There’s been a steady growth in people working remotely over the past two to three years, but a surprisingly large number of people aren’t working efficiently. This lack of efficiency results in unhappy employees and low morale both for those working remotely and those in the office. When it’s done well, remote working is one of the best things to happen to the world of work, as it cuts down on lengthy commute times and gives people a chance to create a healthy work/life balance. However, when it doesn’t work well, people are forced to work longer hours to make up for a lost time, leading to mediocre work and employee resentment. If you’ve been struggling to work efficiently from home, here are some tips to help you out.
Eliminate All Distractions
One of the major downsides to working from home is the increased number of distractions around you. In an office, there’s no TV you can watch all day, you can’t sit on your phone scrolling through Twitter or following social media trends on Instagram for hours at a time, and you can’t sit at your desk and play video games instead of working. Unfortunately, all those things are possible when working from home, and it’s far too easy to distract yourself. If this sounds like a problem you face when working from home, you need to create an environment where there are as few distractions as possible. Work from an office away from your TV, limit your access to social media apps on your phone during work hours, and mix up your tasks during the day so the variety keeps you from seeking entertainment elsewhere.
Use a VPN
VPNs are fantastic for remote workers, as they allow you to work from anywhere without the risk of being hacked. For example, if you don’t like sitting at home on your own all day, you can head down to your local coffee shop, connect to the WiFi, and work from there. In the past, this wouldn’t be an option for most people as the unsecured network meant there was a risk anyone could access sensitive company data, resulting in a data breach. However, VPNs encrypt your internet connection, allowing you to work on open WiFi connections without any worries. You can even use VPNs to tunnel directly into your company’s network and get full access to the file servers, so you can work as if you were sitting in the office. VPNs are also handy when you’re not working, as they can give you access to content that has been “geo-blocked” in your region. Sites like Netflix, Hulu, and online casinos will restrict their content based on your location, but if you use a VPN you can trick the site into thinking you’re in another country, allowing you to access that content. By using a VPN you can access some of the best casino sites around the world, where you can play great games like blackjack, pokies, and baccarat. These sites also offer great bonuses, such as free spins, fixed cash, and live dealer chips. There are even no deposit casinos where you can play for real money without depositing any of your own money. Some of these bonuses may only be available when using a VPN, so make sure you have one downloaded. As you can see, they’re incredibly useful for both work and pleasure, so we’d recommend using one at all times.
Create a Schedule
Another danger of remote working is that you’re not on a tight schedule like you are in the office. You’re free to work all hours of the day and night if you wish, and knowing that if you don’t get a piece of work done during the day, you can just do it at night, leads to procrastination. Procrastination is the enemy of efficiency, as important tasks get delayed until the last minute, when they’re then rushed, and the output is of much poorer quality than it should be. You’ll find yourself working much more efficiently if you create a schedule and stick to it – just because you’re not in the office, it doesn’t mean you can’t work office hours. It’s been shown that creating a healthy scheduling routine makes people happier, and a happy worker is an efficient worker. While you may think that you’re happier working until the early hours of the morning after doing nothing all day, you’ll be surprised how much better you feel if you create and stick to a normal work schedule.