How to stay productive and sociable whilst working from home

Whether you’re used to working from home or only just getting settled into your new home office, keeping your social interactions with colleagues going is essential. With the huge increase in people working remotely in recent weeks, we’ve set out a few ideas to keep you and your colleagues feeling positive, productive and connected.

Liven up your breaks

Breaks are an important part of office life and should also be part of your routine whilst working remotely or from home. Getting fresh air and plenty of exercise are of course crucial to your overall work-life balance, but so is maintaining your relationships with colleagues. How about scheduling virtual breaks to keep those all-important social interactions going?

• Virtual coffee break with your usual crew of hot beverage buddies
• Virtual lunch date with a different member of your team every day (highly recommended if self-isolating or in lockdown alone!)
• Virtual post-work drinks with your team

Tip: Why not arrange video chats with the people you know the least in your office? Inclusivity in the virtual workplace is critical for maintaining - or even improving - your company culture.

Get a change of scene

One of the huge benefits of working with Hello Backgrounds is your ability to replicate the physical spaces that exist in a typical office environment. Keep things varied by changing scene for different types of interaction to encourage appropriate behaviours.

For example, choose a boardroom backdrop for team meetings but switch to a more open plan setting for a more casual one-on-one.

Boardroom

Shared workspace

Alternatively, shake things up with a meeting in a fresh co-working space, or host your virtual breaks on the beach or up a mountain using our Fun and Nature collection.

Conference room

Tip: Encourage teams to select the same background for meetings to help maintain focus. If you find yourself getting jealous over your colleague’s living room, chances are they’re spending half the meeting admiring the painting on your office wall. Avoid these distractions by selecting a workplace backdrop for your important discussions.

We want to hear from you

How are you adjusting to working from home? We’d love to hear your stories and the ways you’re using Hello Backgrounds to help with your work. Please get in touch here.

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