Working from Home : Few Tips and Tricks to make it meaningful and productive.

With the onset of Pandemic in 2020,  most of us started to work from home.   Though the year is coming to an end, the Covid 19 seems to be far from leaving us.   Hence the trend of Working from Home may continue for a while.   So hear are the key learnings from my last 9 months of working from home

• Set the expectations right.   Both at work and at home.  Your family members should be informed on your working hours and working from home does not mean working for home.   You should finish all the house work before the business hours and stay focused at work once it starts.   Keep the family/friends/ calls disturbances very minimal and as needed.   You have to inform you business stakeholders on any possibility of children popping up on calls, dogs barking, and other noises that are possible as we are all adjusting to the new normal with the limited spaces of home and had to adapt quickly to the changing demands of the work life balance
• Be Grateful.   First and foremost be grateful that you still have jobs and have the possibility to work from home.   Do not complain and crib about the smaller inconveniences.   
• Focus and Prioritize.   Staying focused on your work,  home demands and your health is very important during pandemic.   You also need to prioritize and keep your every day tasks organized in order not to miss out on any thing that needs your attention.    
• Communicate.   Working from home doesn't mean that you stop all communication with your family.  Take time to talk to people in these uncertain and anxious times.    Expecting them to understand things that are important for you will become wrong assumption.  Transparent and clear communication will help both business and home
• Never Give up.   However overwhelming things and circumstances are, please remember that this too shall pass.  So stay strong, hang in there and just do what ever is in your circle of influence.   Slowly and steadily things will fall in place
• Security and Privacy.   Remember your work stations are the property of your organization and they need to be duly protected and data kept confidential and gadgets kept away from children or personal use.    It is very important to watch out for scams, keeping the devices updated and minding our browsing habits.    It is vital we keep the data secure, client systems and networks secured and protected.    It is very very important that we do not let family or guests use company devices.    Be mindful of data privacy and confidentiality.  Be smart about using tools and wireless network devices need to be secured and password protected all the time
• Planning for emergencies and BAU(Business as usual).   In these prolonged pandemic times, anything may happen to anyone at any time.  This is not to scare you but to mitigate the risk and do appropriate contingency planning.   It is very important that business continues as usual despite of any disturbances happening to you.   It is very important we show up on time and do not sleep late.     It is vital that we are presentable in conference calls and video calls and understand the resources.    Keep medical insurance file updated.   And also your insurance and 'What if I die? ' file updated and in reach of your family members or friend who can handle things for you in crisis.   Emergency contact details should be put up on the wall when you have ailing family members or elderly who may need help    Your data on laptops and computers, phones to be protected, the project files archived and uploaded to the organization repository for easy access to your manager in case of any emergency.   No wrong in proper back up planning.  We all should remember that life is uncertain ....BE DISPENSABLE.    It is also important to report incidents quickly and clearly and seek help