An A-Z of working well from home
- Tracey Hewett
- Jun 11
- 12 min read
Updated: Jun 27
26 tips to feeling good and working well as a remote worker
These days around a third of the UK working population works from home at least some of the time (1).
Perhaps you practice hybrid working, bookending your week at home and spending the majority of the week in an office.
Maybe your employment contract puts your home address as your normal place of work, rarely spending time with your colleagues in real life (remote working).
Or, maybe you work for yourself with the odd day working in an environment with others, but generally it’s just you and a screen (home working).
Whatever mode your working from home takes, do you sometimes find it challenging?
If you do, you’re not alone.
Home working pros and cons
While there are many benefits associated with home working:
no commute means more time for other things,
lone working is known to reduce stress,
no office distractions means better concentration,
no travel or food costs saves money,
it's easier to adapt working hours to what suits you, and
you can work from any preferred space.
Remote working does have its downsides.
I've found its lack of structure can be detrimental to focus and motivation. Living with work can impact worklife balance and feelings of isolation can creep up on us, due to a lack of social interaction.
Having been plunged into working from home during lockdown, many of us still do it. However, have you stopped to consider what's working/not working? Below I share 26 tips for working well from home.
A: Ask for what you need
Have you ever thought that human beings are a bit like plants? Each of us needs certain conditions to flourish.
This means for you to do your best work, you must ask for what you need.
If you’re employed ask for the tech and equipment, as well as the training and support you need to get things done. And, ask any people you live with for what will help you to work well too (see G: Ground rules).
N.B. These kinds of conversations are ongoing.
B: Breaks matter
Without social cues and the usual office interruptions, it can be very easy to lose ourselves in work. This often results in us not taking the breaks our body needs nor finishing when we should. This is especially true if you live alone.
Whilst the mind doesn't get fully focused until half an hour has passed, the brain can only sustain attention for between 60 and 75 minutes. It then needs to take a break, a break that gives the thinking part a rest.
So, set a timer of some kind (I use my phone) and walk away from the screen every hour for 5-10 minutes, your back will thank you too.
Tip! For ideas of what to do when you have a break read Harness the power of active rest
C: Check-in regularly
When you’re working in an office, others can check-in with you whenever they see you. When working at home or a shared workspace, this kind of informal catch-up is not available.
I recommend to those I work with to schedule a regular, at least weekly, one-to-one check-in. This is the time when you can let your manager/another know how things are going for you, raise any concerns and discuss workarounds.
If you work for yourself, consider setting up a weekly check-in with similar people in your field. I find this prevents me from feeling alone and stay motivated.
D: Distractions and their management
Usually when you're at home, you're free to do whatever you please. However, when home is also your office you need to be alert to ways you might become distracted with home related matters and plan how to handle it (see also K: Know that it’s not just you and V: Visitors).
If I need to get something done, I prime my brain by listing all the things I will not do for the next two hours. Doing that before something that needs a lot of concentration puts me in the right frame of mind.
E: Eat at regular times
Just as with breaks, without social cues from office life around us, we may skip meals or eat lunch whilst working.
As the brain accounts for 20% of the body’s energy use (2), it’s the hungriest organ we have, be sure you schedule your lunch break when you plan your day (see P. later) and take them away from your desk.
By the way I've noticed that the only lunch I can eat with just one hand, whilst looking at a screen, isn't a particularly nutrient rich one.
F: Flexible or fixed hours, blender or splitter?
Often, alongside remote working, we have the opportunity to work flexible hours. We can choose our start and end times.
The benefit of this is that we can adjust our working hours to better fit the rest of our lives, taking time away from work for other things and making the time up later.
Whether flexible working works for you comes down to whether you're a splitter or a blender.
A splitter has fixed working hours whether they are at home or in the office (e.g. 9-5pm). They prefer to keep their work and life separate, only interrupting this pattern if they really have to.
A blender prefers to work flexibly, integrating work and personal activities.
Neither is better than the other, you just need to discover which one you are.
G: Ground rules and boundaries
When working from home, setting and maintaining boundaries is important. And not just with others, but also with yourself.
Shutting a door, using red and green cards, or wearing something specific while working are all visual ways to indicate that you’re in work mode and not to be disturbed.
Deciding when to finish and how to stay finished—especially as your work lives with you—also requires thought.
