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or obvious reasons, 2020 has been one of the strangest years in recent memory.

The continual need for workforces to overcome the unique challenges being presented by Covid-19 feels like something of a Sisyphean task.

One of the major strategies being deployed by companies in almost every sector is encouraging employees to work from home where possible.

This, whilst initially a short-term measure to allow business’ to continue trading, is something that may have to be extended as the rules and regulations with regards to social distancing are expected to continue into 2021.

Here I will address some of the complexities working from home throws up and offer advice on how to make the most out of what can be a testing situation.

Working from home for the first time can be a difficult scenario for your brain to process.

The mind is programmed over several years to view the home as a place for downtime, intrinsically associated with relaxation and comfort. Now it’s being asked to flip that 180 degrees and recognise the home as the new base for productivity and diligence, until the evening of course when it returns to being where you lounge about and fall asleep on the sofa until two in the morning.

To ease the brain through the transition its important to stick to as much of a typical workday routine as you can, repeating your usual pre-work process of getting up, having a shower and eating breakfast in the way you would have done pre-Covid should help you mentally get into work-mode without the office.

Something I’d also recommend that you may think is superfluous is wearing work clothes, even if you know that no one will see you on that day.

You need to be able to distinguish between being on the clock and in your free time. Putting on a smart shirt and trousers is a great way of doing this, (we’ll forgive you the shoes indoors to save you getting on the wrong side of the other half!)

From a practical perspective it also comes in handy if your boss invites you to an impromptu Zoom call, it creates a very strange dynamic trying to discuss quarterly sales with you wearing a stained football shirt and tracksuit bottoms…

The next tip is from a logistical point of view and involves creating a home office!

Obviously the nature of your living arrangements dictate what is possible here but the basic principle is to make a certain area of your house / flat a work only zone.

You can have the best intentions in the world but if you’re lying down in bed with your laptop in front of you it’s unlikely your productivity will match what it would normally have been in the office space.

The same can also be said for on the sofa, even if the TV is switched off the temptation is still there.

Finally, it is crucial from a physical and mental perspective that you don’t spend full days, let alone an entire working week inside your own home.

Perhaps on your usual lunch break you used to nip to the shop with a colleague or maybe you were part of the weekly five-a-side game on a Monday after work and obviously, those luxuries aren’t afforded to you right now but that doesn’t mean you should be cooped up indoors for hours upon end.

• You can still slip a podcast on and take in a half-hour walk around your area at lunchtime.
• You can still play music and go on a jog after work hours, don’t slip into the negative habits of a recluse, whether knowingly or otherwise.

It is in your best interests to build up good routines, stay active, and not be confined to one place all day.

So there you go, over time you’ll adapt to working from home as it becomes your ‘new normal’.

It sure has its advantages remember.

You won’t miss having to manufacture unnecessary small talk with Sharon from accounts.

You’ll save time by not having to make seven different people a brew when you fancy a cuppa and you’ll count your lucky stars you don’t have to undergo the turmoil of using a cubicle after Wayne from IT.

All that plus no commute, maybe this working from home thing doesn’t sound so bad after all.