Do you belong to the new generation of employees who work on the go? Or, are you a freelancer, working from the comfort of your home or garden?
If you work remotely, there are high chances that you mix up work and personal matters and sometimes lag behind your deadlines.
We are not talking about those who work round the clock, because for them, the place of work does not make any difference and it is as good as they are working from the office, keeping the time and deadlines!
Many of the freelancers or remotely working employees find it difficult to keep up with their office team due to various reasons. Here are some of the reasons that may be keeping you behind the schedule and some possible solutions too.
Steps to be efficient at work by working remotely.
Be a Team Player and Communicate
Communication is one of the major issues found among the freelancers. If you are a freelancer, it is important to communicate often with your team to make sure things are well on track. This applies to both sides of the employment.
From the freelancer’s part, make sure that you keep your employer updated on your work pending on completion. If you are planning to travel or won’t be available for even a couple of days, let your employer know in advance so that they can also plan for your absence.
Use Technology
If you are working remotely, you are definitely using the internet or phone to connect to your employer to with a remote team. But there are many more things you can do over the internet for better productivity.
If you are a manager managing a team remotely, you can get yourself a project management software which will be accessible over the internet and can be used for job allocation and supervision. You can also arrange for weekly or monthly video conferencing to make sure all your remotely connected team members get to know each other better which will definitely improve the team rapport.
Set Up a Timetable
Ok, you are not in school anymore, but being disciplined when working will definitely buy you more time and a great reputation among your employers.
For freelancers and those working remotely, they know that they are out of the office schedules and times and hence, may wander off to other distractions easily.
Just to make sure you do not, and don’t fall behind on your schedules, you can set up a working time and stick to it voluntarily. You can inform your employers that you are available for work in these timings so that they can also contact you when required within those timings.
Set Up Your Goals
This is a key lesson for freelancers as they work independently. For remote employees, their targets are set by their company or the managers and hence, they will stick to meeting them.
For the freelancers, they need to set a monthly target financially or volume of work to take up. This will make sure they know their bounds and will not take up more than what they can.
Setting goals also make you more productive.
Take Backups
Remember, you are on your own! You don’t have a system administrator who’s taking regular backups of your work.
Be prepared for contingencies such as power outage or a corrupt hard drive and have a plan B in such a case so that your work is not affected.
You can take a backup of your work every week so that you have that much of data with you in case your hard disk gets corrupt or damaged.
Have Some Personal Time
Make sure you have some personal and family time at least once every week to keep you sane. If you are going to work every day and all the time, you may as well work in an office which is more secure and pays you better too!
Remote working, if by choice, is taken up so that you can spend some quality time with yourself and with your family or friends. This personal time helps you refresh and become more productive.
Evaluate Your Work Periodically
This is important, especially for the freelancers.
You need to take a look at your work over a period of time and learn to correct the mistakes you have done earlier.
This also helps you keep a list of your personal favorites which you can, if possible, showcase to your prospective employers over a period of time.
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Thanks for the post. I like to work as a team player and hope this your post will help me alot
One more thing, not mentioned, is the health of the employee. I have worked from home this past 2 years, and have never been happier or healthier in my life. Not being subject to every cold and flu bug being passed around has made me more productive, compared to when my commute and daily office interactions meant I caught everything available…
Hi,
Thank you for such an amazing post. I will make sure to implement these as my work is also online.
A debt of gratitude is in order for the post. I get a kick out of the chance to fill in as a cooperative person and trust this your post will help me alot. One all the more thing, not said, is the soundness of the worker. I have telecommuted this previous 2 years, and have never been more content or more beneficial in my life.
One of the perks about working remotely is that you get to set your setting, however this can also be a negative thing as you might pick an area that is noisy or that the wifi isn’t very stable. With working remotely it’s a give and take situation but it can be an amazing thing. Just make sure that you stay honest with yourself and your clients/employer about expectations and getting the work done on time.
I agree with you and will be definitely looking forward to your future updates. Thank you and keep the great work up.
It only matters about technology and how we work with it.!
Thanks for this article! Many freelancer face these kind of problems,this will motivate us to keep the deadlines!
I vividly remember reading that short, punchy sentence again and again in my first few weeks at Zapier, each time pursing my lips, scrunching my forehead and thinking, “How did Wade finish that task so fast? Geesh, I’m slow.”
Zapier is my first job on a remote team. Prior to my time here, I spent two years in a co-located corporate cube farm and four years in a regional media company. Never though had I been a part of an organization in which each team member is on their own, dictating their own hours, office setup and work environment.
Great blog. Here we all can learn a lot of useful things. Thank you so much for this wonderful article.
Thanks so much for this helpful topic working remotely efficiently
Great Post.
In terms of technology, a mobile and responsive Intranet can be very useful in keeping you connected in the right kind of way. I would love to be part of a company where I could work hard, travel, see the world etc, where the quality of my output was measured rather than straight hours which are valueless in themselves.
I get inspired by being free… Technology gives me freedom
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