When this rare form of coronavirus hit China, a number of people didn’t expect it to spread this far and fast. But it has, and in reality, it is worse than we had feared. Countries like Italy, who have been hard hit are in total lockdown. And, yet still, work has to go on in various sectors.
Most governments today are requesting companies to have their employees work from home if they can. The work from home idea is now certainly a clear option for many companies to help contain the spread of the virus. But how do you manage to get work done and communicate with your employer from home?
Freelancers and their clients have, for years, developed relationships with each other and developed clear communication tactics. They can be separated by miles and oceans, but still get work done — an on time. But how about people who are not used to working remotely? How can they optimize communication?
Freelancers Aren’t Exempt
First of all, when it comes to communication during a pandemic, freelancers aren’t exempt from optimizing communication with their clients. They too, have to get this right since it can be a long time before you may hear from a client in a different part of the world. This is especially the case when there’s a lockdown.
Set A Time For Communication
One thing is clear, whether there’s a pandemic or not, the key is to set time to communicate. When you work from home with no clear guidelines, having a call from the boss can be challenging. But if you mutually schedule a time with your boss when you will be in communication, things go on smoothly.
To ensure things run easily, just ask if you can have a 5-10 minute call, before or after work every day. It ensures you know what to do and the end of the day call ensures you have done what was expected. The call should be clear, concise, and as short as possible.
Clear Set-Expectations
One thing that makes communication optimized, which in other words means used appropriately, is having set expectations. When you communicate for work during these tough times, you want to have clear expectations.
No one wants those morning and evening calls going to waste because there was no clear instruction. You’d have wasted the whole day working on something that wasn’t expected, only to be told in the end to put in the work again the day after. Or, you may have miscommunicated and overplayed your skills. Either way, it doesn’t help when there are no clear expectations.
Treat Communication As If You’re In The Office
Most of the ‘working class’ spend a lot of their time in close proximity to their boss which makes communication much easier for them. But when working from home, there’s no pressure and you have a lot of liberty. At times this breeds laziness and complacency.
But this is still your real job; you still have to deliver on what was expected of you. Especially when it comes to communication, as this is a crucial part of getting work done. If you don’t communicate, you won’t get all the instructions. This can make it very difficult to do your work.
Embracing The Digital Workplace
Almost everything is moving online soon; the earlier you realize that the better it is for you. And, working from home today because of the COVID -19 pandemic may just be a trial of things to come in your workplace. Now, it’s time you embraced the digital workspace.
In the more traditional workspace, your supervisor is a constant shadow lingering over you. You have to do the work or at least pretend to be working even if you’re not. You don’t want to look like you’re earning so much from easy work, right? But that can work against you when you work from home where there’s a lot of temptations.
When you’re in the office, you hardly take naps or just laze around and procrastinate. But when you’re at home, you can nap and assume you’ll take care of business later. However, before you know it, you’re past your deadline and haven’t accomplished anything. Embracing the digital workspace ensures that you set your goals, and meet them, which is very crucial. That’s without anyone looking over your shoulder and initiating communication when you’re stuck.
Conclusion
When working from home, communication is quite crucial to getting work done and doing so on time. Optimizing communication during a pandemic can keep your job and also assure your boss, that if need be, you could work from home with little fuss.
