Navigating work from home: New guide issued to public sector employees

The Federal Government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has issued a guidance specifically to assist public sector workers navigate their new work from home environments.

The first in a series of publications about adapting to the new work landscape, the guidance offers a series of practical steps for setting up remote offices, creating a new routine and staying in touch with colleagues.

Tips offered by the DTA for working well from home include:

• Set up a dedicated workspace, and be sure to pack your workspace away at the end of each working day.
• Devise a working from home routine: Even though your hours may be different to usual, your work day should still include designated breaks. Try to utilise the time when you would typically be commuting as some downtime for you.
• Stay connected with your colleagues: Consider a 15 minute daily catch up with your team to touch base on work progression, utilise real-time messenger services and digital work boards (such as Kanban and Trello) to keep in touch and prioritise your tasks – and try to avoid all of your conversations being purely about work.
• Remote meetings: Continuing to use video meetings will help your team stay connected – but keep them short if you can.
• Consider both your physical and mental health: Take exercise breaks outside and try to eat and sleep well, but also take steps to stay mentally healthy including reaching out for help when needed and utilising the various resources that have been provided to promote emotional wellbeing.

To access the full publication, click here.