Freightera Employees’ Tips for Working from Home

With recent events in the world leading to significant changes in how we view work and what is sustainable, many businesses are switching to remote work.

Since it’s been established in 2014, Freightera has been a 100% remote-working company and that’s why our employees have a bunch of useful tips for working from home!

Follow these tips to improve your productivity as well as your physical and mental well-being! 

During work

During your business hours (if you’re new to this) the first thing you will notice is that nobody is looking over your shoulder. This is a bit of a double-edged sword. 

On one hand, you don’t have that constant pressure of someone checking in on you all the time, and you are free to organize your own time.

On the other hand, you’re free to organize your own time. That means that if you lack the organizational skills and the discipline needed, you may run into some trouble. 

That’s why the first tip on this list is to organize your workday!

Now we realize that not all jobs are the same and with some jobs, a lot of work is thrown at you at once, and at others you have more freedom to manage your own workload. No matter how your day looks, it is important to prioritize your tasks. You don’t want to take a coffee break when you have a deadline, meeting, presentation or a client waiting for you no matter how short that break is.

If you have flexible shifts, this tip is even more important. If you don’t set aside specific work hours for yourself, you will more than likely end up feeling like you’re working all day long. If your day is constantly torn between work and rest, you will never truly get to rest since you will always have something waiting for you when you get back to work.

A good chair

Next, make sure to get yourself a comfortable (preferably ergonomic) chair. If you’re sitting all day at work, your posture can really suffer, and if you’re doing so at home, from a couch or armchair you can start to regret your life choices very quickly.

A good chair will help you keep your posture in check and you’ll be thanking yourself for it since your posture can impact your overall quality of life.

A good desk

If you have the opportunity to get a standing desk along with your ergonomic chair, that is a good investment as well. 

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Why would I need a good chair if I’ll be standing at my desk?!” and you do have a point. 

However, standing isn’t all that great for you on its own either, which is why we recommend mixing and matching to make sure you don’t stay in one position for too long. The human body isn’t made for sitting straight or standing all day – it’s made for movement. 

Regular breaks

Following naturally from the above is our third tip: Make sure to take breaks regularly to stretch and move around the house. 

Simply moving every once in a while will by no means replace exercise, but it will stop you from getting stiff, cramped up and tired. 

If you take a lot of calls daily, consider investing in Bluetooth a headset that will allow you to walk around while talking. This will both allow you to pace in case this helps you concentrate. as well as make some tea or coffee if you’re on hold.

Stretch and move during work

Get a yoga mat if yoga is your thing. Yoga is a great way to stretch as well as get exercise at the same time. You can use your lunch break or any sort of downtime to simply take two steps away from your desk and work out. Yoga is an excellent choice since it doesn’t require much space and you can still keep an eye on your work while doing it. 

Make sure to have a specific space for work. 

You may think that because you’re working from home, it might be a good idea to work from anywhere or even move around the house and switch places up. While that might work for some people, we’ve found that separating your workspace from your rest spaces will help keep you sane in the long run.

Work can be stressful and you can grow to associate an environment with the stress you receive. That’s why it might be better to have a specific corner where you can focus and condition yourself to treat it as a workplace while the rest of your home can be your leisure zone. 

Lastly, use the fact that you don’t have to be in an office. 

Visit a coffee shop, a park, or even a beach and work from there as long as your job allows you to do that. 

This last tip may contradict the previous one, but using nature or a cozy environment to your advantage will very likely reduce your overall stress levels and you’ll avoid associating the park with stress. 

Before/After Work

Decompress after your shift. 

Generally, after work, people have to commute which is time that can be used to decompress and separate from work. 

When working from home, you won’t have such a “luxury”. Don’t get us wrong, it’s great that you don’t have to spend time just going to work and back again, but the truth is that this time can be a valuable, proverbial wall between your work and private life. 

That’s why you should take at least 15 minutes after every shift to just relax and, if possible, go outside. You may use this time to walk your dog, take a shower or go to the grocery store, but the important thing is to give yourself time to breathe and clear your mind. 

This one might seem obvious, but make sure to get exercise when off work. 

Whether it be running, cycling, hitting the gym, or hiking, you want to make sure you’re doing it. 

Not only is the movement and exercise itself good for your health, but going outside will help you get some fresh air and some much-needed vitamin D. 

Finally, set a daily rhythm for yourself. 

If you’re at home very often it is really easy to start getting up or going to bed late. Whether you like watching movies and TV shows, playing video games, reading or making things, it’s important to keep track of time. Looking at a screen all day is generally bad for sleeping patterns due to all of the blue light emissions. 

Since most of us continue looking at our screens long after our work hours are over, it is really easy to fall into a loop of going to bed later and later. This can lead to waking up too late and finally not really having time for anything, including your hobbies.

A lot of us at Freightera prefer keeping a steady rhythm and setting alarm clocks for a reasonable time in the morning so that we can have a productive day personally as well as at work. And that would be pretty much all we have for you.

We hope that these tips will help you more easily transition into the era of remote working! Incidentally, it is also the era of freight shipping and at Freightera we strive towards making cargo transport easy and accessible for everyone, including remote workers. So in case your work includes shipping, please visit us at freightera.com.

We hope this article helps you and we look forward to your business. 🙂