S P ECI AL F E ATU RE THE HOME OFFICE: MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU Large numbers of staff have had to get to grips with the ups and downs of working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak. After a decade of doing her office job from home, Gou Groups Mindy Vanden Berg has some words of advice for employees and employers T he COVID-19 outbreak saw many staff forced to abandon their offices at short notice and set up at home. For a large proportion, it was the first time, and the learning curve about the dos and donts of working remotely has been a steep one. With 10 years experience of working from home, Mindy Vanden Berg, Director of Partner Relations and Business Development at Gou Group, has good advice on the best practice to make it work for the benefit of employees and their companies. To begin, she says that, in a moving business, there are not many office tasks that you cant do at home. I believe all aspects of a move manager and the pricing/rates teams roles do not require a person to sit in an office, especially with advances in technology that allow people to: have virtual calls; instant message; upload, store and share documents, templates, and so on; book freight; create shipping documents; download AWB/OBLs; and obtain online pricing and upload rates. She has also found that, if you get the right group together, remote working also operates well for decentralised senior management teams. Each member has their own defined roles and responsibilities, and there is no ambiguity on what the common objectives and goals are, she says. While she has enjoyed every moment of working from home, Vanden Berg says there are some vital criteria for success. First, you need to have a dedicated workspace in your home, or wherever you will be working preferably with a door that you can shut behind you when you are working, and when you close up shop at night, she says. A shared desk or computer where you both work and conduct your personal business, perhaps in the same living space where you cook or eat or spend family time, will never work, because the lines will become blurred between work and free time, and your work/life balance will be disrupted. If you have a family, its important to establish clear rules with your partner, spouse, children even pets (if your cat is as annoying as mine), she says. I have 16-year-old twins in high school, so they come in after school to have a quick rundown on their school day, then they know that I still have a few hours of work ahead of me, so off they go. Discipline is also essential, she says, so that during a working day you dont get sidetracked with everything else that goes on at home housework, WW W. F I D I. O R G FF297 JunJul20 pp31-35 Best practice.indd 33 kids, nice weather calling you outside, and so on. However, its also very important to get up from that desk at least once an hour for five-10 minutes to clear your mind, stretch your legs whatever you need to do to decompress for a few minutes. I can promise you that productivity will go way down if you dont do this one simple thing. At the end of that working day, be done, she adds. Unless you have a job where you need to be available 24/7, when you leave your office and close the door for the night, leave your cell phone in the office. Working at home can feel isolating at times, and Vanden Berg says making an effort to be more socially active with friends and family is vital to provide the MINDY VANDEN BERG, PARTNER RELATIONS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AT GOU GROUP 33 01/06/2020 14:58