The five commandments of successful remote working

It's proven, employees tend to work more remotely and find it difficult to disconnect. We know you know what we're talking about! On the other hand, employers sometimes fear a relaxation, a drop in motivation or less good management of time and concentration.

Finally, the meetings follow one another at a hellish pace, which often leaves little time to carry out the work itself... or even to breathe a little. We have gone from office presenteeism to digital presenteeism!

Here are some golden rules so that teleworking really adds to your personal, family and professional quality of life.

For the human being and head of the family who works from home

1- Realistic expectations you will have:

Realistic expectations are more easily met, but the problem is that when working from home, you sometimes think you can do three days in one! If our calculations are correct, on the days you work from home, you save about one to three hours, which corresponds to travel and dinner time.

To use them in a fully satisfactory way, it is better to identify clear and few priorities. To help you, you can try to clear your head completely early in the morning or the night before (mental decluttering) by writing down all the “shoulds”. Then identify the real needs and priorities in each sphere (work, family, personal life) and ask yourself if it is realistic to achieve them in one and the same day. Each morning, choose realistic goals according to the context, the time AND the ENERGY you have. Above all, resist the temptation to say yes to everything or add too many items to your list. What absolutely must and can be done today?

2- A teleworking routine you will develop.

Whether you work remotely or in hybrid mode, the routine you put in place matters!

It's easy to get carried away with the things to do and the Teams invitations that come flooding in, but have you thought about organizing your day in blocks, so that there are clear transitions?

• For example, you can start your day with a block to yourself (walking, exercising, reading) during the time you usually take to get to work.
• You can also give yourself a family block to take advantage of the time saved: drive the children to school or daycare, play with them, or do some light chores… like doing a load of laundry.
• By working in blocks, you can vary the modes (meetings, concentration work without notifications, reading and research, planning, administration) and the working places (rooms of the house, office, house, third place).

Put your recurring blocks in your calendar, then fill in the rest with your current tasks and the unexpected.

3- Clear beacons you will install:

Proactively managing your agenda can be intimidating at first, but it's essential to maintaining satisfaction in all areas of your life.

#tempsblanc breaks in kind: it's proven , 20 minutes in kind reduces the level of cortisol (stress hormone). But just 5-10 minutes at a time also makes a difference, between meetings for example. Open the door, sit at the window, walk around the garden. We breathe and let the content of our mental space settle and the space be created.

Disconnection: clearly marks the beginning and end of the day, as if you were at the office. This time you save, use it intentionally to do something that makes you feel good and to clear your mind. Identifying an “opening” and “closing” ritual can help you unplug!

For the professional passionate (or not) in teleworking:

Who says teleworking says buttocks glued to his chair! Here are some tips for working effectively AND satisfactorily while working remotely.

4- The modes of communication you will vary.

Not all dating is equal! Why not vary the modes by holding active meetings such as, for a change, on the phone without a screen? It is important to clarify whether our meeting is one of collaboration, creativity, to take the pulse or a simple meeting of information and follow-up. It helps to make them shorter and to vary the format!

5- Priorities, you will manage.

To shorten your to-do list, our advice is always to focus on needs rather than goals. Take the pulse of your team members to know their needs and plan your day in a win-win way.

What we do every day becomes our life, so it's important to intentionally cultivate healthy habits that make us feel good about our day, whether that's starting the day with laundry, working out, or going walking BEFORE sitting down at your desk, to feel less guilty for not doing chores during the day, or by always closing your computer at the same time, turning off your notifications or closing the door when your day is finished, the idea is to be fully there, in all our roles, in turn.

That is leadership! You have our full permission to become the leader of your remote work experience.

Who knows, maybe you will influence the culture of your organization!