Lightyear's Top 10 Tips for Remote Workers
Working from home can be great, but it comes with the many challenges of noisy neighbours, screaming children, and barking dogs. Even just being out of the office presents its own set of problems. As AP teams across the world continue to work remotely, we thought we would share our top 10 tips curated from our team and customers, to help you succeed in the new norm.
Cloud tools
Working from home has made it nearly impossible for AP teams to continue with traditional processes. Leveraging cloud-based automation software such as Lightyear has helped to solve some of the biggest challenges faced by accounting teams working remotely including document security, fraud prevention, on-time approvals, access to real-time data and archived bills to facilitate remote auditing.
Make a business and personal To-do list
To-Do lists help to keep you organised, focused, and engaged as you work towards your goals every day. Once you complete a task and cross it off your list, the sense of progress and achievement can help motivate you to keep going. They are also great to help ensure that you don’t forget anything important!
Working from home means you can also get a head start on home tasks such as doing a load of laundry or preparing dinner.
Share tools
Shareable remote working tools that facilitate video conferencing, project management, and instant messaging are great for keeping up to date with your team, keeping everyone on track.
Routines
Segment your day and stick to it, establishing a daily routine increases your productivity and helps improve your mental health. Remember to take regular breaks to rest, re-charge, and relax. Marty Lobdell explains the importance of breaks in this short clip.
Video Credits: @piercecollege
Location, location, location!
Working from the comfort of your mattress or lounging on the sofa with a laptop may seem harmless, but it can severely affect your posture and lead to backache. Some find it helpful to create their own working environment with a desk and chair either in a home office or kitchen. This also helps to keep your spine and head straight and maintain the proper distance from the laptop screen.
Minimise distractions
Set ground rules about who can enter your workspace and when. This is important especially if you have children or pets who might intrude in your workspace and cause distraction. Ensure you have everything you need including a laptop, charger, mobile phone and water bottle to ensure a smooth, uninterrupted workflow. But remember to make remote working fun by listening to music, sticking to your daily coffee routines, and enjoying the perks of all your home comforts.
Non-business catch-ups
All work and no play can drastically impact morale so ensure to have some fun. Make time to check in with your colleagues regularly. The pandemic has caused immense fear, uncertainty, and many stressful situations. You never know what someone else is going through so be kind. Video calls are always better than voice calls as seeing body language and facial expressions can help other members of your team feel reassured, more comfortable, and connected.
Be mindful
Many of your colleagues will have various personal challenges which may make it difficult for them to work. Be mindful of odd working hours and tasks taking longer than normal.
No unnecessary communications
Video calls and instant messaging fatigue can cause productivity paralysis. Constant notifications can distract you from doing the task in hand. To be more efficient and ensure that your team is all on the same page, group queries together where possible, and answer collectively during a team meeting.
Video call etiquette
Perhaps the most important tip to follow when working from home is following video call etiquette. As meetings shift to video calls, it is essential to look presentable and be professional each time you Skype or FaceTime with your team members. Make sure to dress appropriately- change out of pyjamas/ loungewear and into professional attire.
We hope these top tips help to improve your working from home experience. If you have any other tips we would love to hear from you. Drop your top tip in the comments below.
