More and more of us have started working from home as a result of the COVID pandemic. However, we suspect that when we are clear of the social distancing measures that a lot of people will continue to work from home, even if it is only for some of the time.
A high proportion of the team already work from home and in this article, we share our experience and advice to help those working from home or planning to work from home.
Set Up A Dedicated Workspace If At All Possible
The single biggest piece of advice we can give is demarcation. Setting up clear boundaries between work and home, even though they are effectively the same premises.
Try and use a separate room as your place of work, it helps to separate work from home. Even if you need to commandeer a reception room if you don't have a spare room. it will be worth it.
Interruptions are real creativity and productivity killers so you need to put in place ways that your family know when you are at work and when you really should not be disturbed. Mike explains…
When I am in the studio the family know that I am at work, but I prefer to leave the studio door open so I still have some contact with the family but also makes it easy for the family to interrupt me when they need me for something. I do close the door when I am recording and most of the time that works, although it did take some time for the kids to realise that quietly tapping on the door would somehow be OK and wouldn't spoil the recording. I try not to use a laptop around the house, so I can carry on working when I am with the family. I think this sends out mixed messages and messes up the delineation that a dedicated room provides.
Establish A Daily Routine
It is important when working from home to set yourself a daily routine as if you were going to work. Again this will help separate home life from work life.
When you have lunch or a tea/coffee break, go to a separate room, the home part of your house, and then at the end of the break go back to the work part of the house.
This also signposts to the rest of the family when you are 'at work’ and when you are ‘at home’. It will also reduce the distractions of home life, which could have a negative impact on your work time.
Dan explains his experience…
My working day starts at 8:30 am and ends at 4 pm Monday to Friday... and that's it. I will not take phone calls, emails or do anything for a client outside of those hours as from 4 pm onwards I am no longer Dan the music producer, I am Daddy Dan for my wife and kids. I have found that by not structuring my working hours it was causing me a lot of stress as I was trying to fit too many tasks into my day. I now accept that I have 7 working hours in a day. I plan my week's duties first thing on a Monday and schedule my tasks across the week. The best feeling in my working world is getting to Friday afternoon and seeing my "to do" list clear.
That said, in the COVID-19 epidemic, especially when schools are closed, parents are going to need to play tag team with one taking parental responsibility whilst the other does some work. All of this confirms the need for clear demarcation, so the family know which parent is ‘at work’ and which parent is ‘at home’.
Morning Routine
A morning routine is also very helpful and again one Mike is still working on after 30 years! Mike explains…
Because I am working at home, even getting dressed can be a distraction. So I am trying to be much more firm with myself, and to get the morning routine back into the order it should be, which is get up, clean up, fuel up and only then get going.
I tend to get up, then rather than go into the studio and start straight away, I turn the gear on, on my way down from the bedroom, but I then carry on downstairs to the kitchen, make myself a drink and then go and sit in the conservatory and look at the garden, watch the wildlife going about their routine, look at the sky and enjoy the different cloud formations whizzing past and do a Codeword puzzle. Then I start work. and break for breakfast later, or not, see the section on breaks! and maybe get dressed at some point later on. Now I aim to get the cleanup and fuel up bits done in their correct place before I hit the studio.
When I do arrive in the studio, another thing I am trying to do is not start with emails etc but to complete at least one of things that I put on my to-do list the night before.
For those of you with a normal morning routine of getting up and preparing to go to work, Mike’s advice is to work hard at retaining that routine even though you now won’t be leaving the house to go to work.
Nighttime Routine
One of the things Mike does now is to have an evening routine where he reviews what he has achieved that day, and then plans what he needs to do for the next day.
I have used Apple Reminders to help me manage my to-do list, but like so many, my list seemed to get longer and longer and just ended up making me feel guilty about all the things I hadn't done.
Now I have a much more thought through and focussed list, which is more and more made up of the things that need to be done in the next week. I now use Calendar for more long term planning for booking in projects and larger tasks, allocating them plenty of time, and so they no longer clutter up my to-do list.
Now, the last thing at night, before I turn everything off, I look at my emails, my to-do list and update it and reprioritise ready for the morning. I am finding this process is also enabling me to put my work 'to bed' and so I am sleeping better because I am not worrying about stuff. If I do think about something as I am going to sleep or even if I wake up at night, I quickly add a note to my list so I don't forget it and then go back to sleep rather than continuing to worry about it.
Take Breaks
This is important wherever you work, but strangely at home, this one is much harder to do. Mike explains…
It is generally accepted that we can focus well on a task for between 90 minutes and 2 hours, and then we need a 25 or 20-minute break to recharge and clear our heads so we can return refreshed for the next block. This presents two challenges for creatives. For Mike, the challenge is, "I will just get that task done then I will take a break. Bum, I really need to reply to that email, then I will take a break and so on", and it is very easy to find yourself 3 or 4 hours down the road and still not having taken a break.
