For years we have seen a gradual trend towards more people working from home. To see this trend flip to the norm in a matter of days back in March was unprecedented. With so much uncertainty about when we’ll be able to get back to “normal,” many are settling into a reality that working from home might be the standard for months to come.
This is a confusing time. You can feel both very fortunate to have the capacity to work from home, but also apprehensive about having to do so. I know this feeling well, as I was a reluctant work-from-homer a year before COVID-19 changed life as we know it.
For some, working from home may come naturally or seem ideal. I, on the other hand, was initially wary of remote work and how it would fit into my life. I’m extroverted, I thrive in the face-to-face interaction of an office environment and collaborating in-person with my team.
I’m still early in my career and place a high value on the ability to learn from my colleagues. Plus, the Terakeet office is a great working environment to be a part of and I was worried about feeling like I was missing out. Many of the perks and benefits I associated with work were in the office, like interacting with team members and having Friday breakfasts brought in.
When circumstances necessitated a move away from Syracuse last year, I viewed the offer to work remotely with considerable apprehension. I just knew that working from home, alone and isolated, was not for me.
Here’s the surprise twist. In a year, I’ve gone from being a skeptic to a work-from-home mentor for others at Terakeet who are faced with the unexpected pivot to remote work.
I know there are likely others out there just as uneasy as I was about working from home. Here’s how I changed my perception.
An important aspect for me was reframing my mindset to look at things in a more positive light. It might seem small, but it’s an important step. Beyond that, I made sure to:
- Develop a routine. Get up at the same time you would if there was still a commute into the office. Use that time to do something positive: work out, listen to a podcast, or get in the habit of preparing breakfast. Rolling right out of bed and then trying to go to work doesn’t allow for preparation time and it blurs the barrier between work and home—more on that later.
- Approach each workday as a workday. Get dressed in something you’d be willing to leave the house in, even if you don’t have a video call on the schedule. Everyone is different, but I go through the same routine I would for the office, which includes makeup and putting on shoes. “Getting ready for work” puts me in the mindset that I am going to work.
- Create an “office.” Not everyone who has been thrown into working from home can set up a dedicated office. But, try to create a space that is where you work. It helps mentally to have a corner of space that you can leave at the end of the workday, separate from where your day-to-day living occurs.
- Break up the monotony. Build breaks into your day; get up and walk around. If you would have left your desk for lunch in the office, do so at home too. Was it part of your afternoon to go and grab a coffee with a coworker? Arrange a virtual coffee meeting with someone from the office. It helps to prevent the feeling you’ve lost something by working from home.
- Join, find, or build a community. The hardest part of no longer going into the office for me was losing that community of people I connected with daily. For someone who gets their energy from being around others, I had to seek new ways of connecting. I had to find a way to get to be my extroverted self.
When you’re trying to learn as much as you can from those around you, being on your own means your career progress will depend even more on the actions you take. Here’s what worked for me:
- Be vocal. When you’re [in a physical office] it’s easy to drop in and ask a question of a coworker. If you’re working from home, get comfortable sending messages or asking if someone can hop on a call and talk through a problem.
- Advocate for your needs. This one is tough but important. I struggled with being the only one dialing in for a meeting—phone calls are hard. You don’t always know who’s talking, it’s tough to follow voices, and it’s hard to indicate you have something to contribute. When I explained my issue to my team, there was a ready solution—video calls. If you’re struggling, no one will know unless you convey it.
- Overcommunicate. It’s easy for communications to get lost or muddled. It’s better to overcommunicate than under-communicate.
- Connection is critical. Develop a partnership with your employer. For me, that meant planning two to three meetings a week to provide progress updates on projects or catch up in general.
Finally, overworking is an issue when there’s no separation between work and home. Monitor your work habits closely and extend yourself the grace to end your workday. Close the laptop and leave the office—even if that means leaving the corner of your living room.
I’ve come 180 degrees in my view of remote work. I’m now a work-from-home mentor for other employees at Terakeet, which has been critical as the whole company rapidly transitioned to work from home during this pandemic.
Making the transition is something that you need to work on, no doubt. But with the right roadmap, you can enjoy the same work satisfaction and career opportunities as being in the physical office.
Rachel Collins is a recruiter at Terakeet.