With the current situation around the country and the world, most of us have been forced to work from home for an indefinite period of time (if you are fortunate to currently still have a job or a business). Many of us have already experienced working from home here and there, or even full time. However, the challenge now is that if you have roommates, you are all stuck together and have to each do their jobs side by side, all day, every day. To alleviate some of the issues and conflicts that may arise in this new workday reality we have compiled a few tips for working from home when you have roommates.
1. Setup your space
First of all, you want to make sure that personally you have a good work area, with a comfortable chair and desk if possible. If each roommate has a setup in their own bedrooms, that makes things a bit easier, but many of us like to sit in the living room or dining area with their laptops or don’t have the luxury of having a private workspace. To start, we suggest that you survey your apartment or home and divide the space into various work areas where you and your roommate(s) each have their own designated space. Having an established workspace for each roommate will give you a sense of routine and reduce conflicts. You should also designate specific rooms for different activities. For example, if you are both working out of the living room area, then make it a ‘quiet zone’ designated for catching up on emails, working on designs, or cracking away on your excel spreadsheets, but not for any meetings or calls. For those, designate your bedrooms, or any other common area that you can close the door behind you to limit noise for your roommates.
2 . Synchronize your schedules
Another useful way to stay focused, productive and tension free, is to synchronize your schedule with your roommate’s. If you have limited space, you could move some of your meetings to one part of the day and attend them from your room, while your roommate can work in quiet in the common area. Then switch it up in the latter part of the day. Also, working side by side could be very distracting so working out of separate rooms could solve for that. However, we don’t recommend a complete social distancing from your roommate throughout the day. Organize your meetings and quiet worktime to maximize the space, work requirements and your roommate’s work schedule. Syncing up your day with your roommate’s would be immensely more critical if one of you is not working and the other one is. It could be very distracting if you are trying to work and your roommate is binging on Netflix, catches up on the phone with everyone one he ever friended on Facebook, or worse, inviting people over to hang out. Establishing those hours for TV, having people over (we don’t recommend that at all), or anything that is distracting will prevent you from building up anger that might blow up later.
3. Take breaks
It’s easy to get sucked into work and have the day fly by when you don’t have the same routine as while you are at your office, so make sure you build in breaks so you can recharge, take a breath and interact with your roommate. Make sure to also sync up your breaks with your roommate. Take a coffee break or a lunch break together and use it to catch up, cook your meals, or watch a quick Netflix show, and then both get back to work. Lastly, schedule a timeslot for physical activity together. Whether it’s a home workout, going out for a run or yoga at home, do it together to keep each other motivated and within a routine.
4. Explore different rooms
Working in the same spot all day while not even leaving the house could get old and depressing. Break up your day by moving around and exploring different rooms. So even if you are working out of the privacy of your bedroom, try to spend a few hours in a different setting around your house or apartment. Swap your desk chair to the couch, kitchen table, balcony or porch or walk around while you are on the phone. As mentioned above make sure you designate the rooms prior and ensure you are not encroaching on your roommate.
5. Keep it clean
This goes without saying, but during these times it is even more pertinent to step up your cleanliness game, especially in the common areas. Being home for such an extended time naturally produces more waste, more mess and definitely more use of the kitchen and dishes. Moreover, now that you are home all day and trying to focus on work, it’s crucial to have a clean environment that looks (and smells) good.
If you both kept it clean to some degree before because you weren’t at home as much or you ate out mostly, now you might be cooking more and making more of a mess. So make sure you have some ground rules, pick after yourself, throw out the trash often, clear out the kitchen sink and be extra considerate.
We hope that you find these tips useful and that they help you stay focused on work, while keeping the harmony at home.
If you have any of your own tips to share, please leave a comment below!