Here to Help: Top tips for ensuring a productive payroll department when working from home

Recent announcements suggest that it could be much longer than first expected until everyone is back in the office.

As a result, it’s crucial that key business functions such as payroll adapt to their new working environment to ensure business continuity.

But while some payroll managers may have experience working remotely, this indefinite length of time working from home can easily come across as daunting and lead to a productivity drop.

Regardless of whether you’re running your payroll solo or managing a wider team, we’ve compiled our top tips for working from home.

Can’t run your payroll from home? Check out our blog to discover how you can enable remote working.

1) Maintain a routine

It’s far too easy when working from home to swap every part of our typical routine for late wakeups and duvet days.

However, maintaining a routine is essential to ensure the hours don’t disappear and your typical productivity remains.

Routine is key so set a morning alarm, honour your lunch break and remember to take regular breaks even if they are just to make a brew.

2) Turn the news off

We understand that with everything going on it’s hard not to keep one eye on the news.

But while it’s important to stay up to date with current affairs, it’s also a huge distraction and ultimately not great for your mental health.

We recommend that you designate a set time in the day to catch up on the news, allowing yourself to switch it off for the rest of your working day.

3) Designate a workspace

Not everyone has the luxury of a home office, but regardless it’s essential that you designate somewhere quiet to be your workspace.

Being able to go to a designated workspace promotes a healthy work/life balance while simultaneously helping you get in the ‘work’ mindset.

4) Get dressed

Spending all day in your favourite pyjamas may seem tempting but trust us, it’s not as great as it seems.

You don’t have to wear your typical office attire but looking and feeling presentable plays a huge part in your mindset.

In fact, research suggests that we become what we wear and clothing can reinforce certain moods, so by getting dressed each day you can help boost your productivity.

5) Have a chat

For many, catching up with colleagues in the office plays a huge role in our daily social interactions and to suddenly have it taken away can be a shock.

But don’t forget that you have a multitude of technology to stay in touch, whether that’s emails, texts, calls or video chats.

That daily digital contact can provide a momentary state of normality and set you up for the rest of the day.

Here to help

Hopefully, these tips have provided some insight into how you and your payroll team can maintain productivity when working from home.

For more information on how you can ensure business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic, check out our support hub and to find out how you can move your payroll to the cloud, click here.