Coronavirus Features

Business Owner Says Working at Home Is an Acquired Skill

Lessons Learned from Experience

By Nancy Urbschat

Nancy Urbschat in her home office.

Nancy Urbschat in her home office.

Many of you are experiencing work at home for the first time, and without the luxury of months of planning like those at our marking firm, TSM Design, did when we decided to go virtual on Jan. 1, 2019.

We are now in the midst of a global pandemic, and socially distancing people is the only way to flatten the COVID-19 curve. (Now that’s a sentence I would not have imagined writing, let alone living through. But here we are.)

These are challenging times for everyone. Our concept of normalcy is changing daily. We barely have time to catch our breath before there are new rules of engagement. Businesses have gone from limiting the size of meetings to prohibiting travel and work-at-home orders.

During TSM Design’s morning Zoom on March 16, we started the meeting discussing the impact the virus was having on our lives. Our conversation then turned to all of you who are just starting to work at home. We wondered if we could be helpful sharing what we’ve learned during these past 15 months.

Your Office

• Create a designated workspace in your home. The kitchen or dining-room table is not ideal.

• If possible, position your desk by a window. Then don’t forget to open the shades.

• While you’re working with no one else around, you have the luxury of cranking up the volume on your favorite tunes. No earbuds necessary!

• Don’t assume that your reputation for a messy desk is suddenly going to change now that you’re home.

Virtual Meetings and Conference Calls

• Be mindful of your meeting attendees’ view inside your office.

• If your video is on and no one can see you, uncover your camera. (This has happened on more than one occasion.)

• If you have a barky dog, leave your audio on mute until it’s your turn to speak.

• Project a professional image — at least from the waist up.

• Try never to schedule a virtual presentation with multiple attendees gathered around one computer screen. It’s deadly when you can’t see audience reaction.

• If you have a camera, please turn it on. Keep the playing field level. If you can see me, I ought to be able to see you.

• Provide tutorials for people who are new to videoconferencing platforms.

• Assume the role of facilitator. Pose questions, talk less, listen more.

Productivity

• Take a brisk walk before you start your workday.

• Maintain a regular morning meeting with your team. We try to Zoom every day at 8:30 a.m.

• Try to get your most challenging work done early in the day.

• Save your work frequently — especially if you have a cat that likes to walk across your keyboard.

• Keep a running to-do list. Go ahead and celebrate what got crossed off at the end of every day.

• Don’t sit for hours on end. Get up. Do a few stretches. Walk around the block.

• Don’t eat at your desk. Go to your kitchen and make lunch. Savor it. Then go back to work.

• Give yourself permission to give in to small distractions. If there is a pile of dishes in the sink that’s bothering you, do the dishes. Then go back to work.

Your Mental Health

• Get a good night’s sleep, with plenty of deep sleep and REM. It might be a good time to buy a Fitbit or other device to track your sleep and your heart rate.

• Eat healthy, and stay hydrated.

• Use your newfound virtual-meeting tools to stay in touch with family and friends.

• Schedule a Zoom dinner party.

• Take care of one another.

• Be kind to everyone.

Some Final Thoughts

After a while, the novelty of working from home may wear off. If and when that happens, we hope you’ll remember all of the service-industry workers who have to show up to work in order to get paid. And remember the healthcare workers who are on the front lines, doing battle against the virus, who continue to be in harm’s way without adequate masks and other critical protection.

No one knows how long social distancing will be required or whether more dramatic actions will be necessary. We find ourselves wondering whether people are taking this pandemic seriously and doing what’s necessary to avoid a bona fide human catastrophe. Recent photos from Fort Lauderdale beaches were mind-boggling. Yet, in that same social-media stream, there were posts about acts of courage and heroism.

This is a defining moment for us. Will future generations take pride in how we were able to make sacrifices, pull together, and care for each other?

Your Homework Assignment

So, first-time work-at-homers, get yourself set up, settle in, and shoot me an e-mail about how it’s going.

Nancy Urbschat is president of TSM Design; [email protected]