Your Working Remotely During The Holiday Survival Guide
The holiday season is in full effect. Love it or hate it, the holidays bring lots of distractions and stressors that can tax even the most disciplined remote worker on the planet. Working remotely during the holidays doesn’t have to leave remote workers feeling frazzled, pressurized and unproductive. By following a few key strategies and planning ahead, working remotely during the holidays can be something worthy of gratitude. And, isn’t that feeling of gratitude in keeping with the spirit of the season.
Six Survival Steps For Working Remotely During The Holidays
- Front load your month. The mid and end of the month of December is inevitably going to envelope vacations, parties, multiple days off in a row and family obligations. Front load the first part of the month to get as much done as possible and alleviate the stress of working up until the last minute on Christmas Eve (if at all possible). This will reduce stress, make you look more professional as well as reduce the chance of rushed work mistakes.
- Tis the season to step up your communication game. Keeping strong communication with peers, clients and community is challenging for remote workers at any time of the year. During the holidays, it’s a great time to reach out for a Skype coffee, send a card or gift and, if possible, set up a face-to-face event to communicate plans for the upcoming year and simply say thanks. Even if your home office is not conducive to a meeting, creative work space options abound to help you accomplish your mission of holiday communication.
- Expect others to be distracted too. Have a big project that needs to be reviewed? Coordinating multiple decision-makers to keep things on target? Navigating tight timelines due to vacation schedules? Assume everyone in your sphere is dealing with the same. Plan ahead and bake extra time into your production schedule for days off, office closings, holiday luncheons, etc.
- Set achievable (and measurable) goals. Setting goals for yourself and your team is an important way to help hang on to focus during busy times, especially while working remotely during the holiday. Use a project management tool like Basecamp, Asana or Teamviewer to set daily to-dos, provide insight and accountability to yourself and those around you.
- Optimize your non-commute time. Working remotely, it’s estimated, saves anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours in commute time. During those early morning hours or evening hours that you might be in traffic or sitting on a train, get a jump start on those tasks that are bearing down on you because of holiday schedules.
- Take good care of yourself for the win. We always say, “work hard, play hard.” While working remotely during the holidays, we might change that mantra to “work hard, take care.” Taking care of yourself might mean avoid overindulgence in alcohol or sugary snacks, go to bed early to make up for late nights at holiday parties and avoiding overspending on unnecessary gifts. Taking care of ourselves might seem selfish, but the truth is it helps be better, more productive workers.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put out a report recently that illustrates just how much working remotely has grown in the American workforce. Here are some stats that show the prevalence of this type of work relationship:
- 3.9 million U.S. employees work from home at least half of the time.
- In more than half of the top U.S. metro areas, telecommuting exceeds public transportation as the commute option of choice.
- The American remote workforce grew 91% over the previous decade.
Crown Center Executive Suites, conveniently located in Fort Lauderdale, can help you solve your workspace challenges while working remotely during the 2019/2020 holiday season. Whether you need a larger space to gather your remote team or an escape from your home office while out-of-town visitors descend, Crown Center Executive Suites has options, including:
- Office Space & Executive Suites
- Meeting Rooms & Training Center
- Shared Workspace & Virtual Office