Work From Home Tax Credit: Everything You Need To Know To Save

How’s that saying go again? Nothing Is certain except for death and taxes? Well as it seems Canadians are no exception to this rule, which is probably why you are here reading this. While the COVID Pandemic brought a lot of negatives there were some positives, one of the notable ones being the shift to a work from home culture that hundreds of thousands of businesses have adopted. This cultural shift has inspired change from a policy standpoint, encouraging the government to implement tax credits and breaks tailored to the modern day work from home professional. So if you are a professional working from your home, whether it may be part or full time, keep reading this article to learn about all the opportunities you have at your disposal.

Home Office Expenses Claim

Over the pandemic the government of Canada released a Home Office Expenses for Employees option for those who work from home. This is a 500$ tax deduction for work from home employees. Below are the requirements and how to claim this deduction.

To claim home office expenses, the following criteria must be met:

• Worked from home during 2020, 2021, or 2022 due to the pandemic (if employer provided choice to work from home, CRA will consider individual to have worked from home)
• Worked more than 50% of the time from home for a continuous period of at least four weeks in the year (2020, 2021, 2022)
• Only claiming home office expenses and not any other employment expenses on line 22900
• Employer did not fully reimburse individual for home office expenses (partial reimbursement still allows use of method if eligibility criteria are met)

Flat Rate Method

To claim the deduction for home office expenses, one must take note of the following steps:

Firstly, the total number of days worked from home in the year due to the pandemic must be calculated and multiplied by $2 per day. Any additional days worked at home during the year due to lockdowns can also be claimed.

It is important to keep in mind that the maximum amount that can be claimed is $400 per individual in 2020 and $500 per individual in 2021 and 2022.

The temporary flat rate method, specifically “Option 1 – Temporary flat rate method” on Form T777S, must be used to enter these amounts, which must then be attached to the income tax return for the year.

Afterwards, the deduction can be claimed by entering the amount from line 9939 on Form T777S to line 22900 “Other employment expenses” on the income tax return.

Lastly, a detailed guide on how to claim the deduction through the temporary flat rate method can be found on the government of Canada’s website.

Detailed Method

If your eligible home office expenses exceed $500, you have the option to claim them using the CRA’s ‘detailed method.’ The detailed method enables you to claim various office supplies, phone service plans, work-related long distance phone charges, and a portion of many of your household bills, based on the percentage of space of your home that is used for your office. The CRA website provides guidance on calculating the percentage of your home being used for your home office.

A portion of your household expenses that can be claimed as an office expense includes electricity, heat, water, home internet, maintenance and minor repairs, and rent paid for your home. Commission employees may also claim home insurance, property taxes, and lease of cell phones and laptops that reasonably relate to earning commission income. However, you cannot claim any of these expenses on your tax return if your employer reimbursed you for them.

Note that you cannot claim mortgage interest and principal payments, internet connection fees, furniture, or capital expenses such as new windows, flooring, or a furnace. If you choose to use the detailed method to claim your home office expenses, you will need to obtain Form T2200S or T2200 from your employer and complete Form T777S or T777 in your T1 personal income tax return.

Using the detailed method requires you to track all eligible expenses, retain documentation, and keep original receipts (credit card receipts are not accepted) for three years.

For more information visit the Canada website.

Can I Write Off The Professional Centre Expenses?

As per Helena Swyter, a seasoned CPA at Sweeter CPA, a firm specializing in accounting services for creative professionals, the answer is a resounding “yes” – you can indeed deduct a coworking membership when it comes to your tax obligations. This renders the rent-based approach of coworking spaces financially advantageous in two distinct manners. Firstly, members have the benefit of cost savings by only paying for the duration they actively utilize the coworking space. Secondly, they can subsequently claim deductions during the tax season.

While numerous expenses incurred at a coworking space are eligible for deductions, such as renting conference rooms, printing costs, or networking event fees, it is crucial to note that the IRS explicitly excludes commuting and parking expenses from deductible items. Therefore, the routine commute from your residence to the coworking space, as well as parking fees incurred at the coworking facility, do not qualify as business expenses and cannot be deducted. However, exceptions exist, as is the case with various tax deductions. If you do not regularly rent space at a coworking office, you may be eligible to deduct the commuting costs from your regular or home office.

Navigating tax deductions requires careful consideration and expertise, and it is advisable to consult with a qualified professional to ensure accurate and compliant reporting. With Sweeter CPA’s specialized assistance, you can confidently optimize your coworking-related deductions while adhering to IRS guidelines, ultimately maximizing your fiscal benefits.

At The Professional Centre, we are dedicated to providing our self-employed and entrepreneurial members with the necessary resources for success. Our offerings include top-notch amenities like high-speed WiFi, keyless access, and 24/7 video surveillance, carefully curated to foster comprehensive growth opportunities.

The Professional Centre, situated in Toronto, Ontario, offers the added advantage of allowing members to claim their rental fees as deductible expenses. This strategic move not only reduces your tax liability but also ensures a more favorable financial position.

To note: This is not professional financial or accounting advice. Please consult a registered professional for any of your accounting needs.

Rethinking your organization’s meeting space or workspace? Discover our flexibly designed and fully managed workspace solutions.

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6 Tips For Presenting That Will Help You Crush Your Next Meeting

Presenting comes with the territory of business. It’s something we’ve been forced into since our early school days and as we graduate into the professional world we see that it isn’t one of those things that just “goes away”. So whether you excel while presenting or dread it, we have a few tips that can make that big showing you have coming up go off without a hitch. Quarterly presentations are just around the corner and we  want to make sure you have some extra tools in your arsenal to crush it.

Strategize Your Presentation Delivery

Once you have established a solid framework, it is crucial to turn your attention towards the delivery of your presentation.

• When delivering a presentation, there are three main approaches to consider: reading from a script or teleprompter, using bullet points to guide your speech, or memorizing the entire talk.
• Reading directly from a script or relying on a teleprompter should be avoided, as it creates a noticeable distance between you and the audience, diminishing the intimate connection and making the talk feel more formal.
• TED generally discourages reading approaches during presentations, as it hampers the overall reception. An exception was made for a speaker who used a monitor discreetly positioned at the back of the auditorium, but the ratings suffered due to the perceived detachment.
• Many successful TED Talks have been memorized word for word, which requires significant time investment in rehearsals. Jill Bolte Taylor, a renowned speaker, memorized her talk after crafting her story, practicing extensively, and delivering it multiple times in front of audiences.
• Memorizing a talk follows a predictable learning curve, often accompanied by a “valley of awkwardness” where the speaker has not fully internalized the content. If delivered in this stage, the audience can sense the detachment and discomfort, resulting in a weakened connection.
• Overcoming the “valley of awkwardness” entails diligent rehearsal until the words flow naturally. Once achieved, the focus can shift to delivering the talk with genuine meaning and authenticity.
• It is important to recognize that not every presentation warrants the extensive time investment required for memorization. Assess the significance of the talk and allocate rehearsal time accordingly, keeping in mind the desired level of mastery.
• At times we don’t have time to pass through the awkward valley of memorization, it is advisable to utilize bullet points on note cards instead. Direct your attention to remembering the smooth transitions between each bullet point, maintaining a cohesive flow throughout your speech.

Establishing a Strong Start

Craft an engaging and straightforward introduction to captivate your audience’s attention towards your content.

Contemplate incorporating a brief icebreaker activity.
A well-placed, tasteful touch of humor, relevant to the subject matter, can prove impactful.

Convey the purpose of your presentation concisely, utilizing clear language devoid of industry-specific jargon, while emphasizing the benefits participants will acquire.

Commence with a natural pace, striking a balance between not rushing and not dragging, to forge a compelling and positive impression. Conclude with a resolute statement that reinforces the presentation’s objectives.

Crafting An Engaging Presentation

When your audience derives enjoyment from and retains your presentation, it is a testament to your ability to deliver it in a dynamic and captivating manner.

• Engage in a conversation with your audience rather than delivering a monologue.
• Effortlessly convey your enthusiasm for the topic, avoiding a sermon-like tone. Remember that the majority of communication occurs through nonverbal cues, so pay careful attention to your appearance and vocal delivery.
• Structure your material in a well-organized manner, while remaining adaptable to cater to your audience. Inform participants whether you welcome questions during or after the presentation.
• Adapt your language to match the knowledge level of your audience, ensuring that unfamiliar terms are defined.
• Select your key points judiciously and reinforce them through compelling examples or anecdotes.

