Remote working? My top five tips

I have worked from home full time for almost 10 years now and in that time I've learned a lot about how to do it successfully. But for many people currently in self-isolation or working remotely due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it may be the first time they've worked from home or at least the first long-term remote work stint for them, so I thought I'd share my top tips.

1. Get used to being on video. Not all of us are comfortable being on camera. I confess it's not my favourite thing, but I am a convert. In almost 14 years with my current employer, I have had regular video calls with my manager and my team, who are all based in other countries. Until the last year or so, it was mostly optional. Now, almost every meeting I am involved in is a conference call using video, often with 10 or more people on the call. Being able to see people helps to build relationships and reduces the temptation to multitask or tune out during a meeting. You can see reactions, smiles and gestures which can make a big difference. If you're a small business and don't have fancy collaboration tools, Skype or WhatsApp work just fine.
2. Do not work in your pyjamas. It's the cliché about working from home that I hate the most. Apart from during a few 6am conference calls, I can honestly say I have never worked in my pyjamas. I get up, shower, wear proper clothes and make up. It's a job, and you will not feel professional or motivated in your PJs. And related to the first tip above: you may be invited to a video call at short notice and sleep or leisure wear is not a good look. I usually go for the 'newsreader approach': hair brushed, makeup on and a professional top/jacket paired with comfy jeans and ugg boots.
3. Take breaks and move. It's very easy to sit at your desk for hours and then realise you haven't moved. I sometimes even forget to eat, especially seeing as I often have meetings during normal lunch hours due to time differences with the US and Asia. Set a reminder on your PC, smartwatch or Fitbit and make sure you get up and stretch regularly. Book exercise into your calendar. Having a dog means I walk for 20 minutes twice a day even if nothing else. I also love my standing desk.
4. Set up a work space. Where possible, find a dedicated space for your PC and other work equipment, ideally one that's not shared with your partner or kids. Recently I've taken to moving to different locations in the house during the day, just to mix it up and get a different outlook - or to get the best background and lighting for that important video call! 
5. Stop at the end of the day. I am much better at this than I used to be, but it can still be a problem during peak periods. However, one of the top benefits of remote work is the flexibility in hours. As long as you get the work done and deliver results (agreeing what those are is a key to successful management of remote workers), it's up to you to determine when and how. Especially in winter, I usually stop work at 4pm to walk the dog before it gets dark, then go back to work afterwards. I might go out for a haircut or medical appointment during the day and make up the time later. As long as I am meeting expectations, that is fine. I get much more done working from home than I do in the office, so I don't feel guilty about taking time out.

Remote work isn't new. The technology is available and not hard or expensive to set up anymore. It's not possible for all jobs of course, and even for work that can be done remotely, I understand it's not for everyone. However, I hope this current crisis serves as a wake-up call to organisations large and small who still do not allow employees to work from home or other locations largely for cultural reasons or a lack of management maturity.

I'm not unusual in the company I work for. In a crisis, our leadership team can tell all staff to take their laptops home and work from there indefinitely. It's been useful more than once, even as far back as during Japan's earthquake and tsunami disasters in 2011. And it's proving critical in the extended and constantly shifting COVID-19 crisis.

The view from my home office is pretty good, despite the fly screen!

Making sloe gin

The kindness of friends in our local community in making sure we had food in the house during our self-isolation period after returning from Germany has been extremely humbling. While I feel a little guilty as I am not sick (touch wood), I am so very grateful. Without their support and offers of help, it would have been challenging to have a normal-ish life at home. These lovely people have dropped off milk, bread, eggs, vegetables, home made soup, Tim Tams and even great German beer, which will be perfect for washing away the disappointment of cutting short our holiday.

Among the doorstep deliveries was a bag of sloes. Sloe gin is something I hadn't tried until moving to Tasmania. My top tips for the local ones would be those from McHenry and Nonesuch Distillery, quite different but both delicious. Now I'm about to try making some myself, using this recipe from 'Gourmet Farmer' Matthew Evans. We'll get to find out what it tastes like in somewhere between three and six months time.

Auf Wiedersehen, Göttingen

It's been crickets here for a while, I know. I worked long hours in January and February for various reasons: it was planning and budgeting season, the coronavirus (COVID-19) was ramping up in Asia, I was getting ready for eight weeks long service leave, and of course there were a few of those those random requests that send you chasing your tail for no outcome at all. Gotta love those.

On 28 February I started my long service leave, and on the same day, got on a flight to Germany to do a language course. Studying at the Goethe Institut in Germany and doing the level C2 exam (a proficiency standard for European languages) has been top of my bucket list for years. David wanted to come with me and do a beginners German course. We were supposed to be gone for just over a month, but the Coronavirus situation escalated very quickly. Die Welt has published a fantastic animated graphic showing just how quickly things moved in countries outside China from late February. Every morning we got up something else had changed.

On Sunday night 15 March we learned that our German courses were cancelled along with the exam I was studying for. It was unavoidable but annoying, as both of us were really enjoying the course. Within two weeks, I had gone from being quite terrified and certain I would be unable to pass the exam to confident that I could. We cancelled our planned trip to Berlin at the end of the month. Then, the Australian government advised that citizens should return home as soon as possible, and there were rumours about the financial viability of airlines including one we were flying with.

The beautiful city of Göttingen where we were based started to close down. Shops and restaurants shut, public transport stopped taking cash and then started cutting services. Unable to contact the airlines as contact centres failed, we hot tailed it to Frankfurt airport to try and bring our flights forward in person, to no avail. Then the Tasmanian government announced new entry restrictions. We ended up forking out $3,800 on new flights to get home before even tougher travel restrictions came into force. Which we won't get back as travel insurance does not cover you in a pandemic.

I won't deny that having to say goodbye to my dream and the prospect of having nothing to look forward to again sent me into a bit of a downward spiral. But compared to the impact of this crisis on other people's lives and livelihoods, it's nothing. We're now into day two of 14 days self-isolation. I definitely won't be bored, as there is a long list of things I was planning to do in April, many of which can be done at home. Posting here is one of them.