How to Balance Your Remote Work with Your Personal Life

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At first glance, working from home can sound like a dream come true. After all, who doesn’t want to stay in their pajamas, run to the gym in the middle of the day, or sip on a latte while you work from the coffee shop down the street?

However, as you settle in, it can be more and more difficult to prevent your work from bleeding into your personal time. And when the work is on your laptop rather than at your office building, it can be hard to put down. 

When it comes to preventing burnout and creating a healthy separation, it’s all about the habits you create for yourself. Here are 3 tips to help you tow the line for a better work life balance:

1. Create Your Own Workspace

Instead of moving from room to room throughout the day, dedicate a specific space to work in. If you need to get out for a change of pace, go to an internet cafe. This way you don’t find yourself being interrupted if others are in the home with you, or distracted by household chores and the TV. It’s best for example, to leave the bed and the couch off limits. Setting these kinds of physical boundaries will help you enjoy spending time in these spaces more because they won’t be associated with work. 

2. Take the Time to Get Ready

Put the pajamas down. We promise you will feel better and more confident about your work if you dress for the part. Getting ready for work, even when you don’t plan on leaving the house has been proven to help remote workers stay focused. Not to mention, you’ll be less likely to shy away from the last minute video call if you look presentable. 

3. Break up the Day

If you find yourself going all day without ever leaving the room, it’s time to build in some breaks. Segregating chunks of the day by tasks and then setting little rewards for yourself can help you stay productive and meet those all too necessary deadlines. Everyone needs to get outside, move and interact with others in person from time to time.

Additionally, having a somewhat set of office hours can be helpful in making sure that when you’re supposed to be spending time with family, you actually are. While this can be difficult if you’re working with others in a different time zone, it’s imperative to enjoying your down time fully, especially given you don’t have the transition that comes with a commute.

At Number 8, we help companies connect with qualified remote employees to help with software development. We also focus on helping companies improve their internal IT processes. If you’re interested in learning more about Number8 and what we do, give us a call at (502) 890-7665, or check out our information page here!

6 Tips for Keeping & Motivating Your Employees

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Building a good team is hard, keeping it intact and running full speed ahead can be even harder. As employee retention rates drop across all industries, getting the most out of one’s team, while ensuring they’re all satisfied with their jobs and invested in the outcome of the business is becoming quite the balancing act.  

Because every person is unique in what drives them, taking advantage of multiple strategies is key. Here are 6 techniques to keeping a team focused, happy and inspired.

1. Make time for everyone.

While team meetings are worthwhile in their own right, nothing is as effective as individual attention and feedback. Routinely speaking with each and every team member helps to build a sense of accountability and allows for mentor ship when needed. Everyone wants to feel as if they are contributing something worthwhile. It can help immensely to recognize a team member’s work and show them how their efforts are being utilized. 

2. Provide opportunities for growth.

One of the biggest reasons employees leave is a lack of advancement. Even employees who come in feeling ambitious and excited may start to look elsewhere if their role has no evolution, the company doesn’t promote from within or they’re not being challenged enough. Growth can come in many forms. Sometimes it’s as simple as bestowing a team member with more autonomy, new responsibilities, or additional training. Allowing staff to innovate and take ownership of their tasks often means they are inspired to go the extra step. 

3. Cultivate an open office environment. 

When it comes to making people happy and getting the job done, communication is king. Creating a culture of openness means employees are more likely to speak up and be proactive about potential problems because they feel comfortable doing so. In an office where everyone feels that their perspective is valued, it’s easier as a leader to meet the needs of a team and fulfill project requirements. 

4. Lead by example.

Employees, good and bad, tend to look to their superiors when it comes to work ethic and office habits. In order to instill job satisfaction and motivate one’s team to achieve great results, those in leadership positions need to exemplify the kind of behavior they believe it takes to get there. This starts with striking a good balance between one’s work life and personal life. Instead of expecting the whole team to work long hours, look for them to come in on time and limit personal activities while in the office. These ideals begin and start at the top. Even taking some much deserved time off is a great way to show one’s team that diligent work is rewarded and that self care is valued as well as understood.  

5. Design the office for productivity. 

Everything from lighting, to furniture, noise control and decor can impact a team’s productivity. Take a look at how your office is designed. Does it enable collaboration or distraction? 

6. Create a team atmosphere.

Even if everyone works well on their own, it can boost moral and productivity to act as a cohesive unit. A simple routine lunch or team outing where everyone get’s to socialize and interact on a more personal level can improve how they communicate and work together. 

At Number8, we connect companies with IT talent and software developers that are fully trained in agile product development. By encouraging talent to come up with creative solutions, they remain motivated and positively contribute to a healthy company culture. If you’re interested in learning more about Number8 and what we do, give us a call at (502) 890-7665, or check out our information page!