Nathan is a software engineer in a reputed IT company. He has been in a Work-from-Home (WFH) arrangement since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last few months, he is having a tough time striking a balance between his personal and professional lives. This is profoundly affecting his performance, and the quality of his work has deteriorated. Nathan and his wife are expecting their first child in a few weeks, and he is worried he may not be able to focus on his job effectively after he is back from his paternity leave.
Nathan is not the only professional working from home facing such a problem. Many employees who are confined to their homes are having problems managing their time between work and household chores. How can this problem be resolved? What should employees do to ensure proper work-life balance? Here’re 5 proven tips.
Tip 1: WFH Doesn’t Mean Spending Time Equally Between Personal and Professional Lives
Most of us know this but we often tend to give preference to our personal works during working hours. This must be avoided to the maximum extent possible. We need to realize that a WFH arrangement requires us to work for the same number of hours as in the office premises. So, we should make sure to deliver the assigned tasks in time, with high quality.
Tip 2: Look Beyond a Single Day; Plan Your Deliverables for a Period of At Least One Week
We must concentrate on achieving our goals for the coming week, instead of restricting our focus to tasks to be performed on a single day. This is not to say we shouldn’t work to meet our targets specified for a given day. When we plan our deliverables for a 7-day period, there is a better chance of identifying the likely bottlenecks in completing the deliverables. Needless to say, we can plan suitably to ensure successful completion of the deliverables.
Tip 3: Get Clear Idea of the Work to Be Performed in the Coming Week
It’s often said clarity is power, and nothing can be truer when it comes to scheduling work. It’s good idea to discuss with your boss on a Friday about the tasks that need to be performed in the coming 7 working days. This will help you set your priorities right and enable you to plan your time accordingly. More about prioritizing in a moment.
Tip 4: Prepare a Work Plan Based on Your Priorities
A good work plan helps you execute your tasks in a hassle-free manner and avoid stress. List all the tasks to be performed in the next 7 days on a piece of paper (or an MS-Word document) and set your priorities. For instance, if you need to complete 5 tasks in a week, identify the order in which they need to be completed and approximate time to finish each. It’s also a good idea to allocate some ‘buffer time’ for various contingencies to make sure you complete the tasks.
Tip 5: Develop Self-discipline; Make Sure You Adhere to the Work Plan
The key to success in a WFH arrangement is sticking to your work plan. It’s easy to get carried away by various events when you work from home. You can avoid this by being self-disciplined and developing a strong work ethic. You need to say no to anything that will disrupt the work plan, however tempting it might be. For instance, if there is a baseball game being telecasted, you may be tempted to hold up the work for a short while to watch the game. But there is a danger you may be glued to the TV for hours, resulting in serious disruption to the work. You need to avoid such things.
These tips go a long way in ensuring you complete your work-related tasks, in time, without any problems. At Solunus, we empower our employees to complete their work-related tasks comfortably, at their homes, by allowing them to work in highly flexible work schedules. We also make sure our employees have ample opportunities to relax and have fun by organizing various virtual games and other engagement activities. Our people-friendly policies have been commended by the GPTW Institute, which certified us as a Great Place to Work® .
Hope you liked this post. How do you make sure you complete your tasks within the stipulated time frames? We’d love to know.
About Solunus
Solunus is a dedicated Salesforce partner organization, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Our unrelenting focus on comprehending the unique needs of our clients coupled with our unrivaled expertise of the Salesforce platform enables us to deliver the perfect solutions that create the best value.
