Time management Training Courses: Working from home

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With ever-increasing workloads and deadlines, the ability to manage our time has never been more important. Time management is a crucial factor in work and our time management courses are created to ensure that delegates can make their time keeping as efficient and effective as possible. We do this by supplying a time management training course that is full of tools and tips for improving time management, time planning, delegation, organisation and management strategies, managing meetings, managing e-mails as well as handling and using time effectively. Our time management course will cover subjects such as goal setting, improving organisation skills and managing time successfully. Our seminars are packed with useful tips and techniques that allow you to become a better time manager instantly.

Recently the media has made much of the fact that the government is pushing forward legislation that gives workers increased opportunities to work more flexible hours and also work from home, if applicable. This will either seem a gift from heaven or your worst nightmare depending on how you view this in relation to your current work situation.

For more than seven years we have run courses covering effective home-working and managing home-workers successfully. This newsletter covers the subject on two fronts: how to work from home and how to manage home-based workers. Preparation and planning are key requisites to make the process run smoothly and we are always happy to discuss training programmes if your organisation is embarking on this way of working.

Many organisations now allow key staff to work from home either full or part time. There are numerous benefits and pitfalls both for the individual and the company and a great deal of thought needs to be given to this if it is to be successful. Not all of us thrive in conditions of isolation but the savings in time and interruptions can greatly improve productivity and morale.

A report commissioned by the DfEE to assess the state of the nation’s work-life balance found:

  • Britain’s employees are more likely to be offered stress counselling (49 per cent) to help with the effects of the long-hours culture than be offered assistance with their basic childcare needs (nine per cent).
  • Eighty per cent of workplaces have employees who work more than their standard hours, and 39 per cent of those employees who work extra hours do so without extra pay.
  • Only 20 per cent of employers are fully aware of the increased maternity leave rights and only 24 per cent are fully aware of the new paternal leave rights.
  • Twenty-five per cent of women take less than 18 weeks maternity leave.

However, it was also found that:

  • 55% of employers think that moving from full-time to part-time Is acceptable in some cases.
  • 24% of employees now work flexitime and 12 per cent have arranged to work only during term time.
  • 56% of women said they would rather work more flexibly, such as working part-time or from home, after pregnancy rather than have a longer maternity leave period.

How well would you cope with working from home?

We have included some extracts from our course in Home-working that usefully (and sometimes humorously) outline the positives and negatives of being a home-based employee. We also show simple strategies on how to get the ‘most out of your day’. But first, complete the questionnaire below to see how suited you are to home-working.

Questionnaire 1

  1. Can you work on your own for long periods of time
  2. Are you organised to get things done
  3. Do you dislike office gossip
  4. Do friends and family have a healthy respect for your time
  5. Do you actively refrain from involving yourself in office politics
  6. Are you often able to use your initiative to sort out unexpected problems
  7. Do you prioritise work at the start of your day

If the answer to these questions is yes then you are probably the ideal person to work from home

Questionnaire 2

  1. Do you need people around you to gee you up when you’re having a bad day
  2. Are you prone to distraction
  3. Do you have trouble getting out of bed – especially on cold, wet and windy days
  4. Would you have difficulty separating home-life from work-life
  5. Do you tend to look for someone to blame when things go wrong
  6. Do you often tend to work later because of procrastination and allowing interruptions
  7. Do you smoke/tend to snack during the day

If the answer to these questions is yes then you may experience difficulty in working from home.

Feedback from home workers

Many have taken the plunge, some find it ideal and others a real challenge. Here are some comments from those who currently work from home:

“It can be a pain when your spouse ridicules what you do and your kids think all you do is gab on the phone and swear a lot. Other than that, what a joy it is!”

“I truly miss the energy of working with a team in an office.”

” I find it difficult to draw a line between my home life and my work life, working from home. I find myself in a constant grey area running back and forth from the “office part” to the “home part” of my home, trying to manage both. The only thing I miss about having a traditional job is being able to “go home”.

You may find some of the tips below useful.