I now shut my laptop at the end of my working day. It's off and the lid is down. Opening the lid, rather than just hitting the on button, has brought logging in again when my day's finished into sharper focus. I can catch myself in the act.
You might want to think about how to better manage people and pets if they start to become bothersome. See V: Visitors.
H: Hydrate
When you work in an office or a shared working space others often offer to bring us a drink when they make themselves one. If you’re lucky perhaps others in your household will look after you.
Good practice is to start your work time with a large glass or jug of water beside you and aim to drink at least three of these in your day, along with anything else. If you are using a timer to remind yourself to break, then you can refill the glass or jug in your breaks.
I: Innovate
Working from home puts you in charge. You get to decide how and where you work (within reason). No one says you must spend all your time at a desk.
Perhaps you think best when walking (most people do), there is no one to stop you from working on your feet. Maybe taking yourself into a different environment, either within the home or a local coffee shop might be the place where you plan your week or read a report.
I know someone who takes phone calls into their garden. I make many of my afternoon calls whilst walking around a park where I live. I’m still working, I’m just doing it where I do it best. Experiment with what works for you.
J: Join in other ways
As a human being you have psycho-social needs that must be satisfied to feel good and do well.
What does that mean?
You have a need for security, a sense of control and to feel connected, understood and supported by others.
Working in separate places means the sense of belonging that came from being together in an office is diminished.
This means you need to find alternative ways to connect and create community with others. Consider setting up a virtual coffee break, lunch or meditation session with others from your workplace or specialist field.
K: Know it’s not just you
The people I know who are successful at working from home are those who have done it a long time and are very self-disciplined.
If you're new to this way of working, give yourself some s. You are yet to have found, let alone established, systems and practices to best support this way of working.
If you’re struggling to develop routines and feel all at sea, talk to others about what they do, or find a coach who can help you identify what you need and how to get it.
L: Leave home
For those who work in an office, their commute is a time to transition between their personal and professional lives. They use it to prepare for the day or evening ahead. When work and home are in the same place, it is very easy to not go outside.
Instead of a commute, at the beginning and end of your work time consider taking a walk around the block. It'll energise you before work and help you process your day when you’ve finished.
M: Maintain a regular work pattern
Having routine working hours promotes balance and reduces stress. And, if you're employed, helps the organisation manage its responsibilities.
As much as possible establish a regular work pattern.
This doesn’t have to mean 9-5. These days, as we are increasingly measured on output, you might choose to do your hours in two or more phases (for example 9.30-14.30 and 16.00-19.00) or, you might do longer days at the beginning of the week and shorter ones at the end.
Whatever you do, make it a routine so that you, your employer (if you have one) and anyone else in your life knows how you work.
N: No pyjamas
Get dressed for work. It is easy to get up, grab a drink and switch on a laptop whilst in your pyjamas. Believe me, I know. Just don’t.
You don't have to get suited and booted but, it is known to help with distraction and focus, if you dress for work. Keeping this kind of routine will also make it easier when you do need to go into an office or attend a meeting.
O: Over-communicate
In the workplace, you might have mentioned something to someone while getting a drink or passing them in a corridor. Working remotely removes all these chance encounters for communication.
This means you need to over-communicate. You’ll have to regularly inform people of your working hours, what you’re working on, when you’re available, and also remind them when tasks are due or notify them once they’re completed.
P: Put everything in your diary
The most underused productivity tool is your calendar. Most people tend to only use it for work meetings and external appointments.
The problem with this is that your day looks wide open to anyone wanting to book a meeting with you and suggests, even to you, that you have a large amount of free time. Do you?
I’ve found the best way to manage my time is to diarise daily musts (e.g. email weeding), this week’s priority tasks and meetings/appointments , together with my 30min+ wellbeing breaks.
Basically my calendar is my to do list. Generally morning time is given to tasks that require the most attention. And, because I noticed that looking at email as soon as I logged in put me in reactive mode, zapped my energy and impacted my ability to focus, I weed my inbox mid morning/afternoon.
Chunking my days and weeks into two hour blocks helps me see how my week is shaped. Some coaching blocks do double duty when they are not booked, providing time for meetings or R&D. I move blocks around depending on my energy, and anyone can immediately see when I'm available, based on whether the block is busy or not.
Tip! Use colour in your calendar so that work looks exciting and you can see at a glance what kind of week you're having
Q: Question everything
These days more and more is done via chat, emojis and email which means the cues we pick up in face-to-face conversation (tone, body language) are not there. Even in virtual meetings, with a large team, you cannot see everyone at once. This can easily lead to misunderstandings.
