There is a lot to like about the flexibility and independence of remote work, but there are some real challenges to working from home or your local café, too.
Jayna Wallace knows all about this. She has been working out of her home office for the past fifteen years, collaborating with distributed design teams at companies like AOL, Myspace, Refinery29 and Blockbuster, along with her current roles at Hearst Digital Studios and mobile news site Billy Penn. We asked her for some tips on how to excel as a remote employee.
1. Clarity Is Key
Back in the early 2000s, Wallace worked on the team behind the AIM/Netscape instant messenger. But as AOL gradually faded, layoffs followed, and Wallace found that she was the only person left in her local office. Her boss suggested that she work from home.
One challenge she soon encountered was the lack of face-to-face interactions. She says that clarity is key when communicating online. “For those of us who rely on email or Slack—never knowing what time of the day or night your co-worker may get that message—you have to be clear in what you need,” Wallace says.
2. Utilize Online Tools for Feedback
On a related note, maintaining a tight cycle of iteration can be tricky if you have to collect feedback from afar. “When you work in an office you can fall back on the crutch of just running over to someone’s desk or sitting next to them to have them walk you through something. But when you’re remote you don’t have the luxury,” explains Wallace.
To help smooth things out, try using a dedicated online feedback tool. TrackDuck is great for web design, while Dropbox and Hightail allow you to share files selectively, with a full comments section for feedback. These platforms let you talk about your design without having to re-upload your file with each new tweak. You could also encourage clients or colleagues to use Skitch to mark up their suggestions.
3. Earn the Respect Of Your In-Office Colleagues
One thing Wallace has found in her years of working from home is that her office-based colleagues do not always think she is being productive. “Studies have proven that remote workers spend more time actually working than our in-office counterparts, yet there’s this persistent perception that we’re all just kicking back watching TV or doing laundry (or playing games).”
In order to overcome these misconceptions, Wallace suggests checking in with your team every morning, “to make sure you’re not missing out on some new project no one told you about, or an important meeting.” Equally, it is better to over-produce than fly under the radar—“unless your excuse would work in an in-office environment, it won’t work when you’re at home.”
4. Track Time and Tasks
Finding the motivation to fuel your work is difficult, but Wallace recommends keeping track of your productivity. “It will keep you honest about the time you’re really spending on your work,” she says.
For freelancers, keeping tabs on how you spend your time gives an accurate account of your billable hours and offers key insights to improve your time management.
For telecommuting employees, there is at least one very good reason to keep a record of your time: “Layoffs always hit the remote folks first,” Wallace points out. “Your manager can’t see you, so you need to over-produce and get your deliverables out on time so they know you’re working.”
Wallace also suggests another method for self-discipline. In addition to starting your work days with a to-do list, you should also “write down a list of everything you got done today… if you weren’t as productive as you needed to be, you’ve got your to-do list all set for the next day.”
5. Set Clear Boundaries
Productivity is important, but so is your down time—something that seems almost mystical to many of us who work from home. Wallace insists that setting boundaries is vital. “Pick a schedule and keep it. When you turn on Slack (or Hangouts, HipChat, etc.), you’re at work. When you shut it down, you’re not. You can’t always be available to everyone at any time.”
Likewise, she advises against working in your PJs every day. “Go for a walk or leave the house to get coffee… rolling out of bed and scooting five feet to your computer can be nice in the mornings, but it does make it hard to distinguish being at ‘home’ from being at ‘work.’ Getting outside and getting some air before you start your day can be invigorating.”
Top image: Vector illustration of white light bulbs growing on green background by wowomnom
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