REMOTE WORK: 5 WAYS TO MAXIMIZE PRODUCTIVITY

Working remotely is and has been a major, trending topic in our ever-changing workforce.

Fully challenging the status quo of a traditionally office-based industry, Cloud is supported by a fully-remote workforce spread out across the country. We leverage the latest technology tools to help provide accountability and drive productivity among our team members. In fact, we even office out of a coworking space in Atlanta, further separating ourselves from our traditional industry.

But what about the intangible components of flexible work environments, like social interaction and the inherent need for work-life balance?

Perhaps building exercise into your day may help. Take your laptop to your favorite park for the afternoon (as long as the WiFi is still flowing). Add a potted plant to your desktop decor. Gather friends for a lunch and put up your Out of Office.

Maybe work-life balance is not just being able to leave your desk at the drop of a hat, getting as much PTO as you can to manage your personal life, or deleting work-related apps from your phone. It might just be setting up the right environment, breaking up your day, or exercising your brain in different ways.

Here are some suggestions to help get you started:

1. Curate your environment – This one is huge for some of us. I’m a plant person, so my office has to have greenery to freshen up the space. Ensure that your environment is well-lit, comfortable, and noise-free to increase productivity and minimize distractions.
2. Break up your work day – If you’re like us, you’ll need the 8-hour work day to get all of your tasks done. In traditional office environments, the “water cooler” provides that sense of relief from your desk. It also encourages human interaction, which reenergizes our mind and body. Plan a 9-hour day with two thirty-minute family breaks or a one-hour gym session to help provide relief from your home office.
3. Listen to podcasts – Beware, this may be for the extreme multitaskers. Often times, podcasts end up becoming part of our work as we take the opportunity to absorb knowledge that directly impacts our organizations. If this is not the case for you, podcasts can be a healthy way to engage your brain beyond the day-to-day. Be sure to pick topics that don’t distract from progress, and always know your limit for distractions.
4. Plan regular face-to-face-meetings – Social interaction for remote workers can hard to come by. Digital meeting rooms like Zoom & GoToMeeting are your best friends. Prioritize who in your workplace can benefit from a 15-minute or a half-hour meeting with you and click Schedule. Isolation can lead to burnout and overall job dissatisfaction, so combat this as much as possible to remain encouraged and successful.
5. Join your local coworking space – Big cities are ripe with shared office spaces, and most of us live close enough to one to justify our need for a physical office environment. As we mentioned before, the Cloud home office is a coworking facility just outside of Atlanta. Google “coworking spaces in [your city]” and see what membership level is right for you.