

Schedule a continuous early morning virtual meeting so you are motivated to get up, get dressed and get seated at your private work area. Likewise, don’t be too hard on yourself. Take frequent brakes (hopefully not at the refrigerator) and don’t worry about working eight hours. Alexandra suggests that she is more productive at home: “I consider it a good day if I get four – (maybe 5) hours of decent work time.” Communicate with your supervisor about being measured by output.īaby Boomers, like myself, particularly have a problem with this paradigm shift of being measured by output. This can have the result of working too many hours at the WFH office. This adds to the current pandemic stressors and needs to be controlled. Supervisors read the Harvard Business Review article: A Guide to Managing Your Remote Workers.īe explicit with your teammates that it is “OK” to communicate (even over communicate) more often with fellow employees via chat programs and monitor LinkedIn and other social media more often. Using video conferencing is a no brainer. In online learning vernacular it’s called building “social presence.” Online instructors are taught techniques for engaging students and the obvious first step is to encourage discussion threads via special techniques. What am I doing? I am committing myself to attend our Friday Virtual happy hour each week.ģ. Countless articles suggest that you discipline WFH by developing a routine. It’s about developing trust. I have always had team members that crank out deliverables when left alone. Developers often do their best work during the graveyard shift. Salespeople are evaluated on the volume of new sales. Project managers are evaluated on their ability to get projects done on time and near budget. No need to micro-manage. The solution to my anxiety over this: work hard to honor output not time in seat.Ģ. Now I struggle, as an employer, with WFH.
#Does manictime integrate with outlook how to
Take breaks that involve some sort of physical activity-a walk? I have no tips on how to avoid the frequent trips to the refrigerator.Īs a person who has employed people for over 40 years, I have struggled with the concept of allowing people the freedom to work from home. It is a generational thing, we used typewriters for the first ten years, and I feared the impact of the fax machine (customers would want product faster).
#Does manictime integrate with outlook software
So, I went searching on the web for tips to stay motivated. Alexandra Samuel recommended a fitness tracker to ensure you got your steps in (arriving in two days). She also recommends you use reflection ( Headspace) software programs for mental health. Keep Healthy. Frequent trips to the refrigerator and lack of an exercise routine are a concern. As a 63-year-old boomer I cannot afford gaining even five pounds much less the ten I have gain over the last month. The exercise bike remains idle.


There are the health concerns, of course, (I might become sick due to my age or should I continue visiting my grandchildren type thoughts) but the anxieties created by working from home (WFH) are also there. Alexandra Samuel is not in this category. She has worked from home for 22 years and wrote about it in a column in the Wall Street Journal. She has inspired me to muse about my personal challenges of working from home, while providing five key tips for WFH.ġ. Baby Boomers (those born from 1944-1964) are experiencing extra anxiety during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
