12 Tips for Working From Home From Those Already Working From Home

Working From Home. Everybody is doing it now and everybody is writing about it. You’re an author/writer/freelancer and you’ve always, or for the most part, you’ve been working from home and these “newbies” think they have all the answers, but did they ask you?

And what about you? How are you coping with those interlopers crowding YOUR office space and using YOUR office supplies and taking advantage of YOUR office snacks?

I must admit, I have always worked in the office and I’m struggling to work from home because I miss my peeps, my snacks, my lunches with colleagues, and the unlimited supply of office products. So I had to ask my husband, he works from home and has done so for many years. Once a week he’ll make an appearance at the office but he’s a WFH guy. He has a nice setup in the loft—his computer, printer, scanner, bathroom close by, and the cat. Now, not only have I joined him in home office-ing but our daughter is doing on-line classes and work from home—we have three home offices going on. Yes, despite a three-level home, we are crowded. My husband is in the open loft, I’m in the open kitchen, and our daughter is in the open living room.

Here are his tips for dealing with two more home offices (with my two cents worth thrown in to make sure we have a balanced point of view):

1. Have everybody invest in a good pair of headphones.

2. In the morning, everybody shares their schedule for conference calls. Note those on your calendar and, where possible, try to schedule around each other.

3. If there are conflicting conference calls, try to work it out before the call. Occasionally there will be last-minute incoming meetings and calls. It’s fair and reasonable to let your conference call colleagues know and understand your personal set up and that sometimes they might hear background calls and voices.

4. When there are conflicting conference calls that can’t be rescheduled, the newbies need to find another space to take their calls. The permanent WFH party has a permanent office set up and was there first and is most productive in their already-established environment. If you’re the newbie, you’re already in upheaval; let the permanent WFH party continue since they’ll still be there when the rest of you are gone back to the office.

5. Establish clearly defined physical office boundaries. “This is my space, you can’t criticize the way I set it up nor can you tell me to clean it.” (this was said for my benefit)

6.  No comments from the peanut gallery on other conversations.

7.  Be respectful of each other’s privacy.

8. Be aware that for the new people this new WFH status is difficult—there will be some tension. Take deep breaths and let it go. This will pass.

9. Keep your regular routine—try to not let the new WFH people upset your schedule and routine. Remind them when they ask for help with the wifi, computer, printer, scanner, zoom calls, that you are like the office IT—you’ll get to it when you can and not at the expense of your job. 

10. Have fun—share jokes, memes, funny stories.

11. Everyone commits to keeping public areas clean and uncluttered. (For me, I’m the one in the kitchen, I have to be able to move my equipment at the end of the day whereas the other two can stay set up).

12. For everybody, eat regularly, get up and walk around (but don’t interrupt the work of the others), and quit work at an agreed-upon reasonable time.

 Virus or not, work and lifestyles change. Learn to share and learn to work it out. Keep safe, keep sane, and keep your spirits up. As the Italians say: Andrà tutto bene!