Top tips for homeworking – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Action Plan for 2020.

We’ve recently been talking about SEO top tips for 2020, and surviving the winter storms, we were then looking forward to welcoming spring with a fully functioning website – that really does what you need it to. But then, who knew? Suddenly the news came spreading from the east of the spread of Coronavirus and everything changed.

We’ve not seen the like in peacetime since, well, ever? All music and sporting events cancelled; empty offices; pubs, restaurants and leisure centres shut down; empty supermarket shelves and deserted streets; these are unprecedented times.

Along with SEO tips, we’d also been talking recently about the issue of reliability of published information in the public arena; of fake news and the subsequent value of trust, making it a valued commodity. In times of crisis, this becomes even more vital.

Disinformation can cause distress, confusion and even panic. Just visit your local supermarket to buy milk and toilet roll – Britain has rushed out and spent an extra £1bn on food and household products over the past two weeks. Sometimes we just need to re-focus and use the information available to help us re-focus and ‘carry on’.

With that in mind, we’ve come up with our own Coronavirus working plan and some top tips to help you through:

Top tips for homeworking – Coronavirus/COVID-19 Action Plan for 2020.

What are we doing about it?

• Following the best advice available, the WebAdept team are now all remote working, while maintaining as much normality as possible.
• Our phone lines will be open as normal from 9am to 5pm and the team will also be available via email as usual.
• Despite remote working, we will still be conducting meetings and training, but in order to practice safe social-distancing we will be conducting all meetings and training via video links, through platforms such as Skype, Google Hangout and Zoom. If you need any assistance to get any of these platforms up and running, then we’re here to help!

What should you do?

• Please stay safe! Listen and adhere to advice from the authorities. The National Parks Authority have reported the busiest day on record in the Snowdonia National Park. Social distancing is crucial, to keep yourselves and your families safe. Remember the recommended distance is a minimum of 2 meters, even outside!  

• Be careful what you read – trust reliable news sources only such as the BBC and Sky News. Russia has once again been accused of peddling disinformation and false news. In a vicious cycle of irony, Russia has blamed the spread of coronavirus in Europe on ‘European disunity’, the very thing they were aiming for throughout the whole Brexit debacle.   

• With this in mind, be careful what information you share with others, and only share reliable and trusted news sources. Health advice should be taken from government and NHS sources, not YouTube!

What should your home-working routine look like?

Home working plan 1:

So you’ve been sent home to face your first stint of homeworking. Brilliant. You’ve always dreamed of the chance to manage your own time, wear what you want, eat when you want go to bed when you want.

Morning:

Set the alarm for late o’clock, or actually, no need to set it at all (especially after finishing that box-set at 1.30am). Get up around 10 – no point getting dressed (or washed for that matter), slop around in pjs ‘til 11, then have a glance at a few emails.

Lunch:

Quick snack of some cold pizza, then take the dog for a walk – still in pjs of course. Make a few calls while you’re out – probably difficult to hear because of the wind or the dog barking, so head back home.

Afternoon:

Back home for the Skype conference call (remembering to fling on a smartish jumper over the pjs) and then, ah now it’s now gone four, so looks like wine o’clock while you fire off a few replies, mostly saying that normal working will resume…’I don’t know when’…

If this sounds like a plan – then quite frankly that’s a worry. So we’ve listed our tips on how your home-working really should look: 

Home working plan 2:

• Maintain normal routines as much as possible. That means keeping your usual alarm time in the morning, use the extra commuting time to get a head-start on your thinking, and maybe reward yourself with an extra cuppa while you do so.

• Get dressed! While it’s not necessary to dress yourself in a three-piece suit, or ballgown and pearls, staying in nightwear or throwing on your gardening clothes will affect your mental approach to the day

• You will be doing far less exercise – surprising how much energy you burn walking around the office/back and forth to meetings/popping down the sandwich shop at lunchtime. Home working is sedentary, so stand up from time to time and walk around the room while making phone calls. 

• Plan your meals and make sure your buy enough provisions, especially if you’re a dedicated ‘food on the go’ type. Buy some healthy snacks so that you have something to nibble on in the absence of the office snack tin.

• Keep a normal lunchtime rather than trying to cram in 7 hours straight. Your brain will work better if allowed short rest periods. Go for a walk/jog/cycle at lunch-time to get some fresh-air, but remember the 2-metre social distancing rule as well!

• The music debate is split, so you’ll have to decide for yourself. If you can concentrate with music, stream your favourite playlists to create some background noise. Alternatively, those who can’t concentrate will need to switch off the radio and embrace the peace and quiet.

• Think about apps like FaceTime/Skype/Zoom to contact friends and family if you’re unable to go out. If not, a good old-fashioned phone-call still works! Human contact is within our very DNA, so keep some form of contact with other people every day.

• Make sure that you schedule regular calls and video conferences with your colleagues, to make sure you are keeping pace with projects and your responsibilities, and to keep up your productivity levels.

Read Also: Top SEO tips you need to implement

How can we help?

Difficult times, call for innovative measures. Your digital presence is now more important than ever, now that people will be restricted in travel, so vital to ensure that your platforms are all functioning as they should

• WebAdept are therefore offering free 30-minute digital consultations that can be done via video link to give you a first look at how you are functioning and what might need changing.

• We also will be offering bespoke training sessions via video-link too, to train you and your staff on innovative platforms that will help your company keep moving, such as:

• Trello – great for having a big ‘to-do’ board for all staff, enabling you to see when the team move the cards through project stages to completion, which keep the workflows moving forwards.

• Skype, Zoom and Google Hangout for video calls.

So, there we have it. Our homeworking tips to get you through coronavirus and some distance solutions to help you keep functioning and help you to keep delivering your content to where it needs delivering. If you would like a FREE 30 minute consultation, then get in touch – we’d love to hear from you!

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