function.
• Invest in a good headset and microphone with excellent sound quality with a noise-canceling feature to cut down on background noise and those non so welcoming heavy breathing sounds. My recommendation is mute yourself when not speaking!!!
• Web Cam - If your laptop cannot handle the needs of getting a high quality video,  research online and get a good web cam for your video calls, video calls are becoming the new normal for meetings now a days! Learn the option to blur the background if it is possible. My company Neudesic uses MS Teams as its collaboration software and we utilize that option. 

Making Teams available for everyone

With COVID-19 continuing to impact people and countries around the world, teams and schools everywhere are moving to remote work and distance learning. 

Get Teams for free and learn how to get started.

My personal experience is to gradually start the culture of video calls, don't force people to this, a lot of people specially the first time remote workers do not feel comfortable in front of the camera or being recorded. Give them some time to adjust to the new working conditions and train them if needed. It's a fact that calls where people can see each other, makes for more inclusive meetings and helps you to be present and engaged in the meeting with others. You can clearly see facial expressions, this increases your connection and understanding and at times helps you take corrective actions to make a positive impact in the meeting.

Some notes for web cam enabled meetings :

• Point the camera just to your face in a way your face is visible clearly.
• Dress up well with neatly done hair so you don't have that "I just got up" & "I am in my pajamas" look. 
• Be professional and try to maintain eye contact with your camera when talking.
• Consider turning off your camera if you have connection issues (Video streaming consumes bandwidth) 
• It is a good thing to NOT multitask during these meetings, it is clearly visible in the camera and does not create a good impression.
• Try to give speaking time to everyone and if possible, have a moderator (this role can be played by any capable team member) facilitate the meeting for an an important discussion or a critical meeting.

• Invest in a good ergonomic Chair and Stand up Desk -  Comfort is crucial for you to have a positive work experience, invest in a good chair and desk , some pointers below. But let's not get too comfortable that we start taking unwanted naps :-)

        

• Get a good Monitor, Keyboard & mouse - these are early on investments that help you with the setup and go a long way. A LAPTOP can suffice for a few days but trust me when I say that it just boosts your motivation to type and code when you have a good monitor with the correct brightness level extending your laptop. I personally am a fan of 2 monitors side by side which is raised to the right eye level and my Laptop just serves as a source of extension of display. I do not recommend using a combination of different size of monitors. It is a painful experience for your neck to use multiple monitors with diff dimensions & resolutions, you will thank me later for saving on those chiropractor bills. Wireless versions of keyboard and mouse go a long way in reducing the clutter in small work spaces.
• WIFI & Bandwidth - Please please please.... do some research for the best network provider in your area and get the WIFI and bandwidth that you think is applicable for your job function. Get in touch with your Infrastructure guys at work to find out the specifics if needed. I use Comcast Xfinity and it works great for me. 
• Security - This should be primary consideration when working remotely. If this is not done right, you may end up even losing your job and get penalized heavily. I recommend always use your work's virtual private network (VPN) outside of the office. When you are taking calls try not to be on speaker. In current times when both spouses are working from home, maintain the security protocol that is needed for sharing essential work info (yes .. even from your spouse... remember the NDA you signed with your company???) You should avoid using unsecured home computers or networks, if needed get in touch with your help desk to understand if your home setup is per the remote policy! 
• Mobile - In situations when you are away from your desk and need to work / take calls make sure you have a good mobile device to support the apps that your company and client needs. Download and configure them before hand and troubleshoot issues if any well in advance! If you do not wish to use your personal mobile number for office calls, research and find options for vanity numbers, thee are some options available for WiFi calling, set up your business greetings and more. You can choose a phone number of your choice and have it in your email signature and contact card. 
• Communications with team & manager - VISIBILITY is important when you are remote. Find out your own creative ways to be visible. 
• Staying connected is the biggest piece of advice I would like to give to all!! Make sure you regularly check in with your team members to get updates ( Please do not start micromanaging suddenly!) Rely on a good software like MS Teams for transparent and clear collaboration. 
• Ask questions and DO NOT assume anything, when in doubt... always validate what your understanding is. 
• Check in with your colleagues and manger occasionally to see how things are going, if they need any help or guidance. 
• Share what works good for you in your remote working style. Be open to take suggestions from others and make amends. 
• Do not hesitate to have the hallway/water cooler conversations on the side bar with your colleague friends and other employees regularly to keep yourself up-to-date!!
• Start getting used to the tools out there for creative collaboration and mimic real life office scenarios for brainstorming and producing value added outcomes.
• Start doing some lunch and learns at your work to a smaller group first and then to a bigger audience for anything that you are passionate about. Believe me every organization loves the entrepreneur mindset, think outside the box.
• Have brainstorming sessions with your internal team members before you go ahead to try them with your client. 

Remember: In consulting world you are the expert, so do your homework.

Some good tools to consider for your productive calls and work sessions are listed below, as I mentioned earlier we use MS Teams which is now FREE.

Always dry run your important meetings !!!

Test your video, audio quality in a dry run with one of your colleagues before any important meeting if possible, mimicking the client scenario. This will avoid the challenges one faces after joining the call, this will also save you from your apologies to attendees during the call and later! If this happens on a regular basis you undoubtedly will be tagged as the employee whose audio always echoes or whose audio gets cut off .. 

Virtual Happy Hour 

Go ahead and encourage virtual happy hours culture with your team members in these trying times and have a beverage of your choice for a virtual cheers .. cut a cake, celebrate birthdays, recognition & awards.. Innovation is key!

Relax & Take Breaks

 Find effective ways to relax yourself (chair yoga anyone! ) and get away from your computer for water and bio-breaks from time to time,(well you always can put a reminder on your phone!!) Health is most important & critical part of our life and no times like the current corona virus times reflects that. 

This is one of my favourite video for doing light yoga at your desk! 

                    

Enjoy remote work.. stay safe and maintain safe distancing everyone.