5 Tips To Successfully Work From Home

First of all, I want to say thank you to the corporate office in Des Moines and specifically to our HR and IT Departments and the Office Leaders and Partners at BSB Design. The fact that we were able to get everyone working remotely in the time that we were given is nothing short of amazing.

Working remotely is not new to me. I started in June 2019 when I had a significant life change and chose to move to Mount Pleasant, SC. BSB Design was gracious enough to allow me to move while keeping me on board. I am forever grateful.

Marketing recently asked those of us who work remotely what advice we would give on how to work well at home. I can only speak to my personal situation. I normally work from home. My fiancé normally works from home. We don’t have kids, yet, and so our workday is not a strategic balance between the care of a child and the obligation to work.

Kudos to those of you who are balancing work and kiddos.  

I came up with these 5 themes of how to efficiently work from home.

1. Mindset | Where’s your head at?

• Leave the jammies in bed, fix the bedhead, and get dressed for the day.
• Routine becomes Ritual. Enjoy the process of shifting from a home mindset to a work mindset. You can equate this to your commute to work. Take a walk. Listen to some music. Get set for the day.

2. Communicate, communicate, communicate.

• Use the communication tools you have access to. Teams, WebEx, Chat - whatever you need to feel community.
• This also keeps you stay tapped into the tasks for your projects and your team.

3. Boundaries are your friend. A bit louder for those in the back. Boundaries are your friend!!

• Turn off phone notifications when you are in video calls. If you get distracted, other people can see you get distracted.
• A “Knock to Enter” policy.
• Eat lunch anywhere except your desk. (Take the break – your brain needs it.)
• At the end of the workday, turn your computer off and walk away.

4. Enjoy Small Pleasures.

• Cook something yummy for lunch. (And I mean cook – break out the skillet or better yet grill.)
• Run a load of laundry.
• Go outside.
• Enjoy a 15-minute break with your loved ones. This is basically the same as visiting the break room for a glass of water. Get refreshed and come back to work engaged.

5. LIFE HAPPENS.

•  This is your home. So what if your dog is barking in the background or if we can hear your kids playing? We are all experiencing this transition. All is well. No stress.

BSB Design is a national architecture firm dedicated to designing homes where people live better. It’s fitting that the company also takes this philosophy and applies that to the work environment. We take care of our own and we are looking forward to the future together.

Take a look at some BSB Design employees' work from home set-ups!