• Encourage audience members to contribute their experiences, using these examples to illustrate essential points or address inquiries.
• Leverage natural gestures and vocal inflections to augment the interest and impact of your presentation.
• Cater to diverse learning styles by employing a variety of instructional methods that appeal to different senses, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic approaches.
• Repeat audience questions to ensure that everyone hears and comprehends them.
• Guide the discussion back on track if it veers away from the intended topic.
• When faced with unanswered questions, commit to finding the answers and following up with the individuals involved. Alternatively, suggest appropriate resources that can provide the necessary information, or invite suggestions from the audience members themselves.
• Incorporate demonstrations to enhance understanding and engagement.
• Articulate your thoughts clearly and modulate your voice appropriately. Steer clear of speaking too rapidly, softly, or loudly, and ensure that your sentences do not trail off.
• Maintain eye contact with your audience, conveying confidence, transparency, sincerity, and genuine interest. This also allows you to gauge the audience’s response. In larger groups, mentally divide the room into sections and rotate your eye contact among different individuals in each section.
• Employ natural and graceful hand gestures to emphasize key points, allowing your hands to rest naturally by your side when not gesturing. Avoid fidgeting with clothing, hair, or presentation materials.
• Occasionally move to different spots while speaking, pausing briefly before continuing. Avoid excessive pacing.

Creating a Compelling Narrative

In the realm of presentations, storytelling stands as the cornerstone. Seasoned presenters often advocate beginning with a captivating story even before opening a single slide. This approach not only allows for the development of a robust narrative with the most significant information but also helps avoid the pitfall of overcrowded slides.

• Daniel Goldberg suggests starting with a brain dump to explore connections and find the storyline. Explaining main points in a simple manner and incorporating metaphors and anecdotes enhances relatability and memorability.
• Colby Zintl emphasizes the importance of ensuring the presentation can be understood even if someone reads it randomly. It should work as a “leave behind” document that maintains clarity and comprehension over time.
• Crafting a compelling narrative involves refining the presentation to make it visually impactful and memorable, leveraging the power of stories to leave a lasting impression.

Promote Interactivity in Your Presentation

Steer clear of solely delivering lectures to your audience. Instead, actively engage them in meaningful discussions.

• Encourage interactions and exchanges among audience members, fostering a collaborative environment.
• Pose an accommodation challenge to the audience, inviting their input on how they would approach the situation.
• Thoughtfully mirror back individuals’ attitudes, rationalizations, and entrenched patterns of thinking and behavior, while maintaining respect and sensitivity.
• Allocate ample time for questions, ensuring that all inquiries raised within the presentation are thoroughly addressed or appropriately directed towards relevant resources.
• Offer practical demonstrations or hands-on experiences with assistive technology, enabling participants to gain first hand exposure to its capabilities.
• Engage the audience in experiential learning activities, as people tend to retain information better when they actively participate in the learning process.
• Facilitate group interactions and collaborative problem-solving exercises, fostering collective engagement and shared solutions.

Promote fruitful discussions that enable participants to synthesize key themes and concepts, facilitating a deeper integration of knowledge and understanding.

Crafting Easily Digestible Presentations

Delivering a captivating story is essential, but ensuring it is easily digestible by your audience is equally crucial to maintain their engagement. To achieve this, it is imperative to create meaningful and clean slides. A general principle to follow when designing slides is to embrace the notion that less is more. Can your audience readily discern the main point of each slide? If not, it is necessary to reconsider the structure of your story.

According to Frykman, the success of presentations hinges on their ease of digestion by audiences. This entails creating clean, concise, and aesthetically pleasing slides. She offers valuable tips to achieve professional and polished slides, including:

• Use text sparingly, emphasizing main points through your spoken delivery rather than overwhelming the slide with excessive copy.
• Incorporate focused and engaging images while ensuring the slide does not become visually cluttered.
• Adhere to the company’s designated template, avoiding unauthorized modifications that deviate from the established branding guidelines.

Final Words

Presenting is just a part of life. For most, it is impossible to get away from. So if you have to present at one point or another it is best to be prepared. Book a meeting room with The Professional Centre to make sure you have a clean and professional space to deliver your presentation. Impress your peers with a space as sharp as you and book yours today!

Rethinking your organization’s meeting space or workspace? Discover our flexibly designed and fully managed workspace solutions.

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10 Best Productivity Tips to Improve Your Life and Your Work

Let’s not procrastinate this, shall we? You want to be more productive, we’re here to show you how. We’ve got ten productivity tips for you to start using right away. Ready? Go.

Tip 1: Do it. Now.

Did you think that intro was short due to lack of space? No, we’re making a point. 

Maybe you’ve got a lot of stuff on your plate – emails, messages, correspondence, and   a few projects that need your attention. On top of just doing your job, you should focus on reducing the number of things on your plate. If it can be done in less than 2 minutes, do it. Right now. Get the quick things done first, and move on.

Kinda like we just did. There’s a long road ahead, but with a clear plate, you’re in the best position to get things done.

Tip 2: Minimize Distractions

Prevention is the best medicine, and if you can reduce the number of things that could distract you in the future, you’ll inevitably end up with fewer distractions in the present.

As you can expect, this has been studied thoroughly. One study looked at the effectiveness of application and website-blocking software, and the results were exactly as you’d expect: “We discovered that with blocking software, participants assessed their productivity significantly higher and could focus significantly longer.” (Mark, 2017).

What’s more interesting, though, is that not all distraction-blocks are the same. According to the study, “People who benefited the most from the software were those who were most distracted by social media.” So, not only is this section of special interest to you if you’re a social media user, but if you’re looking for a few select things to block, you should put social media on the top of your list.

The study also found that, for some, complete distraction removal had the side effect of increasing stress. Stress is already known to reduce productivity, so it’s important to strike a balance that works for you. Breaks of 5-15 minutes should serve as stress-relieving distractions, without eating too much productive time.

Of course, distraction-elimination goes beyond those oh-so-enticing devices and apps. This process is multi-faceted, covering just about everything that exists around you – even job-related things, like email notifications, coworkers, and more. Each of these topics will have unique tactics for distraction-elimination. Perhaps you’ll turn off all notifications, physically distance yourself from distracting workers, or put up a do-not-disturb flag on your desk. 

The important thing is, once you start working, do everything you can to ensure that you keep working, potentially reaching a ‘flow’ state. And once you do, try not to let anything break your focus!

Tip 3: The 5 Minute Rule & Finding your Flow

Objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion, until acted upon by an outside force. It’s true for physics, and as it turns out, it’s also true for productivity. And luckily, we already eliminated those “outside forces” in our last tip!

The hardest part of accomplishing a big task is the beginning. Whether it be lingering instincts towards procrastination holding you back, or difficulty “task switching” into a new mindset, there’s always some hangup making this difficult. While we can’t remove all hurdles, we can make the effort as minimal as possible. 

Can you mentally set aside several hours to complete a task? Maybe not. But how about 5 minutes? Everyone has 5 minutes to spare. You won’t finish the job, obviously, but you’ll at least have gotten something done. This is the 5-minute rule – you can probably guess how it got its name. And, if you were paying attention to that intro, you probably know the trick to this technique. 

If you can dedicate just 5 minutes of time to something, then before you know it, you’ve already overcome your mind’s biggest obstacle: starting the task to begin with. Once you get some momentum going and get into a “flow” state, continuing the task is as easy as maintaining the status-quo.

Tip 4: Make it a Habit

Once you find your groove, keep going. This advice may sound obvious, but there’s a trick to it you may not be aware of. “Keep going” doesn’t mean you should work until you exhaust yourself! Work for a regular amount of time, on a regular amount of projects. Tomorrow, you should match that pace. Keep the streak going day after day, and each one gets a little easier.

Getting something done at regular intervals, even if it’s a small amount, contributes to one of the most powerful psychological forces the mind can use: habit formation. Get familiar with your current workload, and if you want to increase the amount of work you can handle, do it little by little. According to studies, variation in workflow actually has a negative impact on productivity, so sudden spikes/lulls in the amount of work you need to do should be avoided. 