The second challenge is the perception that creativity rarely fits into nice convenient blocks and so if you are on a roll you don't want to stop in case you lose the flow.
It is really hard to take those breaks even though it has been proven over and over that we are more productive and more creative by taking those breaks rather than pushing on through. So take the breaks!
Computer Age - Case Study Of Collaborating Round The World
The invention of modern computer-based creative technologies offer professional results at a fraction of the price gear used to cost is one reason. The high-speed internet revolution is the second reason, as Russ has been typing his contribution to this article a producer in a studio in LA has sent him the test footage of two cameras to check. Russ takes up the story…
It took a matter of seconds to download several gigabytes of high-quality content. At some point, I will be interviewing another professional in that LA home studio over the internet, and then the rushes will be sent to me for editing, it will take a couple of hours. It certainly won't take a flight to LA, a hotel, the hire of a crew and gear to get that interview and within days we will have high-quality content to share on almost any medium we want.
Several times a week I have to get voice-overs done, not by someone who visits my studio in Ireland, but by voice talent who lives in Canada. The scripts are often for a client based in Scandinavia, shared, amended and approved via email and then sent to the VO artist to record in their home studio. On a good day, I can have a script approved in Europe and the VO recorded in Canada and sitting on my timeline in an hour... really.
I'm sure there are many reading this who like me do the same thing when recording music. Your talent is all over the globe, but you can have the guitars, bass and drums all done by top talent for a song in a matter of hours.
A professional can work alone from their shed, garage, basement, spare room and have all that they need to succeed in the creative industries - it's a bloody modern miracle.
Your Utility Bills Will Rise
If your house was unoccupied because family members went to work, daycare, school or college or any combination of these, you were able to turn the heating off whilst you were out, and lights and other electrical appliances could be turned off.
Once you are working at home, you are effectively using the house 24/7 and so you will need to heat your home all day, other domestic appliances will be in use more so expect your utility bills to increase significantly, maybe double for the duration that you are working from home, so be ready.
The Stress Of Isolation
One of the challenges that those who work at home is that there is no water cooler or kitchen to congregate around to chat and discuss what we are doing or just to pass the time of day with. With the need to reduce contact to a minimum, this challenge that all home-workers face, will be significantly harder because of the coronavirus.
For those of you new to working from home, you'll remember those water cooler and kitchen moments. These are the momentary interactions with your colleagues that seem trivial but often help you to do your work better. These are the moments when you share your ideas, what you are working on and a small conversation takes place about it. Sometimes those conversations confirm you are on the right track, at times a better idea emerges, or you realise the idea is dumb and needs scrapping.
This seemingly trivial part of working in a team is an essential way to make sure we produce great work. If there is no one to tell us the idea we have is a moment of genius or conversely our worst one to date, then the first person to say it may be our client.
Often the issue is less binary and an idea may be good but could be great with some tweaks. Is that keyboard part the right one, have you thought about changing the real piano for a Suitcase? Or it might be that you need to move the guitar riff before the verse to middle 8 of the song?
A production is rarely ascribed greatness by one single idea, but a lot of smaller decisions made in production that when combined take the concept from average to amazing. In our opinion, it's the water cooler or kitchen moment, the shout across the room, the someone passing your workstation interactions that contribute to this.
Working in isolation, it is easy to plough on regardless with a song or video and spend two days working on it before realising the idea stinks. Or does it? There's no one there to tell you either way? If like us, part of your work is pitching ideas to your clients, then making sure it's the right idea is essential. We will often call each other up and do a practice pitch and ask for feedback from our colleague. This can all be done over the phone or using screen sharing on Skype or Zoom.
But as Russ explains there is a second and equally important reason why these small team interactions matter and that is in the area of communicating with those outside your bubble…
Every week opportunities, ideas, challenges, concerns and complaints hit my inbox, most of them are small, some of them are big. How do I decide which is which? How do I make the right call and give an appropriate response? Part of that is down to experience, but when you are in the middle of a stressful project and have a deadline looming, then you are not always functioning at your best. Tiredness and stress can often reduce our ability to respond as we should, and if we are not careful, we can send what I call "a solo email."
Working solo, where you have no one to check what you are doing, can be tough, and it’s going to be especially hard during the coronavirus epidemic. To help we want to suggest some practical ways to make sure you create an ecosystem to give you a viable support network.
To illustrate the issue we have used this story before, but in this context, it stands repeating.
A father is woken one night by a loud thunderstorm; lightning is lighting up the sky as the storm rages. He runs to the bedroom of his 4-year-old daughter to find her standing transfixed at the window looking out into the night. "This is scary Daddy," she says as he enters the room. "Don't worry; God is with you." He replies to reassure her, to which she replies "But Daddy I want someone with skin on."