So that you are clear on what is being communicated, it is important to question and confirm everything. And, if you are briefing someone, question their understanding of what you've said.
It's also good practice to agree which communication channels and tools people are to use when. We are task switching enough without needing to check different channels for an answer. Many organisations I work with use email for external coms and chat for internal communication.
R: Rituals and routines
We are creatures of habit. Routines and rituals help us navigate our day, giving us a sense of safety and control. Without an office ritual, we need to create our own to help us be work-ready and transition us at work end.
Such routines will be particular to your circumstances and what energises you. And, that’s OK.
S: Speak up
Now most meetings have become virtual, people can be overlooked or literally not seen, when the screen only shows the first 12 folk who join a meeting.
It’s important that people know that you are there. Even if it’s just with a “Hello, it’s Mark,” and “Thanks, bye” when it ends, let them know of your presence.
Tip! If you're a meeting organiser, ensure everyone gets to share their thoughts. To facilitate this, circulate the meeting's objective and, an agenda to help those who prefer to muse than answer on the spot. Statistics show only 37% of meetings use an agenda (3).
T: Tools and Technology
Since 2020, you've no doubt noticed that the number of meetings we have has tripled (3). This means it's important to have a means of letting others know when you are available for conversation, meetings etc.
There are various tools that might be used to achieve this. I share a calendar link that offers particular times depending on the meeting type (check out MS Bookings if you use Microsoft).
Blocking out protected time in a calendar ensures people don’t try and book a meeting when you need to get your head down, especially if you have set the status (see P: Plan everything on your calendar).
U: Understand change can be uncomfortable
If home working is new to you, understand that whenever there is change, we can feel uncomfortable and less confident.
‘Change theory’ suggests that we pass through various emotions or phases before ultimately accepting a new normal. Broadly they are: shock; frustration; doubt, fear, sadness; acceptance; experiment and finally integration.
It is suggested that creating goals (however small) for ourselves and, shifting our focus towards them, can help reduce the discomfort we might feel as we adjust to change.
V: Visitors
Usually when you’re home, visitors can and will drop by. However, just because you're at home doesn’t mean people (and pets) can call or visit.
Whilst we need our friends and family because they help us be resilient, these are the kind of distractions you will need to pro-actively prepare a response to. Alternatively, you can let people know how you will be working and when you are available.
W: Work area
You need to create a place that is as far as reasonably possible conducive to working.
You may be lucky enough to already have, or are able to make, a permanent workspace in your home.
For others, it may mean creating a “pop-up” office in a multi-functional space that you can move when you're finished for the day. Whichever it is, it will be helpful for your routine, mindset and others you live with if you have a regular place where you’ll work.
X: eXpectations
I know, not really an X but this is an important element and ties to K: Know it’s not just you and Y: You do you below.
Be kind to yourself, with the best will in the world sometimes things can’t be done. This means expectations need to be managed and adjusted. Yours, your manager's, your colleagues and anyone else who may be impacted.
Do this by communicating openly and honestly about what is realistically achievable for you. Recognise that this might change on a week by week basis, depending what’s going on.
Y: You do you
It is easy to compare ourselves with others, using them as a yardstick to see how we measure up.
However, how each of us works from home is unique to our particular set of circumstances, needs and preferences. Keep being you, you're perfect as you are.
Z: Zero in on today
Finally, taking one day at a time may seem like a cliché but focusing on what is a priority for that day, and at times in this moment, will give you a sense of agency and control.
Both 'to do' and 'to don't' lists can help here.
Take care of you.
Working from home is something many of us do but, reflecting on whether it's working for us or what might be adapted is not something we're likely to have done. We tend to just switch on, login and get going.
Having read the tips here, is there anything you now feel like trying? If so, with my worklife coaching hat on, what's one small change you could make this week?
I believe knowledge is power. Please forward this article to someone you think would benefit and sign up below to be the first to get my next wellbeing article.
References
Hooson, M. (2025, June, 4). UK remote and hybrid working statistics 2025. Forbes.
Raichle, M. E. (2015). The restless brain: How intrinsic activity organizes brain function. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1668), 20140172
Teter, B. (2025, April 17). Work Meetings in Numbers: Latest Meeting Statistics (2025). Archie Inc.
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