A lot has changed for Canadian businesses and their employees over the last week, Armour included. We have suspended walk-in appointments to our office and many of our staff are now working from home.
For many of us, working from home is becoming the new norm, so how do you keep from going squirrely in this new norm? Armour veteran broker Jen Jarratt has a few tips that may just help you stay the course.
Jen has been a personal lines broker at Armour for 6 years, and we were always happy to see her smiling face in the office. So, when she made the request to work from home 4 and a half years ago we didn't want to lose that, but knew that her positive attitude and strong work ethic would allow her to be successful in what ever environment she worked in.
Jen's Top Tips for Working from Home
- Get outside every day. Walk to your mailbox, around the block, walk the dog, whatever. Just get outside and try to feel some sunshine if it’s out.
- Look out your window...often
- Make eye contact with everyone you can and smile – sounds a little creepy at first but just do it.
- Exercise at home. I am not a Beachbody coach or anything but you can get access to a whole lot of great workouts at home using minimal equipment for $100 for one year of access.
- Stream music and podcasts while you work to feel like you’re not alone all day
- Make sure you take your lunch so you’re not sitting at your desk all day.
- Plan time for fun, if there’s people you can still see make it a point to spend face to face time with them that is enjoyable (ie, not chores). It really helps when you have something to look forward to that is not work or household chore related.
- Use the time that you would normally use for commuting to meditate or get in a quick workout.
- Communicate with your peers - attend meetings, use the phone instead of email when you can and stay in touch.
- Above all stay positive, you got this!
Switching from working in the office to working at home can be a big deal. If you find yourself working from home these days we hope these tips can provide a little help to keep the cabin fever at bay. Now if only Jen had a tip that would keep me from looking in the fridge every half an hour!
