Integrating the Environment of Home and Work -

Working From Home series -3 (Integrating Home and Work)

(We request the readers to read the previous two articles of working from home series to have a better grasp of article 3, namely defining productivity and psychology of work)

What we do repeatedly eventually becomes a habit. so too with human behaviours in selected environments such as places of work, home, malls, worship etc… Human behaviour is either taught to adapt or inherently adapts to the environment of change.

Coming to our behaviours in places of work is very much the same. We have either learned or made by habit the distinction between ‘professionalism to place of work’ and ‘informalism to home environment.’

Let us segregate between both – the home environment and work environment.

Home Environment as Personal

The ambiguous word ‘atmosphere’ can be very subjective. It refers to ‘tone or mood’ one feels in a certain environment. Once ability to stay focused, efficient, happy and productive depends on how comfortable one is in that place.

Home is a place where one truly feels comfortable. No one denies that. That is why it is often said, that is no place like a home.

A home is often treated as a place bonded in love and above all, a place where I have a sense of identity by birth. Only reason, why I feel at home and at ease, in spite of any odd arising our from backdrop of country’s economy or environment.

The question of being formal does not arise at home, as there is no expectation from any one in the environment. All the don’ts are dos.

There is an element of acceptance and forbearance, no matter how awkward one behaves in a home environment.

Home above all judges one by presence not by results. The very presence of person makes it comfortable. That is why A home environment is treated as Personal.

Work Environment as Professional

We have been taught to distinguish between Home space as Personal and Work Space as Professional.

The impact of this distinction reflects on our behaviour most of the time. We, by habit, learn to be informal at home in every sense of the word, and formal in our places of work. Conditionally, the body adapts to these stimulus.

Professionalism is often defined as an ‘individual’s conduct at work.’ It is not restricted to profession, but the place the work. The behaviour requires minimal amount of training and mentoring, unlike home. The work environment judges someone by performance not so much presence.

The is why, when freshers join industries or corporates, they are initiated into days of trainings such as ‘campus to corporate.’ It is simply initiating a person into a formal way of doing things at place of work.

This professionalism consists of reporting on time, attendance, meeting behaviour, dress code, body language, grooming sense, target achievements and feedback expectations etc…

All this is aimed at getting productivity in its maximum and building a certain organizational culture.

Two strategies to integrate work and home

The question that is to be asked is, can we manage work and home as two compartments in one space (WFH). The answer is NO.

One can only integrate work and home. There are two ways of doing it.

By converting a place for work at home, one cannot be productive. Such a physical set up in a home is only a start. All employees or professionals may not have the comfort of creating a separate room for work. It is A MINDSET matter.

Just as human has the capacity to adapt to any environment, mind has the capacity to integrate two specially and spatially distinct elements called ‘home space or work space.’

Strategy 1. Professionalize your personal space

The following activities help you professionalize your personal space

BE YOUR OWN BOSS – Prioritise your activity everyday at the start or the end of previous day with a TO-DO-LIST
Confine a particular work space within your home with minimum noise, preferably the corner of the room facing the wall
Learn to operate from that confined or dedicated space most time
Set water-tight physical boundaries around your work space, that others even children over a period of time respect it as ‘sacred space’
Use gadgets that filter noise and sound.
Learn to beautify your work space with nice thoughts or plants or paints
If faced with children’s issue, work with formal dress code, walk into your work space formally and make it clear that you are at work and behave accordingly till the end
Structure your day as per your home conditions
Have more frequent breaks than usual. Use 5 mins to mix with family or take fresh air. Not more than five minutes. (10 times in 8 hours)
Ensure to schedule 5 breaks as ‘per schedule’ and 5 breaks as ‘per demand’
Above all- work when you are at your best productive time.
Save virtual meeting or calls to afternoons

Strategy 2. Personalise your professional space

Learn to accept WFH as a way of life
Learn to appreciate close proximity of family
Accept distractions of family or neighbourhood as part of life, learn to quickly regroup your thought and mind to work
Talk courteous with family during breaks or at times of intrusion
Learn to celebrate the small acts of success with your family for 5 min
Focus on one distraction like a baby for 5 min, don’t get carried away it.
Learn to take holidays to spend the entire day with family once or twice a month. Don’t store them for year end. A full day with the family as a day-off enables you to integrate your life and work working from home. While you give your family your entire time of a day, the family in turn will respect your time, while you are at work from home
Don’t be afraid to ask for help from family. Seek their advise for productivity. It helps you customise your energy for better productivity
Don’t introduce your family members to your virtual teams. Learn to hold on to yourself, while working from home to your team
Reward yourself with a coffee or tea by self to break monotony

Remember everyone works differently, while operating from home. It is important to follow your own style in integrating your personal and professional space.

Elias Moses is a Senior Business Strategist, Consultant, Researcher, Corporate and Leadership Trainer, Orator, Columnist and an Entrepreneur. He is also the Founder and Managing Director of a growing reality firm in south India. He is also the founder of Managing Next, an Online portal for knowledge share and Management Consulting.

The author can be contacted@

email: elias@managingnext.in, linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/eliasmoses