How to telecommute tips and advice on teleworking

I want to share tips for working remotely and that teleworking is productive and does not take over your life, because although it may not seem like it, working remotely has many lights and shadows that I want to show you.

I have been teleworking for companies for many years and offering my services remotely, I have had experiences of all colors and to be honest there are more forms of online work than we imagine, each one has a particularity but fears and insecurities come to be the same. That is why I want to share tips so that if you have to telework it will be lighter and that you do not control it much better.

Define and what tell you what your functions are

The first of all is to be clear about what your tasks are going to be from a distance and which ones are not. This is very important, if there is no contract because it is an emergency you should send an email to your supervisor or boss to tell you what are the functions you have to develop.

Of course, you must object to those that you will not be able to carry out or for which you do not have the means to undertake since they must have it.

It is important that the work conforms to your contract, it is not useful that you are hired as an administrative worker and that you work as a telemarketer at home or vice versa.

It is important that both of you are clear about the use that will be given to said equipment, as well as establishing appropriate data protection measures.

In cases of force majeure, work is done with an eye on the good faith of both parties, but as I said at the beginning, it is important that you inform your superiors if you need material or if there are jobs that you will not be able to carry out.

For example: imagine that you have to make a render on your home computer and without a 3DMax license or you simply do not have Excel activated, they should know that the programs have to activate you.

Hours to work from home:

This depends on the type of company in which you are providing remote services and if you have signed an agreement or pact that recognizes it and there is a real schedule in which you will have to sign in electronically.

In many cases, given the nature of remote work, the schedule is free but fulfilling a series of tasks and a minimum of hours.

At other times it is an agreed schedule in which during whatever weekly hours you are required to be working and available for the company.

There is the most coherent modality that is the one that freelancers apply which is for projects, we charge you for a job or an activity, this is a double-edged sword because price = time x money and we do not always calculate well the time that we are going to carry.

Justify your remote work

It is very important that it is clear that you are working and that there will be results, what your company expects is that your remote work will be as productive as in person and it is normal.

There are companies that install software to know if you are working and measure the rate of your productivity, this must be communicated in writing and must be included in the company”s rules, as well as being duly communicated in the data protection policy of the company. To give you an idea, it is as if they were recording you in real time and they know what you are doing on the Internet.

In case the company does not provide you with a schedule control, I recommend that you take it on your own and that you try to keep track of the tasks carried out in order to justify it and keep your own control.

I use software to see what I have done and measure my productivity, with the free version it may be enough for you and so you will be able to know day by day what you have worked, in this post you will see how RescueTime works

Obligations of the remote worker

Depending on the type of work or services, someone who provides technical assistance is not the same as someone who telework as an administrative worker in a factory have different tasks and obligations, but in general terms we can be clear that:

• They must carry out the work for which they have been hired, respecting the agreed hours and conditions.
• They must be locatable and available to the company.
• If the provision of the service is subject to permanence at home or must be carried out through a certain equipment, it must be done that way.
• Notify in case there are causes that do not allow you to carry out your work on a certain day or hours.
• Notify sick leave and discharge.

Work remotely as a team

Whether it is for extraordinary reasons or it is habitual, it is important to know how to work as a team remotely, thanks to this you will be able to reconcile it better and you will be able to advance better in some tasks.

There are applications that allow us to work remotely in teams and collaborate in an organized way, perhaps if the company does not have anything enabled you can suggest any of these:

TOOLS FOR VIDEO CONFERENCES AND VIRTUAL MEETINGS:

• Zoom –Allows free meetings of up to 100 participants of up to 40 minutes in length.
• Google Hangouts: Allows group calls and video conferences

Tools for messaging and file sharing and managing projects:

Although many people do it for WhatsApp, it is not even agile and also compression destroys images and other materials. In the case of code and others it is unfeasible. That is why I add free tools that allow you to manage projects and exchange files in a better way.

