Over the past few decades, remote work has become increasingly common. After all, with laptops and smart phones, many knowledge workers can work anywhere. Until this spring, though, working from home was often seen as a perk reserved for trustworthy employees who needed more work-life balance. And even then, it tended to be reserved for Fridays. Everyone knows that Friday is the least productive day of the week, so if working from home isn’t really working, well, best to minimize the opportunity cost, right?
Then COVID-19 swept through the US and Europe, and in the span of a few days, whole organizations went virtual. One Gallup poll found that the proportion of US workers who had ever worked remotely doubled between mid-March and early April.
Whether things are returning to normal is unclear. But I do suspect that remote work will be here for a while. And that’s good because, handled right, working from home can allow for efficiency breakthroughs, and can be a good tool for career management, even for people with big ambitions.
With that in mind, I’m very excited for the launch of my next book, The New Corner Office: How the Most Successful People Work From Home. Penguin Random House and I are releasing this as an ebook on July 21st. There are tons of tips on how to manage your work day, and manage your work life, in a world where shoes are optional.
In the meantime, if you’d like a few tips, and a few exercises for planning a great summer while working from home, please check out my free download: How to have your best summer ever while working from home. I’m trying to embrace work/life integration this summer as all of work is being done a little differently. Summer is a great time to try, and maybe the techniques we learn can help us work more effectively and more pleasantly long after summer is done.