Mandaue City, Cebu–Recent events for the past six months have caused constant changes in our daily lives. Some of these changes are very exhausting and made us relearn and unlearn certain skills.
Now that many are going back to work in offices that offer less flexibility, some may be dealing with adjustments to work efficiently.
The new reality that we face every day can be very stressful, especially for the working public.
Make sure to challenge yourself every day at work so that you can be productive.
Here are simple tips to re-adjust in the office after working remotely for some time.
Collaborate by being a team player
When you’re used to working on your own, it can be a little difficult to be working and collaborating with someone.
But you can enjoy opportunities for collaboration and brainstorm as a team to make new ideas!
Connect with your colleagues and have a teamwork style to have more understanding and come up with better outputs.
It’s at this time to best practice being open-minded and a listener.
Connect more with your colleagues by sharing topics and techniques to apply to your next project.
Manage distractions
Now that you’re back in an office, you can’t control your environment’s noise, these include phones, chatter, keyboard, and mouse sounds.
You find yourself in surroundings where more noise is generated than in your home and that’s okay until you can’t concentrate.
Find ways to increase your efficiency and comfort such as using headphones to cancel external sounds that prevent you to work peacefully.
You can also minimize extra distractions by putting your phone on silent and asking your co-workers for space if necessary.
Just be nice when telling them that you are occupied with extra work.
Stick to your routine
During the lockdown, you have developed a routine that worked for you and made you effective.
Apply the same routine to your workplace or office but consider that you don’t have more flexibility.
Now that you commute or travel to the office and have more reachable workmates, trying to stick to some familiar routine may help you stay productive.
Designate your working hours and multi-task if you can, to fit the eight-hour shift.
Whatever works for you better, don’t forget to let your workmates know of your flow so that tasks from you won’t be harder for them to follow.
Open communication
Be available to your workmates and listen to concerns as much as possible.
You need to resolve small issues to avoid having bigger problems in the future.
Social distancing precautions can be hard for everyone at the office
but aside from creating a safe workplace environment, it is also necessary to keep the office less stressful for each other.
Stress can be minimized by taking responsibility for a safer workplace and at the same time reserving some time to listen to each other.
Treat your workmates the way you would like to be treated and be supportive.
Have some me-time
Finding yourself back in the office to work at least 40 hours a week can be very stressful.
To find balance in your new routine, have some time for yourself.
Take short breaks before or after work whether you catch up on a TV series, read a book, or do a quick at-home exercise.
Make the most of your commute or drive to work by listening to your favorite songs or a simple podcast.
Although you can engage in big social gatherings, use your extra time to relax by being with family or with a few friends.
Know more tips to easily adjust back to the office setup as we all adapt to the new normal? Let us know in the comments section of this video. /bmjo
