{"id":1940,"date":"2013-05-31T01:58:06","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T01:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=531"},"modified":"2013-05-31T01:58:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T01:58:06","slug":"proving-and-improving-productivity-when-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/proving-and-improving-productivity-when-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Proving (and Improving) Productivity When Working from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Remote workers struggle with a burden that many other workers don\u2019t.\u00a0 We have to prove our productiveness, even when we are giving 110%.\u00a0 Where our in office counterparts may do the exact same amount of work, they spend less time proving their worthiness to their managers than we do.\u00a0 Since bosses are able to walk by the desk of an employee in the office and see that they are working, or at least appear to be working, they don\u2019t feel the need to question them often.\u00a0 Those of us working at home can\u2019t just say we are hard at work; and other than setting up a 24\/7 webcam stream, we have to prove it by showing results, data, or some sort of documentation.\u00a0 We can reduce the strain of this burden by following some simple tips.\u00a0 These tips will ease your manager\u2019s fears, and will make you more productive.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Be Available for Communication \u2013<\/b> Have your phone on, be signed on to your preferred IM client, and have your email open.\u00a0 Be ready to communicate at any time.\u00a0 This will make you seem like you aren\u2019t far away to your boss.\u00a0 If you want to work from home you need a good minutes\/texting plan from your wireless carrier.<\/li>\n<li><b>Be Responsive \u2013<\/b> Don\u2019t wait hours or days to respond to emails.\u00a0 Check it frequently and respond immediately.\u00a0 When your manager asks for you to work on something, make sure you reply right away to let them know you got the message and understand what they want you to do.\u00a0 Also include an estimated delivery time on the final product.\u00a0 This shows you are on the ball and will keep them from wondering if you are really working.<\/li>\n<li><b>Follow Through on your Deadlines \u2013<\/b> Don\u2019t be late on your assignments.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t complete projects on time, the boss is going to immediately assume it is because you aren\u2019t focusing while at home.\u00a0 They will picture you in front of the TV watching reruns even if you have been working the whole time.\u00a0 If you need more time on a project, send an email far before the deadline asking for an extension because you want to make sure it is done to the best of your ability.<\/li>\n<li><b>Don\u2019t go Overboard with Updates \u2013 <\/b>It\u2019s okay to let your manager know if you have made a major breakthrough on a project.\u00a0 Certainly follow through with any requested status updates they ask for.\u00a0 But don\u2019t send one to them every hour just because you are working from home.\u00a0 The overabundance of messages will only annoy them and may even make them suspicious.<\/li>\n<li><b>You\u2019re Trusted \u2013<\/b> Don\u2019t stress!\u00a0 If you were allowed to work remotely you obviously were trusted enough by management to do so.\u00a0 It takes an individual of strong will and persistence to keep themselves engaged, manage their own time, and make tough decisions without any assistance.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to pick up extra work you wouldn\u2019t normally do, especially if it\u2019s not your specialty.<\/li>\n<li><b>Sync Up \u2013<\/b> Be sure to have meetings with your managers and co-workers every 2 weeks to 1 month to touch base.\u00a0 This will ensure that both you are them are on the same page.\u00a0 This is the perfect time to iron out any issues you have with job duties, communication problems, or project confusion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Remote workers struggle with a burden that many other workers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[430,431],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1940\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}