A lot of people have had to move their work out of a corporate office and into their homes. We have already written about some of the practical side of setting up a home office that actually works. As movers, our usual expertise is in the physical part of an office relocation: loading desks, wrapping monitors, getting everything from point A to point B without damage. This post is different. The circumstances around COVID-19 and social distancing shifted the conversation. So here we are talking about how moving employees to work from home can be the right move in a broader sense.

Is work from home more productive?
Research has suggested that telecommuting can actually raise productivity. That said, moving from a familiar office setting to a comparatively isolated home setup takes real adjustment. It does not happen automatically.
The same adjustment applies to people in supervisory roles. Managing a team remotely is often new territory, and when you cannot see what your team is doing, the temptation is to micro-manage. The goal is understandable: keep everyone efficient and on track. But that approach can actually work against you. The data suggests employees with a home office tend to be more productive. The real challenge for a manager is not controlling the team from a distance. It is keeping a team feeling alive when everyone is in a different room.
Working teams in isolation
For the individual, remote work can bring real benefits. Cutting out the commute is the obvious one, but it is far from the only upside. Still, new stress factors come with the territory. Some common ones:
- distractions from family members at home
- blurred lines between work and personal time, the work-life balance problem
- building or finding the right work environment inside your home
- a feeling of isolation from coworkers and a loss of community
- a lack of choice during a pandemic: remote work can be great when it is voluntary, but being forced to stay out of the office is a different feeling entirely
In our earlier post, we pulled together a range of resources to help with that transition. You can also find another useful read here: “20 Tips From People Who Do It Successfully.”
What has worked best for you when it comes to taking care of yourself while working from home? Share it in the comments.
If you need help with an actual move, whether business or residential, reach out through our contact form.
Sources and further reading:
https://hbr.org/2014/01/to-raise-productivity-let-more-employees-work-from-home
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/business/working-from-home-productivity.html
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15259-working-from-home-more-productive.html
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/productivity-tips-working-from-home


