CORONAVIRUS PANIC: How to deal with loneliness when working from home

 CORONAVIRUS PANIC: How to deal with loneliness when working from home

The coronavirus is spreading vastly around the world, affecting a large number of people and more and more companies are advising their employees to work from home, as this is the safest option right now. Unfortunately loneliness when working from home is becoming a real concern.

Well-known companies including Google, Apple and Electronic Arts are now strongly recommending their staff to not come into the office due to people infecting others. But, we want to know what the best way to work from home is? Will this affect your productivity? Will this affect the company’s numbers?

Lonliness when working from home

Are you prepared?

Are you thinking your bed is your new desk? This could be the biggest perk or the biggest challenge for any employee. So, prepare yourself by making a list of tasks for you to do, have a deadline for each task and prepare a work area for yourself, so you can be productive but don’t forget your cup of coffee!

Things to prepare before settling down at home:

  • Make sure you have a suitable area in your house where you’d be more focused to work from
  • Make sure to have a list of tasks to do before working in your new environment
  • Downloaded all of the software on your personal/work laptops – this will make it a lot easier and efficient to work!

Don’t neglect your health

Working from home? This does not mean to stay in your house at all times! Try not to spend all day indoors working! “Get out of the house at least once a day,” advised by Anna Codrea-Rado, the founder of the Professional Freelancer newspaper. Having a stroll in a park, going to the shops or grabbing a coffee, could save you going CRAZY at home!!

Breaks, BREAKS, BREAKS!! Make sure you are taking proper breaks. If you are being monitored from your team leader/manager, tell them that you’re logging off for lunch, to avoid being disturbed.

Know the difference between work and your home

Are you thinking of working on your comfy sofa or your warm cosy bed? Well, think again! Find a dedicated, focused place to work. This will help you get in the right mindset for work. If you don’t, this can lead to a lack of focus and incomplete work. Remember: there’s plenty of time to watch your favourite Netflix show!!!

Is a suit really needed when you work at home? No, of course not! You can wear whatever you’d like, but just make sure to be comfortable. The real advantage of working at home is that you don’t have to plan your outfit in advance, you can just focus on getting your work done. Isn’t that what it should be about anyway?

To make the transition smoother for yourself, make sure you ask your team lead or manager techniques on how to be more productive and how to have the best work outcome.

Don’t be a lonely home worker

Due to the coronavirus, face to face communication is becoming harder and harder for, everyone. But now you are a new ‘homeworker’ it’s important to have consistent communication with your colleagues via email, skype or even facetime! This will help with one to one check-ins or even a general chit chat.

Mental illness can affect anyone and everyone, so it’s important to really listen to the people you work with. Listen to their problems, listen to what they’re telling you. Ask them how they are doing and listen to the answer. Working at home can become lonely, segregated and bored so make sure you are keeping your brain busy or change your work settings. How does a co-working café sound? How does the local library sound?

lonely when working form home

Don’t get distr…“Ooo is it that time to post a cute selfie on Instagram?”

Being in the comfort of your own home can be distracting, BUT we have ways for you to prevent this mistake. Are you someone who likes to have ‘background noise’ because it makes you work better? Well, don’t! This is the biggest distraction because everyone knows, Netflix is better than working!

Make sure you manage all your tasks in an organised manner so you have a plan for the day/week. And, make sure to have limited breaks in between chunks of focused work, as taking a long amount of time for your breaks can cause demotivated behaviour and a lack of concentration!

Rugile Antanaviciute

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