CEO Mantras to Work from Home Productively Amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic

In the wake of Coronavirus outbreak, most of the companies across the globe have asked their employees to work from home to promote safety and prevent the disease from spreading further. Understanding that many of the employees face challenges with productivity and time management while working from home, here are a few CEO mantras to work from home productively:

Roma Priya, Founder of Burgeon Law

Getting organized and being mindful of creating boundaries between work and personal life is the key to working from home efficiently. One needs to identify when to work and where to work without getting pulled into domestic chores or personal matters. Start your day early and stick to your regular working schedules every day. Laying out clear guidelines for employees and scheduling all deliverables will help employees meet deadlines and check the maximum items of his / her task list. Another important factor is to schedule your breaks as you would if you were working within the office premises and not take leeway and stretch these breaks. One can also utilize the time spent on ordinary days commuting to and fro from work in favor of family time and self-care

 Neha Bagaria, Founder and CEO, Jobsforher

Many companies are now encouraging further ‘social distancing’ by announcing mandatory work-from-home and sending their employees home to work remotely.  This is the best option for organizations where a few employees have traveled or are in contact with those who have traveled. Companies are also concerned about the health and safety of their employees whose exposure increases when commuting to work and meeting other colleagues. Gather a cross-functional team together that includes business-line leaders, IT, HR, communications and facilities to plan for different scenarios and optimize execution to ensure that there is minimal impact on the business when everyone connects remotely.  Ensure your employees have the required infrastructure at home to be able to work remotely. Use sharing tools such as G Suite (Drive, Sheets, Docs, Slides) to collaborate live on documents when working in teams, The absence of face-to-face communication can be frustrating. So last but not the lease -  trust your teams while providing them guard rails with the flexibility to deliver with clearly defined targets

 Narayan Mahadevan, Founder, BridgeLabz

With the coronavirus outbreak declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), many companies around the world and in India are making contingency plans in preparation for the spread of COVID-19 and "remote working" is a big part of those plans. The government has advised against large social gatherings and asked people to advocate social distancing as the coronavirus spreads in India, hence making more and more companies opting for ‘remote working’ or ‘work for home’ for a few weeks. The general notion about working from home is looked upon as a less productive approach towards work as compared to the regular working environment. However, if you give a defined start to the day, and plan all the task along with timesheet, then achieving targets are easier. Taking short breaks, while staying connected to your colleagues always helps in remote working culture. It’s important to set reasonable daily goals and not to multitask to get the maximum output. Also, to map the progress, one should create and update a to-do list regularly. Lastly, as the popular quote by Zig Zigler implies “A goal properly set is halfway reached”, set your goals for the next day the night before.

Sandip Chhettri, Chief Operating Officer, TradeIndia

The key drivers affecting change in the way we work are technology and the millennial workforce. Technology-on-the-go allows the team to complete tasks and attend meetings from anywhere in the world. We have developed proper reporting and tracking software to make sure our employees remain focused on their work.  We have also developed the Sales Force Automation App to monitor the activity of our SalesForce, which helps them to work remotely. Working from home, not only benefits employees by eliminating their daily commutes, but it also increases productivity and leads to healthier lifestyles. It's a win-win situation that employees relish for its flexibility

Aarti Gill, Co-founder of Oziva

Work from home is usually not a very popular choice and implementing at scale can be a challenging task for many organizations. However, while we are at it given the need of the hour, implementing and following a couple of work etiquette remotely can help in efficient working. The most important and effective way to focus on work and be productive at home is to treat it like your everyday routine and freshen up and dress and sit for work. You can also declutter and organise your space and turn it into a workstation. Be in touch with your colleagues online.

Bharath Sastry, CEO of Vistaprint

I was fortunate to work from home for 1.5 years earlier in my career when I had my own startup. Sharing some learnings. Be Prepared – have the proper infrastructure for yourself and team, namely laptops, wifi, video/ audio, a suitable chair and table at home. Office-like - Work during the day exactly as you would do otherwise at the office. Start off at the same time, go through your meetings & actions and end the day as you would do at the office. Trust (that your team is also working), and trust me they will be.