“The results indicate that the key for productivity improvement is not to complete as many tasks as possible or to maximize workload, work output, or work hours without following the work plan. Rather, the key is to focus on maintaining a predictable work flow and thus be able to match the available workload with capacity.” (Liu et all, 2011).

Working long days isn’t good for anyone – neither for you, nor for your work quality. The secret to success here is a long-term plan of discipline and pacing yourself, developing the habits and skills needed to be more productive overall. If “just thirty minutes a day” is all you can manage, that’s excellent. Get it done, and before you know it you’ll have a consistent path to success.

Tip 5: Avoid Burnout!

There’s another benefit to pacing yourself, besides assisting habit formation. You should never load up a ton of work at once – that’s a surefire way to create burnout! 

Passion is an extremely powerful motivator, and its loss alone is enough to send productivity down the drain (Dewa et al, 2014). Couple this with a general lack of energy stemming from mental exhaustion, and you create a recipe for disaster. The mental and physical toll just isn’t worth it.

Avoiding burnout for yourself is a good way to keep things running smooth, but this doesn’t have to be a solo job! In fact, one study recommends turning away from that perspective entirely, and viewing burnout more like a collective responsibility. “Faculty stress should not be viewed as a personal problem. Instead, it should be viewed as an organizational issue.” (Bruce, 2009).

Learn how to recognize signs of burnout in others, and help them to ensure they’re not taking on too much work at once. This can involve taking on some of their workload if need be, or talking to project managers about work allocation. ‘Do unto others as you would have done to yourself’, after all. If each person does their part, burnout can be avoided for everyone.

Tip 6: The 15 Minute Rule & Improving Problem-Solving Skills

Turns out, there’s more than one minute-based productivity tip!

You are going to hit a roadblock eventually. No matter how hard you prepare or how many resources you think you have, you’re only human. At some point during your job, you’ll run into a problem that you don’t know how to immediately solve.

So, you find yourself at a crossroads. On one path, you dig around your bag of tricks, you examine the problem in more detail, and hopefully, find a solution. The risk here, though, is that this costs a lot of time – and that investment might not pay off. If your instincts tell you that you don’t have an answer to this, they might be right.

On the other path, we have something that seems faster and easier for you, but comes with another downside: getting assistance from someone else. Here, if your instincts are telling you that this route is just wasting someone else’s time, or that you’re forgoing a possible learning opportunity, they may be right.

But if you know the cheat code – the 15 minute rule, you unlock a third path. Here, you have the upsides of both while minimizing the consequences. And it’s incredibly simple: give yourself a time limit of 15 minutes to fix the problem. If that doesn’t work, go find a helping hand.

15 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot of time. And that’s because it isn’t. But have you ever spent 15 minutes stuck in traffic? Now that’s a long wait. Getting stuck in a task isn’t that different. 15 minutes offers you plenty of time to determine if you’re dealing with a speed bump or a mountain, and with a time limit, there’s no chance of you wasting more time than necessary – you only spend a speedbump’s worth of time either way.

And as an added bonus, you’ll learn a lot about the process of problem solving this way! The first time you invoke this rule, you might not reach your goal in the time limit. But how about the 3rd time? The 10th? Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you won’t need this tip at all – your skills surpassing it completely. And when you do, congrats! You’ve been made way more productive.

Tip 7: Exercise

If you ever find yourself losing focus on any productive day, that’s ok. You can take a quick break. That restlessness you feel – it’s perfectly natural. Your body is telling you what it needs, and it’d benefit you to listen.

Every so often, consider leaving your desk to just walk around. Maybe do some stretches, if you’re so inclined. You can even pair it with a light snack. Your body is an expert on its own needs, and if you spend just a couple minutes listening to it, you’ll be able to return to your work with a revitalized sense of focus. The research is clear: “By performing exercise regularly, users can attain better physiological states and achieve higher work productivity.” (Kwok et al, 2021).

Tip 8: Avoid Multitasking

Be warned, this next paragraph might seem incoherent. Trust the process: there’s a reason why it’s structured this way.

A lot of articles like this will tell you that multitasking is impossible. Focus is something we’ve talked about before, as is the need to shut out distractions. Multitasking used to be a major focal point of discussions around productivity, first cropping up when computers were developed that were purpose-built for multitasking. Distractions, or really anything that diverts attention from the current task, is going to negatively impact the thing you’d much rather be doing. Computers are not people – the human mind is just not built for multitasking, it contradicts the way we work on a fundamental level. So, it’s almost always best to finish your current task before starting a new one.

If you had trouble following that first paragraph, then congratulations, you’re part of the 98% of people who cannot effectively multitask. If you want to read it properly, skip every even-numbered sentence, then go back and re-read the lines you skipped as if they were a separate paragraph.

Multitasking isn’t just a way to take perfectly-functional tasks and turn them into unworkable messes, though. It’s also a guaranteed way to stress you out, or worse. If that paragraph frustrated you, then you’ll have felt this process in action. Be grateful it’s not a daily task.

“Multitasking contributes to the release of stress hormones and adrenaline, which can cause long-term health problems if not controlled, and contributes to the loss of short-term memory.” (Rosen, 2008). The data on this is extremely clear – do not multitask if you can avoid it. It’s just never worth it.

Tip 9: “Perfect” is the enemy of “Good”

The desire to get each detail right is understandable; near-mandatory in some jobs. But perfectionism can also be a curse. If it takes you 50% longer to create some product, but that extra time only returns a 25% increase in quality, the gap in output between yourself and your coworkers will rapidly widen over time.

One little trick to working around perfectionism is to reframe how you look at a given task. With this lens, the task is not something that’s just worked on and shipped out. It’s a process of iteration, where you ‘finish’ one thing to test the waters, get some feedback, make the next one better, and repeat. It doesn’t have to be the best possible product the first time, and with the help of feedback, you’ll increase your skills much faster than without. After enough cycles, you may even be able to create that perfect product with minimal time lost! But that takes work, and if you’re a perfectionist, well, you’re no stranger to putting in work for the best possible reward.

That’s exactly what you’ll be doing here, just in a slightly different way than you’re used to.

Tip 10: Find Your Centre

This next subject is fairly complicated, and not something we can fully cover in a single subsection of an article. Luckily, we don’t have to – a whole article on this exact topic already exists on this site!

In short, the physical location where you do your work can be as important as the skills and habits you take with you. Not just in terms of minimizing distractions, but also in employing little psychological tricks to put your mind exactly where it needs to be. 

Often, just having a space that’s completely separate from all your other usual duties can work wonders for mental focus. And such a space, if built properly, can accomplish so much more. It can be a place with enough natural light to avoid feeling cramped. It can have the walls painted exactly the right color to center certain emotional states. It can feature other coworkers all working on the same task, offering advice and networking opportunities, among other things.

A space like this is something you can create yourself, or you find a professionally-made space that’s suited to your needs. Each route has its own pros and cons – but if you find a space that resonates with you, stick with it.

Book a meeting room in Toronto

If you want to test out a variety of working spaces, The Professional Centre has plenty of options to fill your exact niche – on top of providing options and technology for meetings, group work, and so much more.

Pick up all the benefits of a centralized workplace, without any of the firm anchors keeping your business rooted in a single method. Whether you need to service a large team or a small meeting, The Professional Centre can supply the exact kind of space you need to enhance your team’s productivity.

The 15 Minute Rule & Improving Problem-Solving Skills

You are going to hit a roadblock eventually. No matter how hard you prepare or how many resources you think you have, you’re only human. At some point during your job, you’ll run into a problem that you don’t know how to immediately solve.

So, you find yourself at a crossroads. On one path, you dig around your bag of tricks, you examine the problem in more detail, and hopefully, find a solution. The risk here, though, is that this costs a lot of time – and that investment might not pay off. If your instincts tell you that you don’t have an answer to this, they might be right.

On the other path, we have something that seems faster and easier for you, but comes with another downside: getting assistance from someone else. Here, if your instincts are telling you that this route is just wasting someone else’s time, or that you’re forgoing a possible learning opportunity, they may be right.

But if you know the cheat code – the 15 minute rule, you unlock a third path. Here, you have the upsides of both while minimizing the consequences. And it’s incredibly simple: give yourself a time limit of 15 minutes to fix the problem. If that doesn’t work, go find a helping hand.

