Remote Working and How to Productively Work from Home

As societies evolve, new social relations of production result from changes in the economic mode of production. In recent periods, the economic life has been highly characterized by remote working, a situation where individuals work from the comfort of their homes or anywhere other than the physical confinement of their office settings.

Remote working can be conceived as a by-product of globalization in the sense that it has made it possible for individuals to offer their labour for value creation irrespective of their geographic location per time. Consequently, many companies have been able to save cost in terms of overhead reduction by promoting remote working.

The beauty of remote working ranges from having flexible hours, ability to take in multiple jobs per time, personal comfort and convenience, absence of micromanagement from a superior, absence of office politics, and absence of commuting hassles. However, all of these depend on the self-management skills of the individual.

Remote working may go wrong and result in unproductive venture when one is not discipline enough to separate what is important and not important and what is urgent and not urgent per time. In other words, if one is not able to separate business from personal life per time while both are under the same roof, one may end up spending more time with loved ones or on other things rather than getting one’s work done.

There is also a tendency for one to be isolated from recreation and social life. In this light, experts have suggested that while working remotely, one may develop a workaholic syndrome.

What are the things you need to do to have productive time working from home?

Familiarize yourself with rules of remote working: It is important to get yourself acquainted with the rules of remote working. Two of such rules include independence and multitasking. For instance, in the formal office setting, one may have recourse to support from other workers for one to perform one’s specific job roles, but when working remotely, one will have to independently execute all the functions that lead to the completion of one’s task.

Planning and implementing a good design for your home office. Mapping out a strategic space at home for work related purposes and enlivening the same with a design that befits the nature of your job have significant influence on one’s work ethics and performance at home. A well decorated home-office equipped with necessary tools naturally provides one with motivation to work.

Inculcate work-life balance. Manage self and finance. Set hours, and manage your work-flow into those hours.

Recreation and strategic networking will help to keep you connected, informed and revitalized. You could achieve these by meeting new people at social and professional functions, getting occasional exercise outside the homestead or registering for evening classes.