During the past few weeks, a long list of companies have urged their employees to work-from-home or a remote location during the COVID-19 Coronovirus pandemic. While companies have existing tools for remote work, many employees have never prepared for the likelihood of working from outside of the office for more than a day or two. That means it may be the first time they’re forced to work for long stretches from their home, basement or living room, which isn’t easy.

Magic has been working remotely since 2017

As a fully remote team, we’ve somewhat become experts in maximizing productivity from home. But we couldn’t have done that without learning from others. So, we wanted to share a few resources that we found helpful to ensure a remote home set up works best for you and your company.

Your work setup matters

First, let’s talk about setup. A good setup for employees at home will make it easy to stay focused and grounded when there are distractions in your home.  

• Edsurge shares tips on creating the proper space and mindset to be effective. 
• The Today Show discusses the importance of testing your gear to make sure you can take video calls or work long stretches on WiFi without lag. 
• The Quartz focuses on how to make remote work manageable with a partner who’s also working from home (this one could get tricky fast!). 

Staying engaged while away from others

Having a solid home setup without distractions still leaves human interactions out of the equation, which is something that many will be missing for the first time. Here’s how to combat that. 

• Venturebeat shares 5 tips for managers so they can set up their team for success and keep them engaged while at home. 
• Zapier lays out a strategy on how to manage remote teams.

Read more: 5 Ways to Build a Remote Team

Tools and other strategies

Now, let’s talk about what companies have to do to ensure employees have the tools, flexibility, and support when working from home. 

• Harvard Business Review suggests a plan that includes maximum flexibility and an emphasis on over-communication. 
• Fastcompany focuses on 8 strategies to ensure remote work is successful for any company, even if you’re just getting started.  
• Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack described in step by step detail how his company prepared for remote work in this Twitter thread. 

Working from home or remote work can be difficult if you’ve never prepared for it. Magic’s been doing it for a while. Let Magic help you or your company do more with support from remote assistants.