As most companies adopt a form of isolation, following announcements from governments this week, you may find yourself working from home.

If you’re not a frequent work from home-er, you may be struggling to adapt to a brand new routine of working. Working in an office and then coming home allows for a division between work and home life while working from home can sometimes provide the opposite, if you’re not careful.

For that reason, we’ve put together some simple tips and tricks that you can apply to your new working day to make sure you get the most out of your time and still feel connected to your community during this isolation.

1.      Remember to take regular breaks

When working in an office, it’s almost expected for us to get up and walk around. We go and make a coffee, we head over to someone’s desk to ask a question or catch up on a project, we head out for lunch…

Working from home doesn’t have all those opportunities. You’ll probably still get up to make coffee and go to the bathroom, but the opportunity to move around the office space will be gone. Due to that, many people fall into the trap of sitting in front of their desk and not moving for the majority of their workday.

If you feel like this is something you do, there are easy ways to counteract immobility. Set a timer on your phone for 30 minutes and make sure you get up and stretch or at least move position when the alarm goes off.

Add exercise into those regular breaks – do you have stairs you could climb up and down a couple of times? Could you do a lap of the kitchen while you wait for the kettle to boil?

2.      Make sure your workstation is set up correctly

Adapting an existing workstation to fit your needs working from home can feel like a hassle, or you may not even have considered it.

However, it’s very important to make sure you have a workstation that adheres to health and safety guidelines since you could injure yourself otherwise.

Make sure that your screen is at eye level – you may need to use some books underneath a laptop to achieve this.

Make sure your feet are flat on the floor and your back is supported by the back of your chair – no slouching!

Make sure your elbows are at right angles to your desk when you’re typing and try to avoid using wrist rests permanently – use them for a while and then take a break and stretch.

3.      Stay connected

It’s important to stay connected when working from home, especially in this period of isolation. One way to achieve this is through regular check-ins with your team, such as through Teams, Skype or other video calling software. That way you can discuss projects, where everyone is on tasks and avoid any miscommunications that could happen if you only talk via email.

Make sure you don’t just discuss work though. Why not set up a WhatsApp group where you can all talk about other subjects? We’re sure you chat to people at work about TV shows, books and much more, so facilitate that conversation so you don’t miss out on socialising too.

You could even set up virtual coffee breaks or lunches with colleagues or teams so that you can all chat and relax with each other for a period of time.

You also don’t have to stop networking with your peers and other members of the industry. Just check out this blog from Vicky Carter, a travel reporter from the BBC, to find out how: https://stories.borderlesslive.com/2020/04/15/networking-from-the-comfort-of-your-own-home/