April is National Pet Month. This made us realise it’s about time we celebrated those work from home companions that can cause joy and chaos in equal measure – usually all in the course of a single conference call.
Tag: <span>work from home</span>
It feels like there’s been nothing but rain for the last few weeks, but March 1 officially signals the start of spring. That means its time to freshen things up with a bit of spring cleaning, including your home office.
Working from home is generally considered a great way to balance your work and home life, potentially increasing productivity and reducing stress levels – get it wrong though, and it can have the opposite effect and turn you into a stressed-out insomniac.
Could the negatives outweigh the positives when you work from home?
The distractions come thick and fast when you’re working from home – daytime TV, housework, knocks at the door, and cold callers on the phone all do their best to break your concentration.
And then the cat seems to need feeding every five minutes – while there’s no doubting having a pet around the place can help alleviate the loneliness that can come with working from home, they’re not always great for productivity, but they’re nothing compared to having a baby around the house while you’re trying to work – so, if you’re a work from home parent, is it time you considered taking on a nanny?
Accounting is one of the most arduous tasks a small business owner has to face – all you want to do is get on with the day-to-day running of things but each month you end up getting yourself lost in a mountain of receipts, bank statements, pay slips and credit notes.
The good news is, there is accounting software out there that can help, you just need to know exactly what it is you’re after to find the right software to suit your business needs.
Employees are being told to work from home wherever possible as part of the government’s ‘Plan B’ to tackle the Omicron variant of Covid-19 – a new strain that’s thought to be the most transmissible yet.
The coronavirus pandemic has seen more people than ever working from home, and many businesses now use a ‘hybrid’ working system, where employees spend some time at home and some at the office. By the start of December this year, more than two-thirds of staff travelled to work at least once.
More than a third (36%) of British staff did some form of remote working in 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics. And it’s a way working that has caused some strong debate – some have even suggested home workers should be paid less than those that travel into the office.
The truth is, working from home isn’t for everyone. But, if done correctly, it can be a great way of working and keeping a healthy work/life balance. To make sure you’re making the most of telecommuting, here’s how to work from home.
If the coronavirus lockdown forced you into working remotely, the novelty of being able to wear your pyjamas while working and holding meetings over a conference call may well have worn off by now.
You might even be welcoming some calls from some in government for us all to get back to the office. Even the morning commute might seem like it would offer some respite if you’re sick of working from the spare room.
If you’re hankering for a return to the communal kitchen and your open plan workspace, here are five things you might well be missing about working in the office.
There are around 2.2 million freelancers in the UK, with around 239,000 doing freelancing as a side hustle. That means that more than 1.9 million people freelance as their main job.
But taking the plunge and going freelance can be a pretty daunting experience and not a decision that can be taken lightly – it’s all very well ducking out of the rat race and becoming your own boss, but the sudden realisation you’ve no longer got a steady wage coming in is enough to make you pine for the office politics.
Get it right though – which means keeping your clients happy and delivering on time – and the benefits far outweigh the inevitable panic at the end of the month, so here are some top tips if you’re a work from home freelancer.
It’s no secret that many in government and and at the top of some of the world’s biggest companies want us to stop working from home and return to the office. It was only a matter of weeks ago that a government minister floated the idea that civil servants who work from home should be paid less than those that work from the office.
Meanwhile, Google has stated that it will be handing out pay cuts to US staff who opt to work from home full time.
We think it’s a terrible idea, and employees need to be treated like grown ups – just because you can’t see your staff, it doesn’t mean they’re not working. And what’s the point in adhering to a strict nine-to-five workday?
On the other hand, there is definitely a disconnect when working from home, and we do lose those moments of serendipity when a casual conversation turns into a winning idea for your business.
But it’s all about balance.
The last 18 months have seen more people than ever thrust into a situation where they’ve had to work from home. And as we emerge out the other side, many businesses are considering a ‘remote first’ policy or ‘hybrid’ working (part time home and part time office).
If your business is going to offer remote working, you’ll have to make sure your equipment is up to scratch and employees can work just as well from home as they can from the office.
The trouble is, technology is advancing at a breakneck speed so it can be difficult to work out exactly what equipment will be needed – keeping employees in touch via teleconference is easy enough, but will you need additional hardware and software to enable employees to do their job while on the move?
To help answer this question, here are a few essential tools for businesses on the move…