Despite all the modern forms of communication we all still need people with skin on. Real flesh and blood who can look us in the eye and grab us when we need a hug or shake our senses! The skin part of this is going to so much more difficult in the current emergency but we still need two lines of defence, a short term and a long term plan. We need people who can offer advice on the spot, metaphorically, and we need those who can be long term supporters and mentors to help keep us grounded and stop us from going insane, whilst not being in the room.
We would suggest that even though spouses or partners would normally be the obvious support because we will be spending most of not all our time in the same space, making them the only skin in the game, we recommend that you should find some virtual skin to help with advice ad support for when you at work, at home. Russ explains…
There are occasions when something has been bothering me, and I need wisdom, especially about people. I recommend surrounding yourself with a network of people with different skills who you can ask advice. Some of them will give creative advice, others technical. Some of them will help you with client or supplier issues, or money, the truth is that you can't have too many people you trust to help you make the right decisions.
There is one fundamental rule about the people you choose, don't surround yourself with 'yes' people. You need to have the counsel of individuals who don't always agree with you and who know you well enough to know your blind spots and your flaws. We all have faults so if you are reading this and think you don't need anyone then you need a team quick to get you back on planet earth.
This strategy is partly the reason I also tend not to involve my wife; she is my biggest fan, so telling her someone has said something derogatory about me will often invoke her defences and before I know it she wants to punch them. Although this doesn't always translate, I recall a time when I had acted foolishly, I turned to my wife and said "I've been such a twat!" to which she replied, "Yes Russ, but you're my twat!"
So find a group of trusted people who can offer you a range of advice, it can be as simple as shooting them a message or jumping on Skype to ask what they think of a song idea. Or it might be a long phone call asking them what you should do about a client who owes you thousands of pounds.
Without a group like this supporting you, your mental wellbeing is going to suffer and that is the last thing you need as you traverse this very stressful time, especially as we do not know when it will end.
Protecting Your Health And Wellbeing
We ignore our health at our peril. In this time of social isolation, keeping physically fit is going to be an even greater challenge. If you can get out for some exercise, and still comply with your government's guidance then grab the opportunity with both feet, especially as there may come a point when this is no longer possible. Here are some tips for staying healthy...
Sleep Matters - There's a reason sleep deprivation is used as an interrogation method. Setting aside the possible serious health impact, the sleep-deprived have to work harder to function. You may think not sleeping is smart but it may be the case that not sleeping is making you less smart.
Eat Well - Working in a studio does not lend itself to eating well. Often the highlight of the day is when the take-out menus come out. Eating well is about a number of things; quality, quantity and frequency - the what, the how much and the when. So try to eat high quality, freshly prepared food at regular intervals during the day. Also, make sure you are not starving and then gorging, that isn't good for you either.
Avoid Stimulants - we aren’t talking about drug abuse here, there are plenty of legal stimulants we put into our body daily. Both tea and coffee contain stimulants and excessive consumption may not help you maintain balance. Consider a drinking regime that is made up of water, juices and decaffeinated hot drinks.
Take Regular Breaks - You think you can't possibly stop for breaks, but you are making a big mistake when you think like that. As a creative you are being paid to stay fresh and keep your mind alert - ideas are the currency you deal in. Tiredness and stress will rob you of your creativity.
We cover these issues and others in our article How To Be Kind To Yourself And Stay Healthy As A Creative Professional.
The concentration of so many different functions around a computer means that although we are sat down and not moving around much, we stress our bodies in so many different ways without realising it by extending our wrists, slouching, sitting without foot support and straining to look at poorly placed monitors.
All of this can lead to what health professionals call 'cumulative trauma disorders' or 'repetitive stress injuries' (RSI), which if not dealt with can cause serious, irreversible medical conditions. Symptoms of these may include pain, muscle fatigue, loss of sensation, tingling and reduced performance.
So what can we do about this? There are a range of options that we can use, bearing in mind that no one solution is the right answer for every person and every problem.
Posture And Right Angles - How you sit and the height of the work surface, are both crucial. Everything should be at right angles and make sure you get a decent chair. We cover these issues and possible solutions in much more detail in our article Back Pain, Posture And RSI - What Can We Do?
Move! - Moving around has many benefits: it relaxes tissues, lubricates joints and prevents stiffness, improves circulation, reduces fatigue, and builds stamina. Studies have shown that heavy computer users who move around every 10 minutes successfully avoid computer-related pain. Plan movement exercise that can be done in your garden or indoors when the time comes.
Exercise At Your Computer - There are exercises you can do at your computer but do use them as a replacement for taking medical advice.
Take Care Of Yourself - Remember that if you have to hold any part of your body in tension, you will be much more prone to pain and causing damage to your body. The key here is that pain is your body's warning system that something isn't right. At this time with the stress COVID-19 is putting on our health services me need to be careful that we don’t add to the load with other injuries of sickness.