The five commandments of successful remote working

02 September, 2024 • Par Seasonal, Art of living and working

It's proven that employees tend to work more remotely and have trouble disconnecting. We know you know what we're talking about! On the other hand, employers sometimes fear slacking off, a drop in motivation or poorer time and concentration management.

Finally, meetings follow one another at a hellish pace, which often leaves little time to do the work itself… or even to take a breather. We have gone from office presenteeism to digital presenteeism!

So here are some golden rules to ensure that teleworking really adds to your personal, family and professional quality of life.

For the human and head of the family who works from home

1- You will have realistic expectations:

Realistic expectations are more easily met, but the problem is that when working from home, we sometimes think we can do three days in one! If our calculations are correct, on the days you work from home, you save about one to three hours, which corresponds to travel time and lunch.

To use them fully satisfactorily, it is better to identify clear and few priorities. To help you, you can try to empty your head completely early in the morning or the night before (mental decluttering) by writing down all the "shoulds". Then identify the real needs and priorities in each sphere (work, family, personal life) and ask yourself if it is realistic to achieve them in a single day. Each morning, choose realistic objectives according to the context, the time AND ENERGY you have. Above all, resist the temptation to say yes to everything or to add too many items to your list. What absolutely must and can be done today?

2- You will develop a teleworking routine.

Whether you work remotely or in hybrid mode, the routine you put in place matters!

It’s easy to get caught up in the to-dos and Teams invites that keep coming, but have you considered organizing your day into blocks, so that there are clear transitions?

  • For example, you can start your day with a block for yourself (walking, exercise, reading) during the time you usually take to get to work.
  • You can also give yourself a family block to take advantage of the time saved: driving the children to school or daycare, playing with them, or doing a few light tasks… like doing a load of laundry.
  • By working in blocks, you can vary the modes (meetings, concentration work without notifications, reading and research, planning, administration) and the places of work (rooms of the house, office, home, third place).

Place your recurring blocks in your calendar, then fill the rest with your current tasks and unexpected events.

3- You will install clear tags:

Proactively managing your schedule can be daunting at first, but it's essential to maintaining satisfaction in all areas of your life.

#whitetime breaks in nature: it's proven , 20 minutes in nature reduces cortisol levels (stress hormone). But just 5-10 minutes at a time also makes a difference, between meetings for example. Open the door, sit at the window, walk around the garden. We breathe and let the contents of our mental space settle and the space create itself.

Disconnect: Clearly mark the beginning and end of the day, as if you were at the office. Use the time you save intentionally to do something that makes you feel good and to take your mind off things. Identifying an “opening” and “closing” ritual can help you unplug!

For the passionate professional (or not) working remotely:

Teleworking means being stuck to your chair! Here are some tips for working efficiently AND satisfyingly while teleworking.

4- The modes of communication you will vary.

Not all meetings are equal! Why not vary the modes by holding active meetings such as, for a change, on the phone without a screen? It is important to clarify whether our meeting is one of collaboration, creativity, to take the pulse or a simple information and follow-up meeting. This helps to make them less long and to vary the format!

5- You will manage your priorities.

To shorten your to-do list, our advice is always to focus on needs rather than goals. Take the pulse of your team members to know their needs and plan your day in a win-win way.

What we do each day becomes our life, so it's important to intentionally cultivate healthy habits that make us feel satisfied with our day, whether it's starting our day by doing laundry, working out or going for a walk BEFORE sitting down at our desk, to feel less guilty about not doing household chores during the day, or always closing our computer at the same time, turning off our notifications or closing the door when our day is done, the idea is to be fully there, in all our roles, in turn.

Now that’s leadership! You have our full permission to become the leader of your remote work experience.

Who knows, maybe you will influence the culture of your organization!