15 minutes doesn’t seem like a lot of time. And that’s because it isn’t. But have you ever spent 15 minutes stuck in traffic? Now that’s a long wait. Getting stuck in a task isn’t that different. 15 minutes offers you plenty of time to determine if you’re dealing with a speed bump or a mountain, and with a time limit, there’s no chance of you wasting more time than necessary – you only spend a speedbump’s worth of time either way.

And as an added bonus, you’ll learn a lot about the process of problem solving this way! The first time you invoke this rule, you might not reach your goal in the time limit. But how about the 3rd time? The 10th? Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you won’t need this tip at all – your skills surpassing it completely. And when you do, congrats! You’ve been made way more productive.

Rethinking your organization’s workspace? Discover our flexibly designed and fully managed enterprise office solutions.

Works Cited:

Bruce, S. P. (2009). Recognizing stress and avoiding burnout. Currents in pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 1(1), 57-64.

Dewa, C. S., Loong, D., Bonato, S., Thanh, N. X., & Jacobs, P. (2014). How does burnout affect physician productivity? A systematic literature review. BMC health services research, 14(1), 1-10.

Kwok, R. C. W., Leung, A. C. M., Hui, S. S. C., & Wong, C. C. K. (2021). Virtual trainer system: A tool to increase exercise participation and work productivity. Internet Research.

Liu, M., Ballard, G., & Ibbs, W. (2011). Work flow variation and labor productivity: Case study. Journal of management in engineering, 27(4), 236.

Mark, G., Iqbal, S., & Czerwinski, M. (2017, September). How blocking distractions affects workplace focus and productivity. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers (pp. 928-934).

Rosen, C. (2008). The myth of multitasking. The New Atlantis, (20), 105-110.

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The Secret Power of the Personal Office

Are workers more productive in a personal office? If they are, how should that office be laid out? Really, what makes a good working environment anyway? All of these questions have answers, sure, but each one leads to yet another cycle of questions.

If you work from home, you’ve no doubt had to face this idea head-on. Because there, you have a lot more freedom over where you get your work done – and that means, you’ll have to optimize it. You look left – should that window be there? Do I keep it open or closed? You look right – there’s a lot of non-work things on your desk. Is it really worth the time investment to clean it all? Or maybe, you should just switch spaces altogether. There’s a lot of questions that need answering – whether you’re an employee working from home, or an employer trying to optimize a space’s layout. And in finding those answers, we will need a map. Something to guide and frame our thinking, so that we can best recognize any answers that come our way.

Now, the idea of a “personal office space” can be read in a couple different ways. First of all, there’s a more easily recognized idea of an individualistic space. Something like a personal room or a cubicle – something that is reserved only for one person and their work, and in some cases, can be customized to the occupant’s liking. The advantages of the space like this are fairly obvious: on top of the ideas of personal agency and independence inherent to the concept, a personal space will inevitably remove any distractions found in a busier space.

The other way of looking at it, though, is the idea of a separated space. And this may require some elaboration. A separated space is a space that is in every sense (geographically, materially, everything), a distinct area that serves no other purpose but productivity. This idea may be obvious or not depending on your history, but in either case the true depth of this idea can be lost on many.

Spaces are not just simple boxes, and the act of building a space does not stop when the construction workers leave the site. Human psychology is a funny thing – we have the power to keep that constructive process going long past the finish date, by marking sites as “special.” And within this process, we can find an unexpected tool towards making a productive space. Something that personal office spaces are uniquely positioned to take advantage of.

This may seem unintuitive to some, but to any religiously-inclined readers out there, you may have already experienced something like this. You already know that a space can be marked as “sacred”, rendering it distinct from anything secular or profane. In a place like that, it’s as though the very air has changed. Stepping inside a worship site changes not just the superficial layer of the space, but impacts what people will and won’t do there. It affects how they view the space on a core, fundamental level – something much more powerful than a sign that says to do/not do something. Signs can, and often are, disobeyed. But here, to disobey the soul of this room becomes an act of sacrilege. It applies a cultural weight that operates within the self, and is far more persuasive than a sign could ever hope to be.

And to anyone looking to pin the blame on theology for this process, dive into any non-theological religion – you’ll find this practice to be universal. It’s not just a “because my God said so” thing, it’s because all people and cultures are capable of this, religious or otherwise. It’s not theological, it’s human – which means it’s something we can use to empower ourselves, should the need arise. And given this article’s topic, that need has indeed arrived.

Bringing things back to a more concrete example, talk to those who often work from home. Do they have a home office already? If they don’t, would they like to have one? Do they leave their house entirely to work at, say, a public library or internet cafe? You’ll likely find a “yes” there, if not multiple.

What would make someone dedicate a whole room of their house just to work, if they’re just as physically capable of that work from a bedroom or kitchen? Why would they walk (or drive) all the way to a library, if one of the main benefits of work-from-home is the lack of a commute?

The answer is easy. Because rooms that are dedicated to a specific goal are powerful, and these powers don’t like to overlap each other. Try getting work done from the comfort of your bed – sure, you’ll get some work done, but you’ll inevitably find yourself drifting towards the things you typically do in that room. You’re in a bedroom, and your brain is going to try and make you do bedroom-esque things – relaxing, leisurely, restful things.

What you need to maximize productivity is a productive space, plain and simple. Not just something that has all the materials to get work done – someplace, somewhere, whose primary existence is facilitating the action, the habit, of work. You’d be in a work space, so just as in your bedroom, your brain will try to get you to do work-esque things. Like working. 

Because to the brain, spaces are special. They’re not done being built until they’re filled with people, and with actions. The room and its materials can define the nouns and verbs of a space, but it is the people who add the adjectives and inflections that skew how a space is perceived. Sure, a space can provide the location and the tools to get work done, but if all its occupants ever do is slack off, then the space is not respected. It becomes a space where slacking off is the norm. But if the space is marked as special, distinct, and sacred, then its goals become the occupant’s goals. Productivity wins.

A common workplace practice serves to reinforce this idea. Workplace humor is not just a temporary distraction from work, it has a transformative effect that alter’s the worker’s perception of the space. It blurs the line between a dry, boring, but productive space into something more intimate and personal (Kim & Woo, 2021), but still fundamentally productive.

Humor can serve a purpose of increasing productivity through the removal of stress. High-pressure, confusing, and isolating environments are all known to cause stress in workers, which in turn can nosedive an employee’s productivity (Petreanu et al, 2013). By fostering a space that actively combats stress in a way that does not contradict productivity, you will end up with a far more efficient workforce. All it takes is a shift in attitude prompted by a special kind of space.

We can contrast this against the increasingly popular work-from-home strategy that many companies (and workers) find appealing. Many will claim that work-from-home actually leads to greater productivity – which is actually true, but not in all cases. For low-skilled labor like call centers, many studies point to increased productivity. But for higher-skilled knowledge work like IT services, the amount of work completed remained the same, despite an increase in hours worked (Galloway, 2022). 

There really is no one-size-fits-all solution to workplace efficiency – it will change between industry, the types of workers you want to hire, local culture, the physical layout of the space, everything. If you aim for perfection, you’ll need to find a model that works for you, or find someone with plenty of options to pick from. But in all cases, a space that facilitates work is mandatory. It must be a place where the act of working is a sacred action, fundamentally linked to the room’s soul. Something built-in and irrevocable. It can’t just be any old space.

Switching gears a bit, there’s one question that still needs to be answered. We can discuss how to optimize a personal office space all we like, but how do we know that this route is even worthwhile – from a worker and an employer’s perspective?

One study’s findings may be of note here: in general, workers in crowded workplaces feel much less appreciated by their employers. The study examined attitudes and behaviors in sparse vs crowded areas – those who worked in the crowded option were far more likely to scan wanted ads during work hours, and those hours were perceived to be longer by those experiencing them. Workers were even more likely to offer a helping hand to a coworker in the sparse setting (Terence, 2001).

And how about that all-important productivity? Sparse workplaces win here too, on that per-worker basis. Not only were the studied workers able to get work done quicker, they were less likely to need to go back and re-complete existing work, following a distraction by a coworker or another’s personal item (Terence, 2001).

What relevance does this have? Sparse-ness and crowded-ness are two metrics inherently tied to this idea of a personal space, which another study reinforces. This next study, aiming to discover key factors in determining how “personal” a “personal space” feels, found that those factors consistently increased a room’s “personal space satisfaction score”. Other factors included having a separated office (instead of an open-plan layout), and having a view outside the office itself (Jicol et al, 2019).

