Working from home is great, especially for introverts who dislike dealing with people on a daily basis. Unfortunately, most of us will have to telecommute at some time or another (every day for some of you) or collaborate on a project. Yes, telecommuting is still much better than putting on pants and driving to work every day, but it still has its difficulties. Ritika Trikha at CareerBliss shares several tips to make your telecommuting experience easier:
1. Send Files Securely: Unsecured broadband or wireless networks (public Wi-Fi hotspots) can be risky. Be careful! There are tools more secure than others. For instance, “ShareFile is as easy-to-use as consumer-grade file-sharing tools and its security is IT-department-approved,”
2. Switch Documents to Cloud-Based Apps: There’s nothing more annoying than to search thousands of emails to find that one document. And, of course, you forgot its file name. And what if your email crashes? Thank goodness for the Cloud!
3. Consistency is Key — Avoid Email Chains You can’t avoid emailing — but you should avoid massive chains.
4. Opt for Video Conferencing Vs Telephone “The ability to both hear and see a colleague can help facilitate that bond of trust in a way that a phone call can’t,” says Michael Woodward, an organizational psychologist and author of The YOU Plan.
5. Rid Yourself of ‘Email Armor’ “Email armor” is when you have a tendency to be more aggressive about critiques than you normally would be if you were speaking to them directly.