How to discipline yourself for a successful day

  • Make the most of the time you’re not commuting but you must be disciplined with yourself to work your normal hours. Don’t delude yourself that you can take mornings off and work later, it just doesn’t work.
  • Set yourself a work-target each day/week that does not overload you
  • You may feel that you need some form of a half-way routine to help you with the strains of working alone e g, you may still feel the urge to go for a walk in the mornings to simulate some of the time you used to take commuting, but it is essential you start to work immediately you return.
  • Plan your day to take care of all interruptions. You should be able to work out after a while how much loading you can add to tasks if you’re prone to interruptions.
  • Plan your day the night before.
  • Plan breaks during the day, (between 5-15 min’s), but make sure that these do not interrupt your schedule or extend them to longer than 15 minutes. An ideal number is two a day.
  • Have a timetable in front of you at all times and stick to it. Don’t be tempted to fix things around the house because they seem more enjoyable than the job in hand.
  • Always remember, you’re at work and you owe it to yourself that you put in a full day. It’s amazing to many home-workers how tempting the ironing seems when you fancy a break or a distraction.
  • You have to be brutally firm with all your family that your work space and time are valuable. You must not get drawn into ‘helping out’ every time someone needs you, just because you are there.

 

Our training is carried out in a risk free environment which encourages delegates to practice the skills needed for successful appraisals. We use a number of training methods including role-play, video, audio, workshops and group exercises to enhance the learning process.

Why choose Total Success for your training?

  • our lead trainers have over 18 years experience in training
  • a maximum of 8 delegates means more time spent on individual needs
  • we guarantee to run the course and will never cancel at the last moment
  • free subscription to our monthly training newsletter

All open courses are trained in Central London at the St Giles Hotel.

Each delegate receives a comprehensive training workbook that doubles as an open course manual. Courses run from 9.30-5.30 with lunch and refreshments provided.

Time Management In-Company Courses

Total Success have developed a series of in-house training modules. These are designed so that an organisation can pick the training which is more applicable to its own needs and budget. Please call us to discuss your specific requirements. If you click on the links below you will see some typical one-day time management course agendas that cover a wide range of subjects from prioritising, delegating, assertiveness, managing interruptions, managing e-mail, using Outlook calendar, tasks etc. In fact we pride ourselves on being able to develop courses that suit all our clients needs and requirements.

Time Management Training Packs

Why use a total success training pack

If you are looking to run your own training course but lack the materials and the time to develop a fully functional training seminar we produce a range of training materials and packs which will suit your requirements exactly. All of our packs and been written by our own time management experts and we can guarantee that the training pack will satisfy your course requirements. Each pack will contain a full set of PowerPoint training slides, trainer’s notes, a course manual, and a full set of handouts and activities.

We have been running our courses since 1995 and have trained 1000’s of people via open courses and in-company seminars. We guarantee that the course you buy is the one we train. All courses are trainer and trainee friendly so you’ll be up and running quickly (depending on your training experience).

We know how difficult it is to choose amongst the many training materials available on line, that’s why we have 3 packages that will suit you needs. With our gold, silver and bronze packages you can choose the training format that’s right for you and your budget. Call us 0044 (0)208 269 1177 to discuss your requirements or email us info@totalsuccess.co.uk

Related information

Total success training also produced a number of newsletter webpages that carry great information on all our training topics.  Below you will find a selection of time management newsletter pages. You can click on any of the links and they will give you stacks of really interesting information relating to time management. If you like the content of these pages you can subscribe to our newsletter page and we will send you a newsletter every month. we update our pages very regularly so will always be more great information each time you log onto our site.

Click on any of these links for stacks of great tips and techniques on managing time

Time Management book’s and publications

The Book. If you really don’t have the time to attend one of our fantastic time management training courses and seminars, don’t worry. You can still enhance your knowledge and skills by purchasing time management training information from our website. Our lead trainer, Warren Wint has written a book entitled ‘Successful Time Management’ which is packed with tips and techniques to help you manage your time more effectively and more efficiently. You can purchase the book by clicking on the link below and downloading it to your own computer

Bite-sized Training Guides. We had also produced a range of bite-sized training guides on various subjects relating to time management. These short guides are written to give enough information on the topics that interest you. We include topics such as managing e-mail, setting goals and prioritising, the art and skill of effective delegation, and managing busy workloads and deadlines. These are designed for you to work through your topics in approximately 30 to 40 min, and not only give you valuable information but also include exercises and activities to enable you to learn at your own pace and on the go. These are very competitively priced at 99p each because we want you to not only gain valuable information but also to keep coming back and purchasing more to enable you to become a fabulous manager of time. Click the links below and download our training guides as PDF documents so you will be able to start achieving your goals today!

Podcasts

We produce a range of podcasts and audio downloads that you can download to hear how we conduct our training courses. These are available in live audio if you click on the links below and it’s almost like being on one of our courses. They allow you to hear how we carry out some of the topics in our time management training courses. If you like them and want to hear more please go to our Podcast pages on the website