• Telegram: It allows you to send all kinds of quality files, it also allows you to create channels to broadcast messages and announcements and it can be automated.
• Slack: It is the best tool to coordinate teams because it allows you to send any file format and organize channels and conversations. You can chat and keep track of projects through it.
• Altassian Jira: It is a free project management tool that will help you to have a visualization of the completed tasks and you can send messages.
• Trello: You can send messages, files and notes to the team. It is organized by boards and it is easy and intuitive. You will be able to see completed and pending tasks.

Share desktops

It is important to have a tool that allows you to share your desktop so that other people can see it live or intervene on your computer.

• Team Viewer: it”s free and it”s easy to install, you just need to provide the code and once the performance is over, you close and that”s it!

Tips for teleworking without problems

YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS

The first thing if you work for someone else is that you have to do your job, you are not your boss, you can have more flexibility but it does not mean that you do what you want without the approval of your superiors.

It is important that you show it to the people around you because sometimes they think that working at home is a party and you will see that nothing could be further from the truth.

If you are a freelancer, you rule your job but the last word is who pays.

AWAY FROM DISTRACTIONS AND ASK FOR RESPECT

Avoid distractions in your work time, if you can silence WhatsApp groups, social networks and let everyone know that you are working and you cannot assist them in the meantime.

This is sometimes challenging because they are phoning, writing or even showing up at home and it is better to have a hard time at first but it will help you start working from home on the right foot.

ENTERTAIN THE KIDS

If you have children or more people at home, ask them to respect your space and work, let them know that it is very important not to disturb while you work.

For this, it is ideal that you establish routines and that they have obligations, as well as doing homework, playing or watching a movie. If your telework is caused by something exceptional and you have the little ones at home all day, it will be difficult for you to entertain them throughout your day.

SET A SCHEDULE FOR EVERYTHING RELATED TO WORK

In case you have to sign in or if you are an employed person, do not extend your day by attending emails, WhatsApp, meetings outside those hours, they will not pay you and you are opening the door to be available 24/7.

Self-employed people is something that we have to value and try to do when starting any relationship with new clients since at the end of the month there are many hours that are not budgeted and in the end they represent a large burden that takes away the little leisure we have.

It is important that you keep a schedule or a control of the tasks that you must do every day and complete them.

DO NOT BE CARELESS

There are urban legends who say that you can work in your pajamas from home, don”t do it, one thing is not wearing a uniform and another is not combing your hair and working in pajamas.

It is a healthy habit not to lose the habit of dressing and grooming even if you are not going to go out.

It is also very important that you look for a comfortable place and that you maintain good posture, avoid overloading yourself because of working in bed or on the sofa.

DON”T LOSE CONTACT WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES

It is important that you remain in communication with your colleagues just as you would in normal work situations. This will help you work better and stress less.

REST WELL

It is important that you have your moments of pause and rest between tasks, stretch your legs and take mini-breaks of 5 minutes in which you give yourself some reward: have a snack, watch the FB, smoke, see what the kids do…

It is very important that you take breaks because even if it may not seem like it at first, it is easy to burn yourself working from home.

PLAN WELL AND KEEP AN AGENDA

It is important to plan, as well as reserve the space for events, meetings, or jobs that we know we have on a certain day a week and reserve the schedule for them.

Don”t burn yourself working remotely

Working remotely is hard because it is difficult to combine family life around you with work that requires concentration, so do not stress if the first days of teleworking are horrible or you have the feeling that you are not moving forward, it is another way of working and think about what it is like when you go to work again in a place and you don”t know where things are and you need some time to adapt.

An issue that is not talked about much is the uncertainty that one has when working remotely. When you work in person you can take the pulse of the company, colleagues tell you things and you find out about the changes and more or less you can intuit if things are going well. Working remotely, these perceptions are not received and you may be afraid of your job position. For this reason, it is important that you maintain fluid communication with your colleagues and superiors, either by phone or email and that you report your progress or if you have doubts or problems.

Not being clear if you are doing it well or if the company is trusting you can be something that leads you to try to push yourself beyond the usual hours and workload that you would have in your face-to-face position. That is why I insist that you keep track of the hours you invest.