Working Remote in Construction – 5 Tips to Share with your team.
1. Dress for work.
2. Accept that it is a transition.
3. Take regular breaks.
4. Over communicate.
5. Protect your workspace and time
To get the full On Demand Webinar that includes this and other Signals to Watch for with Remote workers go here: http://new3-thunderboltinnovation-3895200.hs-sites.com/en-us/working-remotely-in-construction-webinar-0 ( You’ll get a full deck and a link to the video webinar).
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Dress for Work
Staying in PJs sounds tempting but you still need to get into the mindset of working. (You’ll be using video a lot with remote work as well.)
https://www.fastcompany.com/3064295/what-happened-when-i-dressed-up-to-work-from-home-for-a-week -
Accept that this is a transition
You and your team need to be self aware that there will be feelings of loneliness, stress, frustration and isolation. Be understanding to this and allow for these feelings. You’ll all get into a groove.
https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/how-to-transition-to-a-remote-job-v2/ -
Take regular breaks
There are varying thoughts on how much to work and when to take a break but everybody agrees that regular breaks are a must. Even in the office, take a 5 minute break away from a computer screen every hour.
https://www.inc.com/amy-vetter/how-working-in-25-minute-sprints-makes-you-sharper-more-productive.html -
Over Communicate
My personal experience in office and remote work is that every problem in the world has come down to a lack of communication and not setting the right expectations. Be clear about expectations, communicate progress and use multiple channels to share these communications.
In this space it’s important to be aware of how different people communicate – which sometimes requires you to change your style with them and how you listen. https://online.alvernia.edu/articles/4-types-communication-styles/
Methods for communicating remotely in order of urgency:
Phone – Used for immediate conversations that need a decision or collaboration now.
Text – More immediate need for a response and 1 on 1 communication but not imperative.
Slack – Communication tool that can eliminate most email
Online Document – Posting updates, communications that can be read at any time.
Email – Save this for last. Useful for company wide communications and sharing daily or weekly updates.
Respect Boundaries in Tip 5, Leaders can set great examples with this.
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Protect Your Workspace and Time
Mindset is also impacted by your environment, working on the couch with the family while easy in this time will be distracting. Working remote in construction require focus just as it does in the office. Create a workspace in your home with a desk and make it your own. Only use it when you’re working. Make sure the workspace is ergonomic – comfortable and enforces a good posture – the couch or even a kitchen table most always are never ergonomic. This might mean buying or borrowing a computer screen, keyboard and a mouse; maybe even some stacks of books or paper. Use headphones to keep yourself focused.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2019/aug/01/how-do-i-set-up-an-ergonomic-home-office
Set boundaries with your family/roommates as well as co-workers. When you are in your work space no interruptions unless it is an emergency. Go to work at a defined time and include a virtual commute. This could be a walk or a cup of coffee and doing some e-learning, podcasts or what have you. End work the same time each day like you would in the office and have a virtual commute home, maybe your favorite word game or an episode of a tv show. These boundaries help keep the work-life balance when they seem to be meshing more than ever.
https://www.inhersight.com/blog/how-to/4-tips-setting-work-life-boundaries-when-your-home
There is much more to working remote and we’ve gone over tools, signals to watch for and more in this hour long webinar and slide deck. It’s worth your time to watch it. http://new3-thunderboltinnovation-3895200.hs-sites.com/en-us/working-remotely-in-construction-webinar-0
Bonus Tip – Were you using Excel or Paper for your Estimating team to keep track of projects? These don’t work well while working remote in construction. You can transition to a 100% secure cloud solution with Thunderbolt Pipeline. Read More about our award winning Bid Management Platform here: https://www.thunderboltinnovation.com/product/construction-bid-management/
