Tips for Productive and Happy Remote-Working

Status is an entirely remote organisation. We have core contributors in 20+ countries around the world and we offer them the freedom to work from wherever they like. We believe that this model of remote working leads to a happier, more engaged and productive team. But there are challenges to remote working - namely that the reduced social interaction can make it harder to create meaningful connections with peers, can increase loneliness and feelings of isolation or detachment.

Collectively our team has 100s of years of remote-working experience, so we asked them for their top tips for productive and happy remote-working. Here are the best ones:

• “If you work from home, try and create a dedicated office space to you can have a meaningful detachment from `work` and `home`.”
• “At least once a day, I go for a walk. It sounds silly but walking for the sake of walking (rather than walking to the office, or the train station, or a set destination) can be very relaxing.”
• “Join local co-working spaces, or find cafes that are worker friendly, to get out-and-about.”
• “Take real “no work” breaks: some dedicated time to read a book, go for a walk, cook lunch when I’m not at my laptop, and not checking my phone.”
• “Create a social calendar in advance, and spend time arranging a few coffee/lunch appointments for each week to create a clear purpose to get out of the house.”
• “I have a daily short nap. It’s a great way of getting refreshed one of the best perks of working from home.”
• “Create dedicated “me” time in the calendar to create time and space for me to work on a problem uninterrupted. I’ll turn off notifications during this time.”
• “Have a “closing-down” ritual (at a set time) when you finish work - clear your desk, close the laptop, tuck your chair in, etc to create a finite end to the working day at home.”
• “Create dedicated “chat time” with people to connect socially online - trying to replicate some of the lost watercooler/coffee machine moments that happen in an office.”