Best practices & Survival Techniques
This time, let me talk about something very important, that affects all of us in some way. In case you haven’t noticed, our life turned upside down in the last year due to Covid-19. Our colleagues had to transition to home office to keep each other safe. This doesn’t mean that life has stopped or anything. We just had to adapt to this new situation as strong bees. So from the Beehive, everyone moved their workspace to their apartment and established their home version of the hive.
Thankfully, the pandemic does not affect our workflow so harshly as those people who work in tourism for instance. Nevertheless, the change had come fast and we had to adapt quickly. If someone had told us that it would be difficult to order a couple of web cameras, I’d have laughed. Eventually, everyone’s got their supplies to be 100 percent effective at home also.
So we coped with the technical difficulties that home-office has brought, but how do you cope with the mental and personal challenges that you might face during this unprecedented period?
Don’t you think that I just wrote you a story without something to take home. We asked our bees how they deal with home office. Let me share with you the best answers to help you flourish during this period as well.
What helps us the most when working from home?
- Coffee – It’s not surprising, and although we miss the coffee machine we’ve got in our office, coffee has a very important role in home office as well
- Calendar and planning – Home office makes it possible to deal with the plumber or handle the incoming post during the day but this actually requires even better planning when it comes to your tasks
- Closed door – Hungry kittens can be very distractive sometimes. Especially when you are taking part in a Zoom conference. (Don’t forget to feed your cat though.)
What’s our biggest difficulty when working from home?
- Work-life balance – Yeah, it can be challenging, separating these two things, especially when it takes place in the same house. So try to set up rules to keep these apart to preserve your mental hygiene.
- Keeping focus – Small breaks can turn into bigger breaks if you don’t pay attention. Social media platforms can be tempting and beds can be traps to lay on. So keep focus and don’t let other things distract you.
- Lack of social interactions – If you don’t have a big Italian family it can be quite an isolating feeling to work home all the time. So try to have some social life on and offline as well after work. Don’t forget about social distancing though.
What are the greatest advantages we get when working from home?
- Flexibility – No dress code, no noisy colleagues, no “I have to get home quickly before the repairman comes”.
- No time wasted due to travelling – Not much explaining is needed, I haven’t bought any bus pass for months.
- More sleep – No more hard mornings if you watched too much Netflix last night, because you have spare time to rest in the morning. (You know, because you don’t have to waste it on getting to work. I mean, how far is your office now? 5 steps? That’s right! Let’s just hit that snooze button and take an extra few minutes.)
What motivates us in everyday life?
- To be successful at work – If you adapt well to home office, and you handle everything like a pro, it is certain that you will be noticed by the management and you can expect nice rewards.
- To achieve personal goals – After overcoming the initial shock, we realized we have much more free-time, which we can spend on self-improvement.
- The team – and, of course,the desire to have a huge party together when this is finally over!
So in case you are also stuck at home working, plus you can’t even go out and have some fun due any restriction, just remember, all you need to do is enjoy the little things. You can sleep more, work in pajamas, while slurping a hot, steaming cup of coffee. Or tea, if you prefer.
All that matters is to stay healthy and bee happy.