So, if we aim to create an optimal kind of working space, not only does it need to be marked as a working-esque space through that funny quirk of human psychology, the “personal” factor should also be optimized – and to achieve that, we remove clutter and replace it with a feeling of distinct separation.

That separation does not have to be all-encompassing, though, as the presence of others can lead to reductions in stress, and therefore increased productivity.

The workers themselves benefit here too – not just in terms of productivity. Even if they are enjoying themselves and have a productive day, what incentives do they have to actually stick around, financially?

There are many factors, but the main ones are twofold. Workers that actually go to an office setting, to any extent (they can still have a majority work-from-home experience and still get this), can more easily establish personal connections and build career networks with associates. Additionally, workers who are physically seen by their bosses are more likely to get promoted (Galloway, 2022). Physical presence builds relationships and connections, both of which can be leveraged into career success.

So, what have we learned? How valuable is that whole “personal office” thing, really? Turns out that answer is “pretty valuable” if you know what to look for. If you’re more interested in a single-occupant situation – be it in working from home, or if your business model just suits it better – it’s worth doing anything possible to mark that space as a distinct, personal, and productive space. When getting other people involved, there can be great benefits to all parties involved – both the worker and the employer – so long as things don’t get too crowded. Maintain that “personal” feeling in all situations, and according to the data, productivity will surely follow.

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If your business works best with a separated work/home space, but doesn’t need it to be a permanent fixture, The Professional Centre has plenty of options to fill your exact niche.

Pick up all the benefits of a centralized workplace, without any of the firm anchors keeping your business model rooted in a single method. Whether you need to service a large team or a small meeting, The Professional Centre can supply the exact kind of space you need to enhance your team’s productivity.

Works Cited:

Petreanu, V., Iordache, R., & Seracin, M. (2013). Assessment of work stress influence on work productivity in Romanian companies. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 92, 420–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.08.695 

Jicol, C., Taulo, G., GOLDIE, C., Esenkaya, T., Hynes, R., Paradise, C., … de Sousa, A. A. (2019, November 2). Exploring the Effects of Environmental Cues on Perceived Personal Space in the Virtual Workplace. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/9jqby

Kim, H., & Woo, SH (2021). Fun Space or workplace? The Role of Humor in Navigating Work-personal Space in South Korean Organizations. The Journal of the Korea Contents Association , 21 (9), 666–683. https://doi.org/10.5392/JKCA.2021.21.09.666

Terence M. Murphy (2001) The Effects of a Crowded Workplace on Morale and Productivity, Journal of Histotechnology, 24:1, 9-15, DOI: 10.1179/his.2001.24.1.9

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The Shape of the Workplace in a Post-Covid World

We live in the waning days of a global pandemic. The existence of Covid-19 forced much of society to warp around it, and with it gone, we now must determine the shape of “back to normal”. In some cases, it’s a simple task of recreating what came before, but for employers, they face a special challenge. The working world experienced a surge in work-from-home (WFH), and found the move to be a great success, Covid or not.

WFH is a special kind of working, that does some things extremely well, and others poorly. The concept of a work-life balance has been given a greater cultural emphasis, making those factors more relevant, even to non-WFH positions. So if you’re looking to create a business structure, how can you chart a path forward? Which route is best for you and your workers? This article places a strong focus on the data, seeking to evaluate various methods of work, all to help you make that final call.

For the sake of simplicity, this article will mainly be comparing a traditional office setup with a WFH direction. There are variants to each mode, of course, but these two offer the highest contrast between each other. Work-from-anywhere, though it can operate on a global scale, has a lot of overlap with existing WFH frameworks. Likewise, coworking spaces are similar to the traditional office structure in that they bring all employees to a centralized, curated location – but there, employers have less control over the space. A difference to be sure, but not enough to make it disanalogous from an office.

Comparing Work-From-Home to Traditional Offices

When looking into discussions about WFH, you’ll find the concept of “work-life balance” everywhere you turn. In the pre-Covid era, when people were encountering WFH for the first time, it was often touted as a way for people to set their own schedule and balance things in a way that best suited them. In practice, this concept proved more difficult to achieve than expected. Much of this difficulty was actually definitional – this idea of “work-life balance” is actually quite nebulous, which makes achieving it a difficult task (Felstead et al, 2002).

Generally, WFH’s problems are things that a traditional workplace structure excels at. Where employees may feel aimless when working from home, unable to truly separate their work life from their home life, other kinds of employees may enjoy the defined severance created by a traditional workplace.

Offices are more than just a space for people to get work done and leave. The collecting of each worker in one place allows for a collaborative environment, letting employees organically intermingle, offering a helping hand when needed. They can offer support, education, advice on projects, or simply allow for socialization and career networking. Letting an employee watch another do a job well is an excellent, efficient way of training new hires. The very act of making employees accessible to other employees is not to be underestimated.

But there is another side to the coin, this time in favor of WFH, and it’s an all-important factor for any workplace looking to see positive results: productivity. The ability to craft one’s own schedule, down to the finest detail, allows for a more flexible model – one that could, in theory, lead to employees optimizing a workflow model that fits their needs specifically. 77% of workers claim to be more productive when working from home (Steward, 2022), but is that true? Of companies that introduced remote work policies, 83% saw an increase in productivity (Hunter, 2018). Not a universal success by any means, but certainly worth taking notice.

It is also worth noting that the productive effects of WFH have some caveats. For instance, productivity levels do tend to drop in some situations, relative to your average WFH employee. Perhaps the most obvious factor is in living with children, as parental needs tend to carry a strong influence over the parent’s life (Toscano et al, 2021).

On your employee’s end, the added control can offer numerous quality-of-life benefits. It erases the commute, lets parents keep a closer eye on their kids, and if an unexpected window of opportunity appears to get work done, nothing is stopping them from taking it.

Keeping employees in their own homes is also less expensive than the need to maintain a constant office space, and you won’t have to worry about your entire workforce catching the common cold all at once.

Of course, hybrid models like coworking spaces can offer a mix of both upsides while potentially negating some of these downsides. If this is the direction you lean, then the question moves away from “which option do I want” and towards “which should I emphasize?” If employees are sometimes working from home and other times from an office, how often is “sometimes”? Whether you aim to keep one foot in each model or embrace a side with open arms, you’ll have a choice to make.

Making Tough Decisions

So, with the options set in place, how can we begin evaluating each direction? Which one best fits the business you aim to operate?

In short, WFH offers dispersed freedom, at the cost of centralized structure. Traditional offices are the inverse, centralizing their structure at the cost of dispersed freedom. You will have to decide which end of this scale has the most synergy with your business model. Perhaps you value a dispersed employee group, operating from different parts of a state or nation, to give them a wider degree of perspectives and life experiences? Or maybe you value the interpersonal connections between employees, and the idea of solo jobs isn’t one you encounter all too often? The factors at play are simply too numerous to list here.

But that is only a functional perspective on these models. Employers will face different realities and responsibilities in each situation, so another question to ask is “which option can my business most easily support?”

When it comes to the operation of a traditional workplace structure, it does come with an added ‘catch’. If you want a dedicated space for employees to work, then someone has to manage and design that space. This is not a simple task – every detail, right down to the temperature of the room itself (Lan et al, 2009), will have an impact on worker productivity.

In allowing WFH, you will offer employees the chance to personalize their own schedule, but it’s a schedule you may need to plan around. Several studies recommend a degree of employer planning when it comes to WFH, as different employees will have different needs in different situations. While some workers will use that control to be more productive, some may be hindered from doing so (such as in the previous “living with children” example). In WFH, employees will typically collaborate indirectly, so if projects call for a more direct involvement between workers, you might face issues.

There is still one final perspective worth considering here, though. What do employees prefer? Will either one have a stronger effect on employee well-being?

You’ve no doubt come across someone who’s said “I could never handle that”, or something similar, in regards to WFH. It’s not an uncommon sentiment, by any stretch of the imagination. You’ve likely never heard the reverse, that some people are just totally incompatible with office life. Some will begrudgingly accept the “daily grind”, but few reject it outright. There’s a reason why it’s been a staple of workforces for so much of human history: because people, in general, will do it.

