Are you making the transition to remote work? With the current situation with COVID-19 and national call for social distancing, many companies are quickly transitioning their employees to work from home. Did you know that at Long Capture we have been a fully remote company from the start? Our employees work all over the country but are still able to do incredible things and collaborate as a team. Check out our tips below to get some of our secrets to success.
01. Write a routine and stick to it!
When transitioning to a fully remote workday, it is easy to let schedules and structures fall to the wayside. Make the most of the time you save by skipping your morning commute by getting an early start on your workday. Keep that momentum by developing a routine for getting your work done and stick to it. As a team, we just read Atomic Habits by James Clear, and we found it incredibly helpful!
02. Be purposeful with communication.
Team happy hours, morning kickoff meetings, strategic planning sessions, and one-on-one meetings can all happen over web-based video conferencing platforms. We love video vs. audio-only phone calls because it helps you connect with one another through face-to-face communication much like you would if you were still working in a traditional office setting. We find that actual face time helps facilitate stronger interpersonal relationships and reduces miscommunication. We also email out notes and a recording of the meeting to all the attendees afterward for their reference. This allows us to be sure everyone got the takeaways we were hoping for without relying on individual note-taking ability.
03. Get dressed for work!
We all love getting to work in our pj’s or sweats when we can hide at home. That is great for a few days but when you work from home on a regular basis that can really stifle your motivation. The act of getting up and putting on different clothes when it is time to get to work is very helpful for changing your mindset from hanging out at home to work. We also recommend even if you don’t have a home office finding a space in your home you can dedicate to work time.
Tools we couldn’t live without!
Monday.com | We use this for all of our project management needs.
Slack | Having collaborative workspaces is essential for us! We can collaborate about projects but this also gives us a great place to bond with our remote co-workers on a personal level!
Google Drive | Again, when you can’t collaborate in person this is essential! This allows us to collaborate on actual files and track changes that are made.
Google Hangouts | Any meetings that don’t need to be recorded happen here.
Zoom | We use Zoom for recorded meetings and webinars with our clients. Doing webinars has been essential for us to be available to our clients even though we are geographically distant.
Calendly | Calendly makes it easy for clients to book appointments with us without having to factor in what timezone everyone is in.
Welcome to the remote workforce, we hope you love it!