Covid-19, a worldwide pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), has severely affected the functioning of various verticals.

A virus in its molecular sense, the fatal disease of Covid-19 has already taken 10,000 + lives, as tracked by Worldometers. 

The fatality rate of the dreaded disease stands at 1.4% as of 16th March 2020, notifies StatsNews. However, it’s the rate at which it spreads that’s causing all the trouble. Nations like Italy have reported more than 3,000 cases in a single day. 

Amid all the tension with regards to Covid-19, not only the Government policies but also the business companies have been taken aback. While the Government is making thorough efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus, companies have not been able to re-formulate their work policies regarding how to work during coronavirus.

Companies that have continued to function, albeit at lower productivity rates, have cited active freelance work culture as their success metrics. Some of them have been practicing the same for years, while others were able to quickly fill into the shoes of a work-from-home method of operation.

The outbreak of coronavirus in the U.S.A. led to more than 29% of the workers getting instant work-from-home duties, as reported by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. The percentage keeps on increasing, only for the welfare of the employees and to ensure that they are to work during coronavirus.

Here is how to be productive during the coronavirus outbreak:

1. Stay Connected With Your Concerned Teams

A one-to-one meeting and the office environment automatically signals your brain cells to get going with the work. However, many employees face difficulty in finding the same rhythm when they work remotely. 

The workers are not wrong with what they claim. However, if they follow certain guidelines and stay true to their work, working remotely can also be equally productive.

Keeping in touch with your team and managers lays the perfect foundation for a work-from-home operability. Hold team meetings over a call, and be punctual with your reporting. Next, decide the plan of action for a small session (say 2 hours), again connect with the team to discuss further plans of action. 

When you follow the routine you decide, you boost productivity during coronavirus. Make sure to draw a thick line between your home environment and your work. Develop a virtual workstation in your premises that suits your work style and get started with your daily tasks.

2. Use Work Orientation Tools

Office operability allows the managers and project leaders to assign and modify tasks as per deadlines and work priorities. With this mechanism taken out of context, many of the employees might find it troublesome to schedule their to-do list.

For such scenarios, companies have adapted work organization tools like Trello for Slack, Workzone, and several others that can be used to great effect. Via these tools, tasks are scheduled with tentative deadlines, and even the minute details are properly addressed.

Employees can take time to get used to this method of task allotment and submission, but going forward, these tools are going to play a vital role. Companies have started similar campaigns to track daily productivity and avoid stagnancy in need of the hour.

3. Avoid Meetings and Prefer Digital Platforms

For a disease that spreads in a vicinity of 1 meter, close contact or confrontation isn’t a wise man’s move. Even if there’s a slight possibility of the other person having flu symptoms or infection, avoid the meeting. This is not rude, this is a precaution, and you can advise the same to others as well.

Intercity and international meetings are held over video conferences, and this is not a new trend. The same can be done for office meetings as well. Platforms like Skype, Zoom, and many others provide the liberty to show presentations, present business ideas, and gather daily follow-ups. 

You may think that the possibility of catching the virus is very low, and you are absolutely correct. But one has to be aware that others are also thinking the same, and this doesn’t count under responsible citizenship. Ignoring this puts you in a situation where the virus has infected you, and you have no one else to blame but yourself. 

4. Maintain Personal Hygiene and Social Distancing

You’re working efficiently from home, and there are no issues with your productivity. But there’s a more prominent cause here. What we all are collectively undergoing right now is a precautionary measure to avoid the spread of coronavirus. Even when you’re working from home, you should abide by all the safety measures as issued by the Government.

Work in clean surroundings, wash your hands regularly, avoid meeting people unless it’s an absolute necessity, use sanitizers, and wear face masks to ensure that the virus doesn’t enter your body. When you keep yourself clean, you strengthen your family’s immunity alongside yours.

Social distancing recommends citizens to stay at home as much as possible. Head out only for basic needs such as food and medications, or exercising and enjoying outdoor sports in large open spaces. Some guidelines include avoiding groups of more than ten people, no handshakes, daily hand washing, and attempting to stay at least 6 feet apart when you meet someone outside your immediate family.

To Conclude

Adopting the work-from-home culture has ensured that a lockdown of offices doesn’t create a wall between coronavirus and work.

As an employee, you can target productivity goals in line with your office targets. You just have to adapt a punctual work culture, remove all the distractions that deviate you from work, and continue to achieve small daily objectives. Using work organization tools, you can structure your day better, and work metrics can also be kept in check. 

Social distancing is not a fancy term; it is one of the many precautions one has to undertake. A virus doesn’t have to trigger the need to keep yourself and the surroundings clean, and it’s something that many people fail to understand. Self-hygiene is a universal necessity and is also a one-stop solution to all the diseases, let alone the now pandemic, Covid-19.

What methods can you think of to transform the work-from-home culture into a work-productive ecosystem?