In an increasingly flexible and porous world of work, the number of people who have made their workspace their home is growing more and more each year. Whether you're going freelance or opting to work at home because it's the most efficient way to do things, the line between the home and the office is becoming increasingly blurred. While there's a huge range of benefits that can be had from working at home, there are some challenges as well, which arise less frequently if you're in an office. The lack of structure can often be cited as a struggle for those who are working independently, as well as the potentially unsocial atmosphere of working at home. Luckily, there are plenty of innovative and helpful apps which can optimize your work-at-home routine, and make sure you benefit from the arrangement as much as possible.
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Workflow Apps
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Rather than sticking to an office rota or team calendar, there's no shortage of top-of-the-line (and totally free) apps to help you customise your workflow and prioritise your working day as efficiently as possible. The popular heavy hitters are often the best, with Microsoft's Asana being one of the most heavily used out there. Similarly effective apps with a few minor tweaks include Trello (which is hugely popular with those working in media, due to the helpful way in which you can organise pitches and content queues) and, of course, Evernote. These apps all benefit not only from being able to seamlessly organise your workflow, but also from the highly visual way in which they map your progress of certain tasks, and use algorithms to give handy little nudges.
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Delivery Apps
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If you're in the zone and don't want to step outside the workspace, the endless array of delivery apps out there can be an absolute godsend. If you're hankering for a very specific dish to fuel you up for an afternoon of getting stuff done, whether that's your favourite American burger or a tasty rainbow bagel, you can nowadays have it all sent straight to your front door with the Deliveroo app. This means the disruption to your workflow can be as minimal as possible, whilst you're able to benefit from being able to access an unlimited range of foods that definitely aren't available at the office cafeteria. Likewise, you can also use apps to have services delivered to your door, such as important work packages with the Roadie app, and even massages with the Soothe app, in case you're feeling a little stressed.
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Communication Apps
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Even though working from home can be more efficient, there's a communication barrier that needs to be overcome. Just because you're not in an office doesn't mean you won't need to be in seamless contact with colleagues, clients and project managers. Luckily there are some great apps which cater to these needs perfectly. The heavy hitter here is the Slack app, which allows you to divide all your contacts neatly and smoothly alternate between video call, instant message, email and social media-style comments boards. This app pretty much covers everything and is likely to already be in use by a lot of people you may be working with.
If you have any suggestions which make the work-from-home life even more efficient, let us know in the comments.
