Expert tips for working from home

Find your rhythm and structure your day accordingly!

Align your work day with your biorhythm and performance curve. Find out when your productive peak phases are and don't schedule meetings during this period, but use them for focus work or interactive brainstorming sessions to develop innovations. It is also worthwhile to switch off the email program and telephone during this time.

Bewegen Sie sich!

Installieren Sie sich Ihren festen Arbeitsplatz, aber nutzen Sie Ihr Zuhause auch voll aus und telefonieren Sie z.B. im Stehen, recherchieren Sie eine Stunde auf dem Sofa oder auf dem Balkon/der Terrasse. Wenn Sie die Möglichkeit haben bewegen Sie sich durch Ihr Zuhause und finden Sie für die aktuelle Arbeitsaufgabe den richtigen Ort – das muss nicht immer der Schreibtisch/Küchentisch sein. Denn Bewegung fördert die Durchblutung und somit auch die Konzentrationsfähigkeit.

Und auch das richtige Mobiliar kann dabei helfen, in Bewegung zu bleiben und auf die eigene Gesundheit zu achten.

Take breaks!

Short breaks have a high recreational value, as occupational psychologists have been stressing for decades. Therefore, take a break of 5 minutes every 60-90 minutes. It is important that you do exactly the opposite of what you have just done: Anyone sitting at the screen should, for example, move briefly or clean out the dishwasher in the kitchen. Anyone who works physically can sit down and spend their break reading a smartphone or newspaper. Anyone who talks a lot at work or sits in online meetings should seek silence or listen to music.

Stay in touch!

Home office is particularly suitable for focus work — when not much collaboration is required to complete tasks. That is why working at home is a real challenge in the long run. Because home is not an office! The short distances, the spontaneous exchange with colleagues are eliminated, collaboration is made more difficult — that's why: reduce expectations and develop the right strategy for yourself. For example, it can help to start the day with a daily call within the project team for short small talk and to distribute tasks.

Create your own structure!

For everyone who wants to bring even more structure to their everyday home office life, we have put together a few short rituals:

• Wear a “job outfit” so that switching from private leisure mode to work and after work becomes a conscious ritual.
  
• Go — even if it's just a short way to represent your commute. Not only because, statistically speaking, 7,500 steps a day extend our lives, but also because it can be a useful routine in the monotony of home office that occurs in many places.