Tips for working from home
We asked our Office 365 user community what tips they would like to share with their colleagues while we’re mostly working from home.
Tip 1. Background blur
Background blur during Teams meetings was a commonly mentioned feature. Normally when you answer a video call, you’d take your laptop to an empty room, away from pets or other distractions. Background blur subtly conceals your surroundings so you can take video calls in any room and the focus is on you.
Read the Microsoft guide on background blur.
Tip 2. Take breaks
Enter scheduled breaks into your Outlook calendar so you remember to give yourself time away from the screen every other hour. If it’s a nice day, try and go outside!
Tip 3. Get work apps on your phone
The benefit of having the whole room or house to yourself, is that you aren’t confined to your desk. Have an audio conference coming up? Get the Teams app on your smartphone so you can take calls on the go, or at least with the option of pacing around to get a few steps in.
Tip 4. Instant message your co-workers
There’s no need to cut out daily catch ups when working from home. Dropping your colleagues a quick message to see how they’re doing can help everyone stay connected.
Tip 5. Take time to set up your work station
Don’t slump on your sofa with your laptop, take time to think about which room in your house is more suitable for you. If you can’t remember what to look for in a good table, seating and screen set up, you can look at the following resources:
Display Screen Equipment
- Display Screen Equipment Training and Risk Assessment Programme – Cardinus
- University Moodle Guidance on DSE Workstation set up -University (2018)
Tip 6. Take frequent short breaks
Working 9-5 doesn’t mean you should stare at a screen for 8 hours a day. It’s important to get time away from the screen every hour to reduce eye strain. If you’re the type of person to lose yourself in a task, look up and hours have past, try the pomodoro technique. This is when you write a to-do list then work in 25 minute sprints to reduce interruptions. Every 25 minutes, you’ll take a 5 minute break. There are built-in apps, like Focus Time in Windows 10 or you can use free online timers.
Tip 7. Maximise screen space
If you’re working from a Windows 10 laptop, right-click the taskbar and select Taskbar settings. From these options, you can choose to move the task bar to the side of your screen for more reading space or automatically hide it when it isn’t in use.
Tip 8. Virtual desktops in Windows 10
If you like to multi-task or work in different roles, you can dedicate an entire desktop to each aspect you want to focus on. This helps declutter your workspace and allows you to switch between tasks without interruptions.
How to create a new virtual desktop in Windows 10
- Click the Task View button in your taskbar. You can also use the Windows key + Tab shortcut on your keyboard, or you can swipe with one finger from the left of your touchscreen.
- Click New Desktop. (It’s located in the top left corner of your screen.)
Tip 9. Skype and Teams audio calling
We always say that an instant message is less formal than an email but less personal than a phone call. After a few days working on our own, a quick chat on the phone is exactly what you need!
Even if your department has not been moved over to Skype Telephony, you can still make a Skype call to any of your St Andrews colleagues or students as long as they are signed into Skype for Business. Just click the ‘Telephone’ icon at the bottom of the chat window. Most laptops have a built in microphone and speaker, so you don’t even need a headset.
Tip 10. Turn on your webcam
Working at home used to mean no face to face interaction. However, turning your webcam on changes that during online meetings.
Tip 11. Group chats!
Not chatted to your co-workers in a while, set up a group chat. Share anything you like, whether it be funny stories, GIFs, images! Continue the chat you would normally have in office.
Tip 12. Flagging emails
When inboxes get busier, flagging emails helps you remember to get back in touch with someone.
Tip 13. Slippers
Essential for working from home, and no, the novelty will never wear off.