Granted, it’s obvious that for some people, they greatly prefer WFH to any traditional structure. That’s why WFH was able to maintain relevance past the pandemic – because people realized how much they love it. But there is a difference between a preference and a requirement – and from what it seems, few people have a requirement for WFH, but some will require a separated working space.

One final piece of evidence can perhaps solve this puzzle. According to a study (Llanora, 2022), 49% of workers actually preferred a hybrid model. Usually, this means some days at the office and others left open, but it can also involve having a persistently-available working space that’s optionally accessible to those who need it, and used on occasion. This demographic isn’t quite a majority, but it’s larger than the other groups who prefer one model over the other – both hovering around 25% of surveyed workers. 

The Best Post-Covid Option for Your Workplace

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to workplace woes. In deciding whether to take a traditional or WFH approach, you’ll use factors like a business model’s compatibility, the opinions of your workforce, and the business’ capacity to enable either model, all to guide your thinking. Examine whether your business aligns better in a centralized structure or in dispersed freedom. Or if it’s a combination of the two, determine the degree to which your business leans in either direction. This will offer valuable insight through which you can frame each decision factor.

One possible solution can involve leaning on another person’s expertise. If you don’t have the time or resources to set up a maximally efficient workplace, you can find someone that does. Co-working spaces, for example, offer that dedicated working environment without being anchored to any one business. Other options include renting a space for dedicated project meetings, if you don’t anticipate a need for persistent working locations.

As mentioned in the intro, there are several other business models that aren’t strictly WFH or traditional offices. If your workforce doesn’t want to ditch a given benefit of either model, the ever-intriguing hybrid models might do the trick. Some businesses have managed to retain the flexibility of WFH, while offering employees a professional center of operations. Once you’ve mapped out your business’ needs and priorities, you’ll be that much closer to finding a workplace model that best suits everyone involved.

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If your business works best with a separated work/home space, but doesn’t need it to be a permanent fixture, The Professional Centre has plenty of options to fill your exact niche.

Pick up all the benefits of a centralized workplace, without any of the firm anchors keeping your business model rooted in a single method. Whether you need to service a large team or a small meeting, The Professional Centre can supply the exact kind of space you need to enhance your team’s productivity.

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8 Tips for a Better Work-Life Balance

Do you continue to take calls once you’re home from the office? Or check your emails on the weekends? It’s okay – a lot of us do it! But it’s not the healthiest of habits and the pandemic has only made it more of a common experience. With hybrid teams and remote work being the norm, it’s no surprise that we’re finding it harder than ever to draw a line between our professional and personal lives. After all, the couch has now become our work, rest, and social spot. It’s not that easy to “turn off” after work when our space is consumed with it. So, in 2021, it’s more  important than ever to maintain our work-life-balance.

We talk a lot about work-life balance, but what does it actually mean? The simple answer is that it means “having a good equilibrium between your professional and personal life.” Consistently working long hours, skipping vacations and weekends, and feeling unsupported at work can lead to chronic stress. This then snowballs into both physical and mental health problems. Without a balance between our professional and personal lives, it’s easy to fall victim to workplace burnout. 

Improving work-life balance can be achieved on both individual and organizational levels. With the former, it’s essential to give enough space and time to our relationships, personal responsibilities, and to the things that bring us joy in life. With the latter, businesses need to encourage having a healthy relationship with work. This creates trust between employees and employers and can increase employee satisfaction. So, here’s a breakdown of some best practices for a healthy work-life balance.

Don’t Skip Those Breaks!

Time management is one of the most important aspects of work, and especially remote work. This doesn’t just mean organizing our time while being productive, but also our time while not working! We need to schedule breaks. At the office we’re able to chat with coworkers, grab food, or stretch our legs. At home we’re often isolated and not in contact with people throughout the day. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t necessarily be glued to our desks for hours on end, so we should try to step away from our monitors and take breaks.

Routine, Routine, Routine.

Building a routine is game-changing for time management. This means waking up on time, getting dressed, and leaving for work at the same time every day. It’s easy to start or end late, but having a routine gives us a sense of control over our workdays. Prior to the pandemic, we would get home from the office and, after preparing for the following day, we’d normally have some down time. It shouldn’t be any different when working from home. Clocking in and out at the same time every day and planning time off stops us from being drawn to our emails and can stop work from leaking into our personal lives.

Move Your Body!

Once we’ve gotten the hang of taking breaks, let’s consider adding movement to them. We all know that finding the motivation to exercise can be challenging these days, but moving doesn’t necessarily mean doing a workout. Even the smallest movements matter. When using the office, we get movement in our commutes, visiting coworkers, and running errands on our breaks. When working from home, some of us only shift from our bedrooms, to our desks, to our kitchens, and back again. So, we need to remember to move! Perhaps try going for a walk or a light run, doing some yoga, or stretching every day. These actions can also be built into the routine we talked about previously.

Set Boundaries.

Clocking out at the end of the day isn’t always enough. Setting boundaries and limiting how often we check in on work is essential. Applications like Chrome allow you to create multiple browsers so that your bookmarks, homepage, and email are assigned to a specific browser. This gives you a separate one with no business-related links or emails, meaning you can surf the web without constant reminders of work. It’s also helpful to sign off of communication apps and shut project management apps at the end of the day. Try to even turn off notifications for the night! 

Separate Your Workspace.

If possible, try to separate work space from leisure space. Some of us don’t have a designated workspace in our homes, but making small changes can still help. Working in bed is not a good idea because it should be a safe and relaxing area – moving to a couch or table is healthier. We often unconsciously associate our spaces with the activities we do in them. So, if you’re working in your bed, you’ll start to associate it with work, and this can make it harder to unwind or sleep. If you don’t have access to a separate space, look into accessible spaces away from home. 

Depending on the government restrictions near you, you may want to look into working in a coffee shop or even a coworking space. The Professional Centre offers On-Demand offices that are available to rent for a day, a week, or however long is needed. They grant access to benefits such as a fully equipped office, professional on-site support staff, and refreshments. If you’re struggling with work from home, think about giving yourself a workspace away from your home.

Manage Your “Zoom Fatigue”.

We now use video conferencing for work and socializing. After multiple calls a day, it’s common to feel irritated or extra tired. We should try to look away from our screens or try doing audio-only calls. We can check in with our teams and ensure that all of our meetings are essential. If you’re not needed in every meeting on your calendar, consider opting out from time to time.

Use Your Vacation Days.

It may not feel like it’s worth taking vacation days with travel restrictions and lockdowns in effect, but they remain as important as ever. Just because we’re at home, doesn’t mean we wouldn’t benefit from some time off. We need time away from work to destress, switch our brains off, and to spend time with loved ones. Vacation days might not always roll over, so it’s better to use them rather than lose them! 

Enjoy Your “Me-Time.”

We all have hobbies, interests, music we enjoy, food we love, and friends we want to talk to! So, here’s a reminder to take time out of your day to foster those aspects of your life. Start a new hobby or reunite with an old one. Cook yourself a delicious meal and put your favourite music on. Call a friend or family member and chat for a while. It’s easy to feel isolated these days, and it’s important to remind ourselves of all the good in our lives. If our entire week is completely consumed with work and work-related topics, we might forget about the things that make us happy.

This year has been universally challenging and everyone is adapting and learning at their own pace. Finding a good balance between our professional and personal lives is an on-going process! It’s okay to feel overwhelmed or lethargic, but implementing some of these techniques can help shift some of the weight from your shoulders and help you feel rejuvenated.

We were recently featured in The 10 Best Coworking Spaces in Toronto [2021 ] (thebesttoronto.com).

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How COVID-19 Has Changed The Way We Work

It’s been a long year. Remember back in March, when we thought this was all going to be over in a few weeks? Well, 8 months later, it seems like we are finally at a stage of accepting the pandemic’s long-term effects on society. These changes will likely exist for several years, and the landscape of the working world is going to look very different. 

People may feel nervous about the idea of long-term change, but try to remember that, on a global scale, we’ve lived through several societal changes over the last few decades. Through mass-tragedy or mass-fortune, technological advancements, politics, natural disasters and more, many of our systems of communication, travel, and work are now permanently altered. This is just another one of those shifts that occurs across the course of our lives.

