In Australia, prior to recent events, up to 31% of us had the ability to work from home or remotely from the office! A lot of insurance brokers have gone digital with their files, need to work on the road when visiting clients and provide a lot of client’s paperwork by email. So, work from home, in our industry is a whole lot more accessible.

Since covid lockdowns, we’re all getting pretty used to working from home. You might have followed best practices, to begin with, but like many things, we can all let good habits slip. So, if this is the case, here’s an easy refresher to bear in mind.

This is what Ausure’s National Service Team practice while working from home:

1. Sit at your computer, dressed professionally and ready to work at your start time.

2. Take your breaks at set times. Don’t miss them by continuing to work through them. Avoid the naughty snack cupboard/drawer – it is a trap!

3. Wear comfortable clothing but be in “news presenter” mode (AKA dressed/looking right from the chest up) ready in case a video call comes through.

4. Tell your family, visitors or pets, that whilst you may be at home, you are working and need to concentrate during business hours. Separate work from personal matters and tasks. Otherwise, time can blur.

5. Make sure you have a designated working area. Sitting on the couch sounds great, until your neck and back start to hurt or you’re so comfy you just nodded off.

6. Have good communication systems with your teammates. And check in with them.

a. We use Microsoft Teams to chat together, video conference, call each other, shadow each other’s computers where necessary, set calendar meetings, occasionally send funny GIFs to keep up morale and keep in regular contact.

b. For our phones we have Avaya Equinox which is an internet-based phone system where we can see each other’s presence and are in the same phone hunt group. It shows who is available, on a call, on DND, busy, away or offline…You can also change your status to say At Lunch, RDO, In A Meeting etc. This is also available on mobiles as an App.

7. Don’t change your routine. Work the same as you would in the office. Without the sporadic water cooler convos and interruptions from co-workers in the office, you should achieve more in your day.

8. COMMUNICATION is very important because you physically cannot see each other. It is vital to stay in contact and be contactable for work. It’s also important to carefully check in with colleagues who might be isolated or stressed during lockdowns, to be sure everyone is doing okay.

9. Finish at your usual finish time. It is easy to keep working through, but you have to have balance.

10. Be sure to keep up your pre or post-work exercise and wellness routines, where safe and possible to do so under any current covid restrictions. This will ensure good work and life balance too.

By Joanna King,

Ausure Insurance Brokers Client Services