Home Working Henry

The Four Horsemen of the Homeworking Apocalypse

Working from home is great. I have done it for a long time and highly recommend it. However, there are four horsemen of the Homeworking Apocalypse that everyone needs to be aware of: Disconnection, Distraction, Overworking, Return Mandates

I have spent a decade working from home, and to be honest, the first three have struck me down from time to time and it has taken the herculean and biblical levels of personal willpower and perseverance to get through them, ignore them or get a handle on them.

All of the four reasons are, if you are being open and frank, things that can and will happen at some point to all of us and we should make sure we are prepared for the Homeworking Apocalypse.

Things, can and do wrong. Change happens.

As we discuss the four horsemen below, please keep in mind ways that you could face up to these horsemen and ensure that you slay them.

Horsemen One: Disconnection

You are in the middle of an important client team call about the Q4 promotional materials, well suddenly, they freeze, and their faces stay plastered on the screen for what feels like 10 minutes. Then Teams makes a noise, a pop-up says connection lost and you are annoyed with your wifi, then you try to call them back whilst muttering your anger at the internet gods.

But the connection does not work. Oh no, your Wifi is down. Arrrrrgh! You wait for a few minutes, trying aimlessly and unsuccessfully to get back online.

You dash downstairs to the router turn it on and off, and shout profanities at it. Yet somehow this technical wizardry is not helping the situation.

Wifi is the energy that powers the online worker. It keeps you connected seamlessly (usually) with those working in the office. With so many apps and communications tools reliant on Wifi these days, without a reliable connection it really can hamper your chances of getting any work done until the internet is back up and running.

So what can you do to battle ‘Disconnection’?

Firstly, always have a strong to-do list at hand. Although the Wifi might have crashed. You can still do work.

Secondly, if you have work emails on your phone or a work phone, let people in the office know that your internet is down. And do the same for

Thirdly, if you cannot access the tools you need to progress on your to-do list. Consider using this as a time to tackle that awful, awful nightmare that is in your inbox. Although you will not be able to send out emails via Outlook at this time, you will be able to do several things:

This downtime can give you the chance to process down to a manageable level and possible

Fourthly, you might consider getting an internet service like Starlink. Although this might be pricey if this becomes a common occurrence, you could broach the sharing of this cost with your employer.

Lastly, you could hotspot from your mobile. However, this is using your data and your resources for the business you work for, so think carefully about this. If you have a work mobile seek permission before hotspotting.

Horseman two: Distractions

You are in the middle of an important assignment, you have a deadline, that CAN NOT be shifted, and on this very busy, very stressful day the kids are off school sick (now reenacting Argincourt in the front room) the dog has decided to do his business and right in the middle a video call with the team your partner decides to pop their head around the door and precedes to tell you

Working and distractions go hand-in-hand. Be it, emails, telephone calls, people stopping by your office, birthday cards to sign (again), visitors from other offices, the list goes ever on.

Working from home does seem to create a unique set of distractions that are both very distracting and sometimes shine a light on our personal lives. Distractions exist because, from an evolutionary standpoint, being able to ignore external stimuli for long periods, would have gotten our ancestors eaten by Sabretooth tigers. We are easily distracted.

All work has distractions whether at home or the office, dealing, managing and mitigating these distractions is important.

So how can you battle ‘Distractions’ whilst working from home?

Firstly, make your peace with distractions. Some distractions are just unavoidable, and getting to a place in which you understand and accept this will help decrease the power of a distraction.

Secondly, figure out what are the regular distractions and think of ways to mitigate them. For example, delivery drivers ringing doorbells can easily steal 10 minutes of your day. During working hours, why not put up a sign and place a box on the porch for the parcels to be placed in, and then at lunch and when you finish work pop your head out of the door to check?

Thirdly, if possible create a separate working space and enforce boundaries whilst you are in this space. This can reduce a number of distractions, but again this falls into the mitigation.

Fourthly, speeding up task switching. When a distraction happens, deal with it and move on quickly.

This can be harder than it sounds, as you are switching tasks and your brain can take a while to get back up to speed between work, distraction, and then back to work again. A simple little trick that I use is the post-it note method (I might have just invented this) but when a distraction hits, write on the post note very quickly what it was you were doing, then go deal with the distraction.

Working from home has its distractions, however, ultimately getting all of them into account, you can still spend more hours focused working from home, than working in the office.