Work-From-Home:

The first and most obvious change is that remote work is now the norm. Most of the workforce – excluding essential workers – have found ways to make work-from-home accessible for themselves. Forward-thinking professionals are now investing in home-offices. People are taking the time to buy the necessary tools (desks, chairs, laptops etc.) to ensure that, regardless of the future, they have a proper workspace in their homes for when they need it. Some are finding a lot of benefits in working from home, especially those with children or other daily commitments. 

The freedom that has come with remote work is going to be difficult to let go of and, even as offices reopen and welcome their employees back, some will still opt to work from home for at least part of the week. There are also those who are struggling with WFH and will want to return to the office as soon as possible. These shifts are forcing companies to adopt the new hybrid work model, which incorporates both partial WFH and partial in-office work.

Workspace Redesign:

The majority of larger companies have said they expect to open their offices in 2021, depending on the ebbs and flows of the pandemic. When offices do reopen though, we will see a massive shift in how they look and operate. Plexiglass, reduced capacities, and physical distancing markers are just a few of the physical changes that will need to be in place before people return. COVID-19 screening procedures and temperature checks will be standard until a vaccine is finalized and accessible to the general public. Another change is that, though open-plan offices were previously making headway as the new “it” layout strategy, the safest way forward will follow a more traditional model of having private offices that are regulated and safe for employees to use. Most flexible workspaces have already begun the process of transforming their spaces to be COVID-19 safe.

The Professional Centre, as an example, has already installed plexiglass in all common areas, placed air purifiers throughout their floors, and ensured the floors are key card accessed only. Masks are mandatory, all members and guests have to fill out a COVID-19 screening survey before entering, and everyone is required to inform the on-site staff of any risk of exposure or positive tests. This has all been done to ensure that anyone using the space is as safe as possible.

Flexible Workspaces:

It seems that the flexible workspace industry will take the lead in safe workspaces for the foreseeable future. Companies are understandably hesitant to consider the financial commitments of traditional office spaces and long-term leases, especially without knowing how many employees will return to the office. There’s also the financial commitment of having to prep and ensure that their space is safe for a return to work. This is why flexible workspaces are the ultimate solution for the new hybrid model of work. 

With countless different sizing options, from individual desks to 100-people sized offices, there is a solution for every need, at lower costs than traditional office space. One solution is to rent an office that is smaller in size (and therefore a better financial choice) and have a larger team come in on a rotating schedule. This means the team will be able to choose when they would like to work from home and when they will come into the office. It allows them to work together for part of the week, and it ensures that there are never too many people in the space at the same time.

Work Flexibility:

COVID-19 has also brought about several philosophical changes to how we view both office culture and work-life balance. The most recently discussed is the traditional 9-5 model of work. With remote work, there came the realization that we don’t necessarily need to show up to work at 9am and leave at 5pm. Working from home has allowed people to incorporate freedom to their workdays, taking breaks to run errands and attend to personal needs. People are now shifting their hours to start and end later. It does not mean that we’re working less, but just that we are choosing when we can work most effectively. Redefining the “workday” has brought a newly-found freedom to people’s lives.

Changing How We Measure Productivity:

Because of this change in what constitutes “working,” we also need to develop new ways to measure productivity at work. Previously, it was generally measured by who showed up at the office and sat at their desks all day. Now, though, with everyone separated and physically unaccounted for, team leaders are having to revisit how to hold their teams accountable for their work. New deliverables, key performance indicators, and regular check-ins need to be set up for distributed teams. Allowing employees to have flexibility in their hours means that we need to check in about the level of performance, instead of simply checking that they have shown up.

Redefining “Leadership”:

COVID-19 is also changing the way we view the word “leadership.” Living through a global pandemic is a new experience for absolutely everyone, managers and team leads included. The universal leadership advice is that they need to “put their own oxygen masks on before helping others.” Leaders first need to discern their own parameters around how to cope and take care of both their professional and personal needs. Once they have figured that out, they can then address everyone that looks to them for guidance. 

Post 2020, leaders need to have constant open communication, even when they are unsure of how to proceed. They need to be open to critique and concerns and be flexible in how they address others’ problems. Humanity is an essential characteristic to being a good leader these days. Learning how to address each team member as human with their own stresses and feelings about the pandemic, is a vital part to their roles these days.

Yes to Casual Dress:

A fun aspect of our new working world is that casual dress is now normal for most fields of work. With everyone working from home for months on end, the need for formal dress has

disappeared and people are now able to wear whatever they want (within reason) in

meetings, interviews, and when addressing their staff. Seeing each other comfortable in our homes has brought a sense of compassion to work, and though the option for formal dress is still there, it is no longer required.

Less Travel:

Unfortunately, we are going to have to write off work-related travel for the time being. A positive to this is that the technological world is evolving faster than ever to accommodate for long distance relationships. However, this also means that people cannot hold in-person conferences,travel to clients, or travel for work in general (unless it is essential). 

New Technology:

But fear not! The future looks bright and maybe soon we shall be using tools like VR to add an extra sense of friendliness to our virtual replacements for travel. Tech companies are working hard to develop new software and programs that make virtual work more efficient for distributed teams. We’re all looking for new ways to bring humanity to our work every day. Maybe we want to send a video message instead of sending a memo. Maybe we host more virtual lunch hours for staff to get to spend some quality time together. 

Despite how isolating things feel right now, remember there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful about the future!

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5 Methods To Help You Stay Productive

Simple ways to break the monotony and truly focus.

Have you ever looked back at your week and realized you intended to be productive, yet somehow you barely accomplished anything? Everyone, at some point in time, has fallen victim to losses in their productivity. This can happen for many reasons, including illness, stress, or emotional conflict. Unfortunately, when it comes to work, the world does not slow down despite a lack of focus. There are still deadlines to meet and tasks to be completed every week.

So, what can you do when you are feeling unproductive? There are many different methods designed to help people stay productive during the day and each comes with its own benefits. The only way to know what truly works for you is to try out different methods for a period of time and to watch for improvements in your productivity. There is no singular fix that will help everyone, so it is best to look into multiple approaches and see what benefits you most. Sifting through all the different approaches can be overwhelming, so we have broken down some of the most common techniques that might help you become more productive!

Morning:

Before we get into the different methods, it is best to start with the basics. Try to get a healthy eight hours of sleep every night. Helpguide.org states that “most healthy adults need between seven to nine hours of sleep per night to function at their best.” Some general aspects of your routine that will help with sleep performance include regular exercise, a healthy diet, less caffeine and alcohol, and effective stress management. Regulating these aspects of your lifestyle will allow you to develop a better relationship with sleep and help you stay more productive during the day. However, there are also many other methods and techniques to give you a boost if you are still finding it hard to stay focused.

To start, there is the “Law of First Things” method. This is a tactic followed by people like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. The theory states that the first thing you do in the morning will affect how productive you are for the rest of the day. It suggests that when you wake up, you should not open your phone and immediately read emails, clear notifications, and respond to work-related responsibilities. Instead you should do something productive in another aspect of your life. Some widely acknowledged suggestions include 30 minutes of exercise, meditation, reading a book, or working on a hobby. Doing this before you start work will give your brain the chance to wake up and practice mindfulness. Without this, our brains become conditioned to respond to external pressures from the moment we wake up. Giving yourself the space to take care of your mind and body first may help you stay productive throughout your day.

The “Law of First Things” is not the only theory that suggests that exercise and meditation are two crucial aspects to morning routines. Exercise in the morning is widely known to be a productivity booster because it reduces anxiety and stress. Many sources also suggest that meditating in the morning helps you set your intentions for the day and ready yourself for your workload. For some, meditation can feel overwhelming or confusing if you have never done it before. You might be someone who does not enjoy postponing work in the morning, but prefers to dive right in.

If that is the case, then you should try “Reflection” as your chosen method. Instead of doing a general meditation, you can reflect on the workday that lies ahead of you. Taking a moment to do this in the morning, during your commute or before you begin to work, can help you to map out your daily goals. It is what author Jessica Lindsey calls “reattaching” to work, after having detached the previous night. Lindsey outlines three questions to ask yourself in the morning that will help you mentally prepare for the day ahead:

Why does the work I do matter to me? How does my work impact the lives of others? Asking these questions helps to remind you of what motivates you at work. Continuously asking yourself this question will help you to derive purpose in the work you are doing and will outline why it is important.

