The novel Coronavirus has affected everything, and all countries are doing their best to fight this global pandemic. That is why most of the companies in the United States and India have made it mandatory for employees to work remotely until the outbreak is controlled.
Working from home is lucrative, yet it comes with its problems. It is almost like a double-edged sword. Even though you get to stay at home, it might get a bit tricky while focusing on the actual work. There will be a horde of distractions lined up, the moment you start thinking about work. It is sure to take some extra effort to focus on productivity, while at home. Also, isolation can play a significant adversary for people who would have generally socialized at work.
How to stay productive and focused?
As a recruiter, it is expected of you to be in a physical office environment to maintain your productivity. It is quite evident that you draw motivation from your teammates, have to stay updated with your colleagues, and collaborate during the recruitment process. So, how can the recruitment industry adjust to this shift of working from home? Well, if you have the right tools, you can, even from the luxury of your living room couch. As most of your candidate data will be on the cloud in your ATS and you anyways do the screening process over a call, keeping things running smoothly, wouldn’t be a task.
We will be discussing a few steps that you, as a recruiter or any other employee, need to follow to ensure efficiency and productivity while working from home.
Be equipped with productivity tools
The most important thing for any employee, when working from home, is to have all the necessary tools required to maintain efficiency away from the office. These might include tools either to stay connected or to stay productive. For smooth task management, you can use tools such as Airtable and Asana. For seamless communication, you can use messaging apps like Slack or even WhatsApp, and for video conferencing, you can use Google Hangouts or Skype.
Employees equipped with productivity tools are a great way to ensure collaboration with managers and syncing of the entire process, wherever they work from. These tools will also ensure productivity and connection between employees even after the outbreak recedes, and people start getting back to work.
Find a workplace
Just because you have considered your office desk as your productivity partner doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have a desk at home. When working from home, the essential factor in your workplace is to be comfortable. Find yourself a spot at home that keeps you active, makes you feel comfortable, and keeps you away from all kinds of distractions.
That said, it is also preferable to have a home office if you know that you have to work regularly from home, which in the current circumstance is quite apt. Managers, nowadays, are encouraging creating your own separate home office. Dedicated offices primarily help employees stay away from distractions, even if it is a makeshift space.
Establish goals
Similar to when working from the office, working from home also requires you to establish your goals and stay on schedule. It is also recommended that when working on your own, your schedule and goal setting should be more structured than usual. This ensures that you have a set amount of work hours to accomplish your established goals every day.
You can do this both ways – either using a productivity tool that creates objectives based on time or have a simple calendar set up that schedules your task for the day. You should also ensure that your family members are aware of your work hours and that they do not interrupt you during those hours.
Establish team check-ins
While working from home, recruiters can quickly lose track of company goals, and with managers not getting face time with their employees every day, a team check-in routine is necessary to set priorities. An online stand-up, instant message, phone call, or a video chat every morning can keep things running on track.
The productivity tools that were mentioned earlier can play a crucial role in the efficiency of these check-ins. If you used to have group meetings to discuss progress, you could use a video conferencing tool to replicate the process. Staying updated about every day goals and progress ensures employee productivity when working from home.
Use technology
As a recruiter working from home, your laptop is your office, so you need to make sure you have all the necessary software. Tools like a workforce manager and an applicant tracking system are crucial to staying organized.
Other tools, like messaging apps and video conferencing apps, will improve communication with colleagues as well as candidates. And for all this to work, you obviously need a stable internet connection.
Maintain communication
As discussed earlier, communication is highly crucial to maintain efficiency and productivity when working from home. And this includes both work and non-work-related communication. It is critical to move over email and use other digital communication tools that can provide a virtual office experience and better communication.
And, let’s not forget the importance of non-work communication that would have been normalcy between employees at the office. Creating space in your schedule for non-work communication ensures stress-relief and a feeling of a better connection.
And finally, make sure to stop working once the day ends as working from home can sometimes make you forget about your work timings. Just because you are at home and working, doesn’t mean that you don’t stop working. A clear separation between work and life at home has to be maintained, so you get the boost needed for starting the next morning afresh and continue the cycle.
Also, if you are a recruiter working from home and want to learn a few recruitment tricks while on a break, read our blogs here.
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