Have regular and open conversations with those you work with about how they are finding working from home, and what is helping or hindering their motivation. Be open and share your own experiences and struggles to encourage people to open up. Ask questions in both group and individual settings such as: How is the current situation affecting you at the moment? What tips do you have for motivating yourself in the current environment? It is also important to ask what your team needs from you.

Make sure your staff know you have a genuine personal interest in how they are doing, and appreciate their effort and show the work they produce really matters. This could be an informal ‘thank you’, and email of appreciation or even a message through the University’s recognition scheme.

Even more so when working from home is the need for individuals to have flexibility and autonomy over their working hours and work environment, particularly is they are also juggling childcare responsibilities. Showing you trust your staff is really important for their engagement and job satisfaction; micromanagement, particularly when working from home, will only demoralise individuals. However, while allowing increased flexibility it is also important to build in some structure to provide a sense of normality for your staff. This may include a regular meeting that you ask all of your team to be available for, or agreeing a specific time you will check in with each of your staff during the week.

When working remotely achieving a sense of connectedness and belonging within a team is much harder. When working in a shared office, social aspects of a team often come naturally, however when working remotely it is likely that this will slip off the radar. Allow time for personal conversations and catch-ups at the start of team meetings, and encourage team members to have non-work conversations and catch-ups in small groups or pairs outside of meetings. Allocating time each week for a social activity, or embedding informal time within a work day via a virtual lunch or happy hour can also be helpful to maintain the relational elements of the team. Other ideas include coffee-roulette or virtual team building activities.

Ensure you take into account that many staff have had to adopt new working habits and are often juggling other responsibilities such as child care too. While some staff will naturally adapt to home working and may even prefer it to working from campus, others are likely to be finding it more difficult. It is important to seek to understand each person’s specific situation and be as accommodating as possible dependant on their situation. For example this may mean giving extra time for a task or project to be completed.

Inevitably when working from home, individuals will be working in very different ways. Keep your focus on the goals and what is being achieved as opposed to the activity and how they get there. Provide as much autonomy as possible for decision making and ways of working to help staff feel empowered and have freedom to work in a way which suits them.

Working from home can lead to a blurring of the lines between work and home, as well as work ‘extensification’ – a longer working day where people start at the time they would normally leave the
house for their commute or carry on working until they would normally return home. Remind people of the importance of taking regular breaks and quickly address any unhealthy habits that you notice (such as late night emailing – although this may be a choice due to caring responsibilities or other circumstances and should be agreed).

This period offers a valuable opportunity for a number of staff to undertake development that they otherwise may not have time for. There are a range of learning opportunities available for staff through Staff Learning & Development’s online learning platforms which staff can undertake easily from home or anywhere. There is also guidance and resources available on career development and personal development planning