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304 days ago

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In light of the continued spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19), and in line with the latest Government advice, many of us will, in some way, be changing the way we work for the foreseeable future.

Some teams will start to divide their time in the office or on-site, while others will work from home. It’s important that, through these changes, we take the time to properly adjust to a new way of working, paying equal focus to our wellbeing as well as a new technical setup.

Here are ten top tips for working from home:

1. Stick to your normal routine: You may be at home, but you’ll do yourself the world of good by getting up at the same time, and making use of your commuting time for something productive – whether that’s some exercise, or taking the time to get a healthy breakfast.
2. Dress for your day: Ok, you might not want to wear your Sunday best in your sitting room, but make sure that you’re ready to face the day – whether it’s project work, admin, or a day of virtual meetings. Resisting the urge to stay in your pyjamas will make you feel infinitely more productive.
3. Make space: Try to have an area separate to your living space to work. You might well be comfortable on your sofa, but this isn’t great for your posture. Ideally, you should have a safe, comfortable chair and a table for your laptop, replicating your office setup. 
4. Get connected: If you’re a laptop user, you will likely need to connect to the network to access the systems needed to undertake your duties. There will be a higher demand on our Virtual Private Network (VPN) lines than usual, so please be patient. But, know that many of the applications we use day-to-day do not require the VPN to access them remotely. These include: Office 365 (including Microsoft Outlook, Skype, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive), Sodexo_Net, Concur and Ingenium.
5. Take a break: Get moving around the house. Try to get some fresh air (if you can, do some exercise, or maybe just open a window) and come back to your work refreshed. If you’re in a team, try to keep up social interaction by scheduling virtual team lunches over Microsoft Teams – talk about your day and chat about your wellbeing.
6. Turn on your camera: As awkward as it might feel, using video when in meetings can be a great way to keep up social interaction and engagement. Rest assured that the camera doesn’t turn on automatically, and no one can turn it on for you. But, why not show off your home-office arrangement to your colleagues in the meeting to encourage participation!
7. Ask for help: If you are having trouble with your connectivity, use HEAT Self Service through the ‘My Solutionline’ icon on your desktop to log the ticket. Demand on the team might be higher than usual, so if you can get advice from a colleague, you might reach a resolution sooner.
8. Keep compliant: Remember that our workplace policies extend to the home. Ensure that you are keeping compliant with our data protection policy, which is especially relevant when you are not the only person in the home.
9. Stay healthy: Make sure you drink plenty of water and eat healthy meals. Try to avoid too many trips to the biscuit tin! 
10. Get social: We might be social distancing, but we can make use of social media to keep connected. Head over to the UK & Ireland Yammer community to share your experiences of working from home, ask for help, or share wellbeing tips.

Finally, remember that you have access to your employee assistance programme 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can either use the telephone line (click here for information), or head to www.icaslifestyle.com (username: sodexo password: supportsme) for access to a range of great resources.

However you are working from home, stay safe with Sodexo.

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