Are you among those, like many of our employees, who may do their work from home in the current situation? We deliberately chose the word "may" here. Having a job that you can safely pursue in your own four walls without being exposed to the risk of an infection with the Corona Virus is a great privilege given the prevailing situation. Many food sellers, carers and cleaners are currently jealous of your situation. However, for many of us it is new and takes some getting used to, that in most cases the way from the bathroom to the new office takes less than a minute. We also needed a familiarization phase at the beginning and had to organize ourselves first, but luckily productive work in the home office can be learned. That is why we share our 5 practical tips with you today and show you how to get organized and create a structured and successful work routine.

The INNOTECH home office checklist

1. Find the right work place

Your wife has already chosen the living room as her new favorite workplace, your children are besieging the dining table for e-learning and there is pure chaos in the rest of the apartment? Before you start thinking about which place works best for your home office, you should think about how you can work most productively. Are you always focused or do you let yourself be easily distracted by background noise or external influences? Think about the technical equipment you need and set up a pleasant working environment. At home, in contrast to everyday office life, you have the opportunity to design your workplace according to your preferences. A little tip from us: noise canceling headphones and changing places from time to time can lead to a real productivity boost!

2. Keep order at your workplace

Regardless of whether you work in a separate room or in a small home office niche in the living room - keeping things tidy is essential when it comes to organized work at home. Think about what you need to have on hand on a normal working day. Then look where you can store these things as close as possible to your desk.

Never underestimate the impact of an organized home office space on distraction-free and productive work!

3. Set your working hours

In most cases, the same working hours apply in the home office as in normal everyday work. But especially in this phase, where companies are increasingly switching to short-time work, in many cases a reduction in working hours is necessary. Try to find out at which times you can work highly concentrated and agree on the division of the new weekly working hours with your colleagues and superiors. Don't forget to also communicate these changes to the outside world. Your customers should know when and how you will be available in the upcoming time. If necessary, remember to leave a note of absence with your emails and adapt the mobile box announcement of your company cell phone accordingly.

4. Plan the day and set your priorities

Unlike in the office, the working day at home is not over when you leave the building. You no longer have to go home and it may happen that you exceed the usual hourly workload of a week considerably. So if you work from home, you are often tempted to jump into the workload with full vigor. You then complete task after task well beyond the agreed working hours because, as we all know, the to do lists almost never end. Therefore, our advice is as follows: focus on 2-3 activities that have the highest priority on this day and must be done. The other tasks will follow automatically in the course of the working day.

5. Take regular breaks

You are new to the home office team and would like to show your colleagues how hard you work on your projects from home? Great, but remember breaks are a must! Of course, you could eat your lunch in front of the laptop in multitasking style, but your head also needs to rest regularly. Use the short break, for example, for a few deep breaths in the fresh air and then start your tasks full of energy again. Also consciously plan virtual coffee breaks with your colleagues, where you can also exchange private information, just like in everyday office life. One should pay even more attention to the boundary between leisure and work in the home office, because it blurs even more than in everyday work life and this can quickly become a burden. So take breaks consistently and at regular intervals!

Together we are strong! Even if the current situation is characterized by uncertainty, we will take this path together at the end of the day. These tips for increasing productivity not only benefit you as an employee, but also your employer and thus also our economy - a win win win situation!