Who are the people—both at work and in my personal life—who support me and my professional success? This question helps outline which people are there to help you when life gets overwhelming. Reflecting on this brings a sense of belonging and community into your work. It can also remind you of who exists in your personal life as part of your support circle.

What would I like to focus on today? This final question helps you set your daily goals and assign yourself the tasks you want to complete for the day. This will help you focus on the relevant work you need to get done that day and will help you stay productive. 

The next method is the “Eat the Frog” method. Mark Twain once said that the first thing that you should do in the morning is “eat the frog”. What this means is that the first thing you do in the morning should be the hardest task on your to-do list. Immediately getting your most daunting task out of the way will make the rest of your day easier. The morning is when we are filled with the most energy and have faced the least amount of distractions, so it is the perfect time to attempt the hardest of your tasks. By tackling the biggest issue first thing in the morning, you will give yourself an immense sense of achievement.

To try this method, decide what your hardest task will be when you are settling down the evening before. This will be the “frog” and it will most likely be something you need to do but do not want to, something you want to do but have not found time for, or something you are dreading the most about your day or week. The actual “frog” will vary depending on what is on your to-do list. Then, once you are awake the next day, get right down to work. Once that task has been completed, you are free to shower, make breakfast, and enjoy the rest of your morning. It can give you a great sense of accomplishment and motivation, and also works as a solution to procrastination.

Evening:

Now that we have discussed morning productivity techniques, we should address what to do the night before. If you are someone who finds that their mind is racing in the evenings, the first thing to do is create a nightly routine for yourself. Getting ready to wind down for the night at the same time helps regulate your circadian rhythm and gives your mind time to relax in the evenings.   

“Detaching from work” is the first method to try. If you are someone who finds that work takes over your relaxation time, you may soon experience burnout. In order to maintain productivity, you should be mentally detaching from work during your free time in evenings and on weekends. This creates a balance between your professional and personal life.

Here are some tips on how to detach at night. If you are someone who works mainly from their computer, try to make sure you are closing out your workday properly. This means closing all tabs on your browser that are work related and shutting down your communication or project management apps. Obviously if you are needed urgently, you can still check messages or emails, but closing down your work at the end of the day makes it easier for your mind to focus on relaxing. Without doing these two simple tasks, your brain is constantly being reminded of work while you are trying to relax, and therefore you never fully detach from work during your evenings and weekends.

The final method is called the “Brain Dump”. Keep a pad and paper next to you in the evenings so that when your mind starts to fill with thoughts, questions, and reminders for the following day, you can write them down to actively externalize your problems. Doing this will give you a concrete list of tasks to work on in the morning. Even the smallest tasks such as a conversation you would like to have or a note you would like to give someone should be written down so that you can clear your mind of it while still knowing you will be taking care of it the next day.

There is no guarantee that each of these methods will work for you and your lifestyle, so it is best to try each out for a few weeks and see if there are improvements in your productivity. Though losing focus and drive is common, it is also our responsibility to determine what the problem is and how to fix it. Good luck! 

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Remote Work May Not Be a Long-term Solution For Your Team

Reasons to consider having a flexible office policy.

Working from home has been a common business solution in the advent of COVID-19. When cities were first hit with stay-at-home orders, many companies moved their teams entirely to remote work. This was the fastest solution in the initial stages of the pandemic, when we were so uncertain about how COVID-19 would impact us as individuals and as a society. However, now that we are a few months in, we have more information on how COVID-19 is transmitted, what safety measures can be implemented to reduce the risk of exposure, and how to keep ourselves as safe as possible. There is no way to completely avoid the risk of getting COVID-19 but we are now better prepared, so long as we are following the safety measures put in place by the government and reputable health sources such as the WHO. Now, it may be time to consider moving some of your team back to the office. If your company does not have the means of maintaining a safe office space at the moment, there are other options. It can be quite overwhelming to conceptualize running an office right now, as well as maintaining safety and health procedures for COVID-19, and hiring staff to support your employees. This is especially hard if you are considering shifting only a portion of your employees back to working in an office space. Renting flexible private office space may be a viable solution.

Reasons to Return to the Office:

Firstly, it is important to discuss why returning to the office might be the best option for your team. Working from home is a solution for some, as it provides benefits such as schedule flexibility, more time with family, and not having to commute. It can, however, be quite daunting and stressful for others. With this in mind, companies should consider making a return-to-office an option for their employees. Having a flexible work policy takes all the pressure off of you to schedule your team. Allowing them to choose whether they wish to work from home, work in the office, or mix the two options gives your employees the autonomy to create their own schedules and manage their re-entry fears. It also ensures that, should they need it, there is a dedicated space for them to work in. 

Creating an opt-in office option for everyone provides a solution for those that are struggling to work from home. With COVID-19 affecting all of us, some people are working from home with partners, children, family members, or roommates in their workspace. Some do not have a proper workspace at all and have always relied on having an office to be productive. As to be expected, many people are experiencing a loss of productivity at home, due to the distractions in their space and the difficulties of time management. Others are experiencing burnout, as they no longer have clear boundaries between their personal and professional lives.

A lot of employees are also experiencing a lack of accountability when working from home. It will eventually fall onto your shoulders, as their employer, to implement strong accountability procedures. Without regular face-to-face time with your employees, it is easy to lose track of what they are doing and how well they are doing it. You will need to create a strong evaluation system, performance indicators, and regular review points for all of your distributed teams. This is a large part of restructuring your company and it may not be a realistic option for you at this time. Losses in accountability and productivity may be two reasons why your team will not benefit from remote work for much longer.

Another reason to return to the office is to help maintain company culture. There are many aspects of company culture that are lost in remote work. Teams are losing the collaborative benefits that come with working together in one space. It is difficult to create time for brainstorming and casual discussion during a virtual meeting or through various communication applications. Exchanging ideas and getting regular feedback, which forms such a crucial part of work culture, is lost in remote work. Additionally, teams lose the small interactions with their coworkers that increase their sense of belonging.

There are also many risks that come with having an entirely remote team. There is the challenge of ensuring your company’s data is protected. Cybersecurity is an essential aspect to all companies, but with a remote team, employees are using unsecure public or home networks. It is possible that your team will not look into protecting their data on their own, which heightens your company’s risk of a breach. Corporations such as Google have actually banned programs like Zoom for security purposes. There is also the financial commitment of IT support, upgrades, and software purchases for a distributed team. If these are not commitments you are willing to look into, remote work may not be a long-term option for your team.

Flexible Workspace Options: 

You do not have to opt into an expensive or traditional office space. If you are looking to make room for only a portion of your employees who would like to move back to the office, flexible workspaces provide many alternative options.  

The Professional Centre provides flexible private offices that come with many benefits. Our model has private offices for one person, teams, and spaces for up to 100 employees. These private spaces come fully equipped with office amenities, supplies, direct fibre internet, and WiFi. Going with a flexible workspace, such as The Professional Centre, also comes with the benefits of fully equipped meeting rooms, collaboration zones, and business lounges. These spaces are perfect for those looking to shift a portion of their teams back to the office.

However, the space itself is not the only benefit. The Professional Centre’s model provides on-site support staff to fit your company’s needs. The offices have been fully adapted to COVID-19 safety regulations, with plexiglass installed in common areas and boardrooms, regulated key-card access to the space in order to control the amount of people who use it, and a signage system to direct foot traffic in order to implement physical distancing within the office. We have also made it a policy that everyone using the space must wear a mask in common areas. Renting out one of these spaces gives you the financial and lease flexibility you need during such an uncertain period. Our staff regularly clean any shared space and wipe down all surfaces during the day. Sanitation supplies have been provided throughout the floors to ensure that everyone is as safe as possible. These benefits take care of all of the office maintenance that you do not have time for right now.

With these benefits in mind, it may be time to look into providing a safe space for those employees who wish to return to the office. This option helps alleviate some of the re-entry fear that people have, as the safety measures and cleaning procedures put in place make for a safe work environment during this pandemic.

Though remote work was the immediate solution for businesses to the pandemic, we now have to think about options that work for everyone. Not all of your team members are benefitting from remote work and it may be time for some to return to the office. Your company may be losing some of the positive aspects and culture that come with working in one space together. If you value your team’s productivity and wish to minimise the risks of a distributed team, this is the time to rearrange your company’s structure.

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