8 useful tips for working from home


The Dutch government has taken drastic measures because of the corona virus. Many people start working from home today. How practical is that actually and what are the possibilities? And could working from home be possible more often in the future? We give 8 tips for working from home.

For some people it is easier to work at home than for others. That is largely due to what you do. Managers, ICT workers and people with educational professions are the top 3 home workers. Logically, people who cannot perform their work in a home office, such as farmers, service providers and transporters, are the least represented. The choice to work from home does not have to be directly related to choosing entrepreneurship. Most Dutch homeworkers (62 percent) normally work from the office and only occasionally at home. For the other 38 percent, working from home is the norm, which does not necessarily mean that these people are self-employed. Do you want to work at home? Perhaps a few arguments for your employer will help.

01 “When I can work from home, I get more done”

You can get more done with a home working day. At least that is the assumption that many people make. Before using this argument, make sure you have the right substantiation. The effects of working from home on your productivity depend on your work. The idea that everyone becomes more effective from working from home dates from the time of “The New Way of Working”. Tim de Vos of Activity Based Working consultancy Veldhoen + Company: “All working from home and then becoming more productive is a one-size-fits-all approach. It doesn’t work that way. ”

But how do you substantiate whether your work becomes more effective by working from home? It depends on the type of work. Do your activities consist of repetitive actions such as checking numbers or making reports? Then you can use less distraction as an argument. You can do your job faster and better if there are no colleagues at your desk with questions. In that case, also arrange immediately that you may not be disturbed (by telephone) on your home working day. If you work more in teams and consultation is the main focus of the day, focus is a better argument than productivity. Tim de Vos: “Working at home can give peace of mind when working on projects. If I sat down at the office five days a week, I would deal way too much at once. By working at home, there are less incentives and I keep focus. ”

02 “Working from home gives me a better balance of work and life”

Health is not something that only plays between you and the doctor. Your employer also benefits from healthy employees. They fall out less often, work with more pleasure and do a better job. Working from home helps you find a better work-life balance. Your employer will receive better quality work in return. Sander Wijnen, who, as IT Manager at GAC, automates working from home, says: “Working from home promotes a better work-life balance. If it is good, you get more out of yourself. ” If you are asked whether you work enough hours at home, ask about the objective of your work. Are you employed to appear in the office or perform certain tasks? Sander: “We don’t focus on hours worked, but on results. Sometimes I may only work 30 hours in a week, but other times it may be 50 hours. If I have done my job and deliver or exceed the desired results, is it okay? If I do that faster because I can work at home in a casual setting, it will only be better. ”

03 “I have already set up my home office”

You can say that you already have an office at home. But what is a good home office? Is it the kitchen table with laptop? Do you have to secretly invest in your own office space based on occupational health and safety provisions? The term home office is actually at odds with the approach of working from home. Tim: “You assume that the office work moves to your home and that is why you set up an office there.” But working from home requires you to rethink what you do and how you do it. Common sense therefore helps more than general guidelines to achieve a good workplace. Are you going to type all day? Then an ergonomic workplace with the right chair, keyboard and screen is definitely recommended. Do you work at home to get creative ideas? Then the combination of bench and tablet may be excellent. Tim summarizes it simply: “You should not try to arrange the home workplace with one solution or guideline, because you cannot.”

For those who want to know what is a “good home office”, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment states health and safety catalogs available, which are made by different sectors.

In a health and safety catalog, employers and employees describe how healthy and safe they want to work.

04 “We continue to consult closely”

The biggest disadvantage of working from home is that you are less visible to colleagues. That requires mutual trust and good communication. Not only coordinate with your supervisor, but sit around the table with your colleagues and divide the tasks. Tim: “By consciously sharing or distributing accountability with a team, conscious choices have to be made, which creates flexibility.” If you have made agreements with each other, you know what you are doing. By coordinating this, working from home becomes part of teamwork. As a result, you will also perform better as a team, which in turn benefits the entire company. Sander: “You work better and your results improve. Ultimately, your customers will notice that too. ” Working from home is not only good for you, but also for your team, for your customers and therefore for your organization.

05 “With my home working day I can occasionally slide”

Working from home not only demands something from your employer, you also have to be able to add water to the wine yourself. This means that you have to deal flexibly with your home working time. Otherwise, there is a risk that individual home working days will make your organization less flexible. Tim: “Working from home has often been used in the past as an alternative to part-time work. That’s not how it’s meant to be. ” Therefore, do not forget that rescheduling a team day because it coincides with the homeworking day of someone on that team is the world upside down. Working from home is not a priority for collaboration. In such cases, you will have to submit and schedule a new home working day yourself.

06 “My house is equipped with the right technology”

You do not need an ICT diploma to realize a home office. Most of the technical resources you already have in house, or are easy to offer. The cloud plays an important role in this. You can also use valuable business software you need from home via the browser. Technical innovations make it possible for an increasing number of professions to work at home. At GAC, for example, even the service desk employees can work from home. Sander: “Thanks to a switch to Skype, they can also be reached at the same number for the telephone pool at home.” Keep in mind that you are responsible for keeping your laptop, internet connection, telephone and other equipment working. You can of course coordinate the support from the ICT department with your employer.

Laptops, tablets, smartphones and the accompanying software make working from home increasingly easy.

07 “The Netherlands trains people to work from home”

Generation Y expects that working from home is possible. But even if you do not belong to this generation, you can use this argument. For many employers, working from home is necessary to recruit personnel. Sander: “As an IT service provider, people assume that they can work from home. If we didn’t offer that opportunity, it could be a reason to apply elsewhere. ” That expectation of Generation Y is not strange. Training courses in the Netherlands encourage collaboration in microgroups, division of responsibilities, and execution of the work at a time and place of your choice. This starts at primary school and continues through to the university. Tim: “If we train people to work that way and then say in practice ‘you have to get back to work in a traditional way’, that would be a bit of a shame, to say the least.”

08 “When I work from home, I don’t get distracted”

Promising not to get distracted by television, housework, sunny terraces and so on is easy. Keeping work with all the distractions from home can make it hard to keep your promise. Tim and Sander have tips for keeping you productive. Tim: “Organize your work where possible, consciously and focused. If you need six hours to write a policy report, schedule those six hours in your calendar. Turn off the mail and turn off your phone, then you will not be distracted. If people in your calendar can see that you are busy for six hours, but discover that they can still reach you, why do you have an agenda? If contact is needed, schedule contact hours. ”

Sander: “You stay productive by not always being productive. If it is very hot, it is more useful to just stop after the morning. Go to the pool and pick up your work in the evening when it has cooled down. Or on Sunday morning. The choice to be productive is up to you. If you can’t get started, you may have to choose to take that day off. ”

Right to work from home?

The Flexible Working Act applies from 1 January 2016. This should promote working from home, among other things, as a means of working more flexibly. The law does not oblige anyone who wants to work from home. Employees who want to work from home have the right to submit an official request for this. Employers should “seriously consider” this request. If they subsequently want to reject it, they have an obligation to inform the employee in writing.

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