Work-from-home master class
Working from home sounded great when you could do it occasionally, but now just about everyone is in full-blown WFH mode amid the spread of the coronavirus.
We know what’s playing out at home. You, your spouse and kids are all calling dibs on the kitchen table to work, and with everyone using the Wi-Fi, it’s slower than dial-up. If you’re lucky enough to work from home all the time, you’ve got it down. But if you’re a newbie, working from home can be fraught with challenges. There’s no tech support down the hall, and there’s no chatting up your colleague when you’re bored. If you live alone, your place might be quieter than a meditation retreat, but if you and the fam are stuck inside, it might be louder than a rock concert.
Carrie Lannon, a communication and branding consultant has worked from home for six years. She said she’s getting calls for tips from friends because many people are bewildered being out of their workday element.
Sure, there are plenty of perks to working from home — comfy slippers replace shoes, you don’t worry too much about your wardrobe and the snacks are far better than the office vending machine. But this is not a license to go feral. Get out of your PJs. Shower. Put on clothes. Comfy is fine. “I’m on a lot of video conference calls, so I do make sure I look pretty good from the waist up,” Lannon said.
To help the uninitiated, we spoke to four veteran WFH Chicagoans for their insights on how to adjust.
Sharon Angelus, a web analyst who has worked from home for about 10 years, said having bigger monitors and higher internet speeds are a must. She also uses an external hard drive for backing up data; Seagate has a version with 2 terabytes of space for about $90. Cloud-based data backups are another option, and many WFH vets use both.
Jason Patterson works in software and has had a home office for four years. He said better routers and Wi-Fi extenders are critical. “Home connectivity is extremely important because you’re not going to be at your desk all day. You’ll probably walk around the house to take a call and you might work on the internet in a different part of the house.”
For noise, from the loud neighbor to the everyone’s favorite, the sound of a jackhammer on the street, Patterson swears by noisecanceling headphones. Look into a wireless set that also has Bluetooth capabilities for phone calls, like the ones from JLab Audio.