Today more people and businesses than ever are working from home. This is primarily driven by wide adoption of technologies such has broadband internet, WiFi, and cellular tethering. In turn this has led to many of the software tools used by businesses being web based and easily accessible in a coffee shop, personal home office, or some co-working space.
Working from home can have benefits for many businesses. It can increase worker productivity and minimize distractions. In addition many businesses are home based businesses or home companies. It may be more affordable in terms of office space for many businesses or companies to be home based. In fact the following companies have reported the following productivity and cost savings1.
– JDEdwards teleworkers are 20-25% more productive than their office counterpoints
– American Express workers produced 43% more than their office based counterpoints
– IBM slashed real estate costs by $50 million.
– McKesson saves $2 million a year.
Here at Invoiced we allow ourselves the flexibility of coming into the office or working from home. The tools we use such as Trello, Kanbanflow, Slack, Google Apps for Business provide us with the ability to be productive and move fast, regardless of whether we are at home or in the office.
In order to maximize productivity and effectiveness businesses and individuals should follow the following tips for working from home.
-
Have a dedicated work area. Statistics have shown that having a dedicated work area minimizes distractions. Individuals and/or businesses that have there own dedicated space at home not only perform better, but are more productive and less prone to distractions. Have this area optimized for your personal productivity.
-
Have a routine and/or schedule. Having a routine and making a schedule will help you not only be more organized but will also help you measure and monitor your performance.
-
Set daily work goals for yourself. List out a few goals that you can do for the day and then complete them all. Once you mastered your daily goals, set out to list your weekly goals.
-
Use productivity software. Using tools such as Kanbanflow to be laser focused on the task at hand. Communications tools such as Slack to increase collaboration and communication. Google Apps for Business to stay on top of your schedule, email, and to create and store all your business files and documents in the cloud. Trello to GTD (get things done) and keep to keep track of your business. Invoiced to easily invoice, bill, and receive payments from your customers.
- Have lunch with friends and/or go into the office or coffee shop at least 1x per week. Sometimes we need to collaborate and communicate with people face to face. To maintain peak productivity you need to change your work environment once in a while and be in touch with a real human. Trying going out to lunch with friends or if your company has a office, go into it at least once a week. If your a home based business try a co-working space or coffee shop to refreshen yourself.
1 - http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/resources/costs-benefits
