Working from Home - 5 Ways to Boost Your Productivity
Working from home can present many challenges if you’re not used to it. Achieving the same level of focus as in an office can be tough. Suddenly lacking the physical presence of your team can result in a lack of collaboration, making it difficult to navigate and prioritize tasks.
Technology is the key to working remotely. But beyond phone calls and e-mails there are many ways to optimize and enhance productivity and teamwork across locations. Figure out which collaboration tools work for you and tailor your remote working style to get the most out of working from home. A high priority is sustaining a good connection with your team.
We’ve gathered five tips on how to stay productive while enjoying the freedom of the remote workplace.
#1 Get video conferencing
Seeing your colleagues and their reactions clearly enables effective decision making that can optimize your business. A quality video solution with a high frame rate, and automatic lighting correction means you’ll get the most from video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Amazon Connect, and is a critical part of your work from home setup.
#2 Increase collaboration and make meetings count
Working from home can be lonely and without colleagues to connect with – emotionally exhausting. A great tip for working remotely is to use collaboration tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Amazon Connect and many more which is an excellent way to boost collaboration within yours and other teams, helping ensure you all stay connected.
For instance, Microsoft Teams, part of Office 365, is a collaboration app that helps your staff stay organized and have conversations, from any device. You can use Microsoft Teams for instant chat with members of your staff or guests outside your organization. You can also make phone calls, host meetings, create group chats/calls, share files and much more. In Microsoft Teams, you can also record your team meetings and group calls to capture audio, video, and screen sharing activity. There is also an option for recordings with automatic transcription, so that you can play back meeting recordings with closed captions and search for important discussion items in the transcript. The recording happens in the cloud and is saved to Microsoft Stream, so you can share it securely across your organization.
# 3 Choose the right audio devices
When attending an online conference call, the quality of your headset is just as important as the speed of your internet connection. If you have poor audio quality, it can negatively affect your call’s productivity and your team’s communication. So whether at home, in a café or in-transit – wireless, active noise cancelling headsets can improve the quality of your business calls by reducing ambient noise in your environment. High quality microphones in the headset will also boost speech intelligibility for your listener.
The importance of choosing a UC certified audio device
Choosing a certified headset will enable a superior and more intuitive working experience. For instance, headsets and speakerphones that are Microsoft Teams certified, such as the EPOS speakerphone, EXPAND 30 T and our next generation headsets in the ADAPT line, will have variants available with a dedicated Microsoft Teams button. This button instantly launches the Microsoft Teams app that gives direct access to scheduling a meeting, starting a call, or checking the calendar – therefore enabling greater productivity and connectivity. EPOS Microsoft Teams variants also provide audio-visual alerts when notifications from the Microsoft Teams app occur. In addition to Microsoft Teams, EPOS headsets and speakerphones are also compatible with Zoom and other leading UC platforms.
# 4 Establish a designated work area
Location, location, location. Having a dedicated workstation is crucial when working from home. It’s important to have some sort of physical boundary, ideally away from your bed, kitchen, and TV, and near a window. Having a dedicated desk or work area will help you focus on work and not be distracted by laundry or other domestic to-dos.
#5 Respect your health
Office workdays are structured, and employers look out for the wellbeing of their workforce. As a remote worker it’s your job to do this for yourself. Five-minute breaks after each 45-minute stint of work enable your brain to reset. At least half an hour for lunch and a walk outside in the fresh air will set you up for the afternoon work session ahead.
EPOS audio solutions are designed with the remote workforce in mind
Our premium speakerphones and headsets enable you to work more effectively from your home office, maintain professionalism and maximize productivity. Furthermore, they are compatible with all major collaboration platforms including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Amazon Connect, Google Meet and many more.
EXPAND 30
Instant conferencing anywhere
Keep in touch with your colleagues from home or out on-the-go through a portable, wireless speakerphone that provides instant, high-quality conferencing.
EXPAND 30T is certified for Microsoft Teams and allows you to join your Microsoft Teams meetings at the click of a button. It’s perfect for use in huddle rooms or while working from home. The speakerphone was recently reviewed by Forbes magazine. Read what Forbes had to say about the EXPAND 30T.
IMPACT 5000
Talk with impact
The IMPACT 5000 Series is an enterprise focused, wireless headset series that comes with 3-in-1 wearing styles and a central hub controller. The device is compatible with multiple Unified Communications vendors such as Skype, Webex, Teams and many more.
As a DECT certified wireless headset series, you benefit from encrypted voice communication. So, if you’re in the finance or trade industry, or any other industries where encrypted voice communication is important, this is the right headset for you, both at the office and while working remotely.
IMPACT 600
Outstanding clear communication
Upgrade your home office with outstanding audio from the premium wired IMPACT 600 Series – crafted to perfection and with easy call handling.
Learn more
ADAPT 100
Your Sound. Your Design
A minimalist design with EPOS stereo sound for calls and multimedia. A headset that adapts seamlessly to your work at home or out on-the-go.
Learn more
IMPACT 200 Series
Put talk in focus
Why work remotely?
Remote working is the reality of the modern workplace. It offers today’s workers flexibility and control in their busy lives and greater work-life balance.
For employers too, being able to offer such flexibility can help attract top talent, decrease employee sick days and even reduce the overheads of their businesses. For employers to help employees thrive and stay productive while working form home, it is imperative that the employers ensures that the employees have the right tools to work with, both in terms of audio devices to increase focus and reduce time spent on mishearing’s and uncertainty and collaboration tools.
43%
of US employees have done some part of their job remotely, Harvard Business Review
83%
reported an improvement in productivity due to flexible working, Vodafone study
50%
less employee attrition recorded when working remotely, Remote work productivity study, Stanford University
16.8
more days worked per year by remote workers, Airtasker study
57%
of Gen Zers work from home at least once a week, State of Collaboration report
59%
say more flexibility will improve their productivity, Staples Advantage Workplace Index