Maybe you’ve heard about Yelp’s awesome offices in San Francisco, New York, Phoenix or Chicago. They’re pretty fantastic for the Yelp employees who call them their home away from home. However, we also have 120+ remote Yelp employees across North America, many who represent our community management team. These local community managers are the face and voice of Yelp in their respective cities and thus a hyper local presence is much needed. Enter: work from home.
Working from home can be a glorious thing. It can also be your very worst enemy. We’ve all been there at one point or another. With more than 10 years of experience under our belt, we’ve polled our CM team to round up 10 ways to maintain your sanity when you WFH. Pants *sometimes* required.
1. Seek out human interaction: It’s really easy to blow through 8-10 hours of work and not see a single human being outside of yourself. Paging isolation island, party of one. This may be a blessing on some days, but make a plan to get out of your home and into the real world at least a few times per week. Co-working spaces, local libraries, coffee shops, and the like are great spots that guarantee a change of pace.
2. Get up, stand up: Research has shown over and over again the benefits of taking breaks, so do your mind and body a favor and take a walk about on the hour. You won’t get distracted talking to co-workers during your break but you may throw in a load of laundry for good measure.
3. Create a home office you love: Delineate work and home life from the get-go by creating a specific home office space. Whether that’s a dedicated bedroom, a nook in your dining room, or window side desk in your living room, make it your own and make it as separate as you can. This dedicated space will help you minimize distractions that home life can bring to the table.
4. Schedule your fitness: When you work from home you can feel completely engrossed by your to-do list and calls that you may overlook the wonderful flexibility that WFH can accommodate. Assuming you’re an accountable, kick ass employee, schedule time to keep yourself healthy by booking fitness time in your calendar.
5. Pants: As often as we joke that remote work means we don’t have to wear pants on the regular, getting dressed does wonders for your work mindset and productivity. Instead of shuffling to your home office in your pjs, grab a quick shower and put on some proper pants.
Workplace expert Mason Donovan, author of “The Golden Apple: Redefining Work-Life Balance for a Diverse Workforce: “Although a dress code may seem silly when you think about working from home, work clothes impact you on a business and personal level and can affect your career,” he tells Fast Company.
6. Beware your kitchen: Overloading on caffeine and/or snacks can wreak havoc on your body. Even the healthiest of diets can be destroyed by one too many walks into your kitchen for your fifth cup of coffee or the mindless munching of the open Girl Scout cookie box on the counter. Do yourself a favor and take an hour of down time to prep healthy snacks or a batch of go-to meals that will keep you fueled and focused.
7. Temptation bundle: Have a looming project that you just can’t gather yourself to complete? Backlogged on emails? Try “temptation bundling: the idea that you can make it easier to perform a behavior that is good for you in the long-run by combining it with a behavior that feels good in the short-run.” Listen to a brand new album while finishing that project or get a pedicure while clearing out those backlogged emails.
8. Take in-person meetings: Besides seeking human interaction, push yourself to meet with folks face-to-face. Fostering relationships is exponentially easier face to face and you can avoid the misinterpretation that can present in phone and email conversations. If in person meetings won’t fly, try video in a pinch.
9. Delegate the dirt: If you can swing it, hire a cleaning service for your home. The absolute last thing you’ll want to do after spending countless hours working in your home is to clean it. Call us biased, but Yelp’s Request A Quote is the perfect fit for this common woe.
10. Establish working hours: One of the most challenging elements of working from home is that the work can so easily bleed into personal time. Set your working hours, a start and stop time each day, and stick to it.
If you love Yelp, working from home, and great local businesses, check out the openings we have on Yelp’s Community Management team.
