As we navigate these unprecedented times, remote working has become a requirement for many of us during the coronavirus pandemic. Whether you are the manager or an individual member on a team, you may still be adjusting to working from home becoming your new normal. To assist in this transition, we’ve put together a list of best practices you can implement to maintain your team and individual productivity.

1. First and foremost, set up a comfortable, designated work space and ensure that you have all of the items necessary to complete your day to day work activities. The objective is to prevent having to venture outside of your work space to grab something like a phone charger, pen, or something off the printer.
2. Have everyone on the team work the same schedule. This will enable you to schedule regular meetings, check-ins, and stick to existing recurring tasks or deadlines while you are working from home.
3. Communicate your work schedule with your family or roommates and establish any ground rules that make sense.
4. Set up a system for sharing documents such as Google Docs or Dropbox, if you don’t already have one.
5. Schedule regular video team meetings. Depending on the nature of your work, this could be as often as daily, but we recommend you hold a team meeting at least once a week.
6. Balance emails with voice or video calls. It’s so easy to simply fire off an email to ask a question, but when you and your team are working in a fully remote environment it’s important not to rely on email alone. Managers should set aside time to touch base weekly with each team member via phone or video chat individually in addition to team meetings.
7. Take scheduled breaks. We recommend you actually leave your work space to take your lunch or other breaks. Take advantage of being at home by sitting outside for your lunch or taking a short walk around your neighborhood.
8. Close up shop at the end of the day. Turn off your computer, shut the office door (if you can), and straighten up your desk at the end of the work day. It’s important to create work/life balance even when you are working from home.