Horseman Three: The Overworking Addiction

Ping, the emails come into your inbox at 8:35 pm. You get your phone out and start responding to the email. Another email pops into your inbox, you hop onto your laptop and suddenly it is 11:37 pm and you’ve got to go to bed.

Overwork is becoming a curse that is being made by homeworking with boundaries and shut-off time. Many homeworkers believe that overwork is becoming a problem.

Overworking clearly will affect some professionals and jobs more than others. It of course depends on the role company culture, and your attitude towards overwork.

How to battle Overwork

Let's be frank, there is no space to work on the entire process and issues of dealing with overwork in this article as it can be both very personal and very industry-specific. Below I am going to highlight how you can set up your home working life to reduce homeworking-induced overwork.

Firstly, have a dedicated homeworking space, a home office would be perfect if you have the space. The ability to close yourself away from work at the end of the day is important. If you do have not the luxury of having a separate working space, go to your local home store and buy a heavy-duty plastic box that can be sealed. At the end of the day pack your work gear into the box, and at the start of the day get it back out again.

Secondly, lock away your phone. If you have a work phone and are not on “call” leave it in the home office or buy a phone prison. This is the ultimate temptation device for overworking.

Thirdly, Set rules which you work by about homeworking. Have start and end times that are non-negotiable. Have a dedicated lunchtime (block it out in your diary). These three rules will help pacify your ability to overwork.

Lastly, try and always keep in mind some universal rules of work and life:

Overwork is the sneaky horseman of homeworking as the separation between work and home is blurred. With structure, you will be able to battle this horseman.

Horseman four: THe Return-to-Office Mandate

You are sitting at your desk on a pleasant autumnal afternoon, and out of your window, you spot a wren eating some seeds from the bird feeder. It is Friday and you have had a very productive week, suddenly an email drops into your inbox.

The headline brings you out in a cold sweat. Your heartbeat picks up, and the hairs at the back of your neck stand on end like a cliche horror film. The email subject line reads Changes to Homeworking policy.

Your mouse hovers over the email. You click in and your worst nightmare has come. Your company has decided to go back to being 100% office. Which was not on your agenda.

Since Covid ended there has been a steady stream of businesses and organisations ending the homeworking, or moving to a hybrid format for working. Many arguments have been stated from ‘culture’ to ‘productivity’ however, we do all know that in most cases this is more about resetting the business back to pre-covid, or as some people speculate it is about moving people out of the business

The arguments around this trend will go on for a while. However, this horseman of the Homeworking Apcolypse is not going to go away and it ends Homeworking.

So what can you do to battle the final boss of the Homeworking Apocolypse?

When that email hit your inbox, or when you heard the announcement at the business town hall, your heart sank. However, now that the dust has settled, you have to figure out your next steps.

You might decide that going back to the office is your fate because the rest of the role, company and elements of your job are worth it. However, if you want to stay home working you are going to have to get busy.

The first thing to do is understand if you can return to the office if this is not something you can do you are either going to have to fight to stay in the office or find a new job

So you can do the following:

Asking your boss for an exemption is your first attempt to stay home working. They might have the authority to go down this route. If you do not ask, you will not know. If you can back up your request with stats that back up you are more effective and productive from home you can strengthen your cause

Asking for a hybrid situation is your next step. Do the same as above to ensure that you are giving yourself the best chance.

Lastly, if the above has been rejected, start looking for a new job.

Return-to-office mandates are brutal. However, they also present you with an opportunity to find a new role, that respects how you want to work.

TL;DR

TL;DR: Working from home has its benefits but comes with challenges, referred to as the "Four Horsemen of the Homeworking Apocalypse." These include:

  1. Disconnection: Issues like WiFi failures can disrupt work. Having a backup plan and a strong to-do list can help mitigate the impact.
  2. Distractions: Home environments can be full of interruptions. Identifying and managing these distractions is key to staying productive.
  3. Overworking: The blurred lines between work and home life can lead to burnout. Setting boundaries and maintaining a dedicated workspace can help avoid overwork.
  4. Return-to-Office Mandates: Many companies are pushing employees back to the office, ending the work-from-home arrangement. Understanding your options and possibly negotiating for hybrid work can help you navigate this challenge.

Each of these "horsemen" can be managed with the right strategies to ensure a successful remote working experience.

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