Technology
3 Tips for Staying Connected At Work While Out of The Office
If your business is based in an office setting but you don’t always find yourself at the physical location, it can be a challenge to know how to remain connected with what’s going on around the office. Especially if you work on a team or supervise others within your company, being aware of what’s taking place within the office can be of the utmost importance to you.
If your business is based in an office setting but you don’t always find yourself at the physical location, it can be a challenge to know how to remain connected with what’s going on around the office. Especially if you work on a team or supervise others within your company, being aware of what’s taking place within the office can be of the utmost importance to you. So how can you feel like a part of the team if you’re frequently gone or work outside the office on occasion? To help with this, here are three tips for staying connected at work while out of the office.
Know Your Team’s Schedule
Especially if you travel far from your office, it’s important to know what your team’s schedule looks like in relation to your own if you plan on conducting some of your work simultaneously. When you’re traveling in a different time zone, it can be easy to forget about a time difference and miss important meetings or phone calls with members of your team. To avoid this issue, Ty Kiisel, a contributor to Vault.com, recommends setting your work computer to the timezone of your office headquarters regardless of where you’re traveling. This way, it will always be easy for you to know the time at your office and work your schedule around theirs if necessary.
Set Aside Time to Connect
When you’re working out of the office, whether you work from home or are on the road, your work hours can have a lot of variation. And if you’re working with other team members on projects or tasks that require collaboration, the varying schedules can make it hard to communicate on short notice. For this reason, Erinn Bucklan, a contributor to DailyWorth.com, suggests setting aside a specific time during your day that you’ll return phone calls or check emails so your team can know when to expect your responses to work-related communication. This can help increase the communication within your team by sending only one email or phone call during the course of the day.
Make Video Chats a Common Occurrence
Working remotely can make it hard for you to connect with your coworkers on a personal level. And depending on the type of work you’re participating in, it’s important to know the personalities of your coworkers and be comfortable in speaking and collaborating together. To make this more natural, Martha C. White, a contributor to Time.com, suggests making video chats a normal part of your day. You could even be on a Skype call all day to allow you constant access to a coworker you’re working on a project with or need the assistance of.
Staying connected when you’re away from the office is easier than ever thanks to modern technologies. Use the tips mentioned above to improve the efficiency of your work day by staying connected as completely as you can.