Even before the global pandemic of 2020 made working from home commonplace for millions of us, a growing number of employees had been saying goodbye to their onerous commutes. Thanks to ever-evolving technologies like Skype, FaceTime, Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts, authenticator apps, and cloud computing—not to mention texting and email—it’s no longer necessary to be in an office full-time to be a productive member of the team. Many types of work can be done just as effectively, if not more so, from a home office

As appealing as remote work is to employees, employers also recognise the benefits from their side of the desk. Companies with work-from-anywhere policies can boost employee productivity, reduce turnover, and lower organisational costs, according to recent research at Harvard Business School

The key word there is productivity. Employers are fine with working from home as long as they’re sure you’re being productive

NMTBP shows you ways to make sure that your days spent working at home are more productive than days in the office

Keep work and life separate

In short, get out of bed. You’ll be tempted to set your alarm for five to nine, lift your laptop onto your duvet and start your day from a throne of pillows, but you’ll feel the effects of cabin fever a lot quicker if you do

Set up a makeshift office that’s separate from your bedroom. We’ve seen photos of ironing-boards doubling as sit-stand desks and liquor cabinets opening up to be workstations, so there’s plenty of room to get creative

Once your workday comes to an end, make sure you switch off. When your office is in the next room, you’ll be tempted to dip in and out of work throughout your evening

But blurring the lines between work and down-time runs the risk of a burnout – making you less productive in the long-run. Trust us, your brain needs a break

Stick to a routine

Do your morning routine up until you leave the house. Minus putting on your shoes. Have your morning coffee, eat your breakfast and get dressed. Your morning sets the tone for your day, so getting off to a good start will lay down the right foundation

In their book, My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired, Benjamin Stall and Michael Xander analyse the morning rituals of 300 successful people

According to the duo, “There’s nothing intrinsically special about the people we profile in this book; aside, that is, from their ability to keep the habits and routines that allow them to achieve at a high level”

Routines include a mix of exercising, limiting technology when you first wake up and practising mindfulness. Find something that works for you and stick to it

Move as much as you can

Our sedentary lifestyles wear our bodies down. If you’re working from home without a proper setup (like an ironing board which doubles as a sit-stand desk), your posture might slump, and your muscles might start to get stiff

Every half an hour, take the time to roll your shoulders back, stretch up tall and if you’re feeling brave, do some jumping jacks

A healthy body is a healthy mind, so shaking off any of the physical tension that’s built up over the day can help you stay focused

If you can concentrate while listening to music, get some anthems going and let yourself ‘fidget dance’ so you keep moving even when you’re sitting down

Embrace biophilia

Biophilia is our ‘innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes’. We’re drawn towards greenery, natural landscapes and animals, which is why there’s plenty of research on the benefits of biophilic design.

By bringing the outside world in, you can boost your productivity, happiness and physical health, which will naturally make you more productive

UK charity Mind has even reported that incorporating nature indoors can reduce stress, improve confidence and boost your self-esteem. It can be as simple as working near a window with plenty of natural light or adding a plant to your home office.

Get face-to-face through technology

One of the downsides of working from home is that you may feel isolated from the outside world. While technology is an amazing tool that can help to combat this, conference calls can be impersonal, task-heavy and action-based

Switching to video calls to have genuine, more informal check-ins can go a long way in combatting the loneliness of working from home

Ask how your team are doing. Humans are social creatures – we need to feel connected to a wider group. It’s one way of replicating the micro-interactions you would enjoy within the community of a shared office

And if you’re on a video call don’t be a ‘circle person’ – one who never shows their face. Switch your video camera on and urge everyone else on teh call to do the same. After all, you wouldn’t be hiding your face if you were in the office, would you?

Take a lunch hour – and have a timetable

Some work-at-homers might have raised an eyebrow at the ‘Give yourself a lunch hour’ suggestion in the paragraph above. When you work from home, time tends to be much more fluid than in the office. Perhaps you start work late in the morning and work on until dinner in the evening

Your productivity will get a boost if you do take a decent break in the middle of the day. An hour is about right: long enough to relax and recharge, but not so long that you lose all momentum. Also, decide on a start and end time for work each day, and stick to them: you’ll find that you focus much better

Stay on-task – even without anyone watching

When you’re at home, your boss and colleagues aren’t checking up on you. It’s very easy to get distracted, or to procrastinate, especially when faced with tasks that are a bit dull. Unfortunately, this usually ends up meaning working longer hours to compensate

If you find yourself getting easily distracted, pick one task, and tell yourself you’ll finish that one thing before you do anything else. Don’t check your email, or play around on Twitter, until it’s done

Stop Working at 5.30

Or 5 or 6, whenever you usually finish at the office. You might think that you have extra time to work, since you’re at home, but really you ought to give yourself a break. It’s important to compartmentalize your work life and your personal life. Once you’re finished working at home, close the door to your office and relax

Be easy on yourself. While it sounds counter-intuitive, don’t set stretch targets or unrealistic workloads for yourself, because you’ll only feel unproductive. Trust that you’re probably still doing the same amount of work as you did in the office

As the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘Beware the barrenness of a busy life’. Focus on doing a few, important tasks really well, rather than thinking about all the things you could be doing or rushing through your extended list haphazardly and finishing nothing

Final thoughts

Whether you work from home full-time, or on more of an infrequent basis, the key to keeping your output productive is to keep focused at all times

Maintain the same mindset as you would in your workplace. If you see working remotely as a day to slack off, you’re already starting on the wrong foot

And if you’re still struggling, try this tip: imagine your boss was in your house. If they wouldn’t be happy with how you’re spending your day, it may be time to mend your ways