Firstly Happy New Year to all our readers, may 2021 bring us health and happiness. With most of us now in some kind of lockdown or being asked to work from home it’s very likely that any new roles will be home based at least to begin with this year. At SRGEurope we are acknowledging this trend of working from home is here to stay, acknowledged by many companies considering making this a more permanent feature of working life.

Starting a brand new job from home rather than the office brings with it challenges and can be daunting for the employee. It means not being able to meet your new colleagues and manager in person, and also having to adjust to new technology or new ways of working without co-worker help being as immediately or obviously available as it would be in the office.

Here are our top tips for starting your new job remotely and making it a success

1. Ensure or ask to be set up with a knowledge buddy. Someone who can help to answer any questions you may have about company processes or information. Even something as simple as how to book annual leave can be a more complicated task than it needs to be when starting a new job from home.

2. Take time to prepare for meetings as when working from home these will be an integral part of fitting in to the company and soaking up as much information as possible. Research who your meetings are with and plan if and how they will fit in to your day to day work.

3. Get to grips with any new technology required for your new role. As recruiters we are happy to provide you with the main applications you will be using in your new role before your start date so you have plenty of time to prepare.

4. Set SMART goals after your first week in conjunction with your manager. These goals will give you a stronger sense of direction, make you more organised and assist in boosting your productivity – in turn, helping to improve your self-confidence in the job and make a positive impression on your new manager

5. Working from home tends to encourage people to work outside normal hours after all there is no entering and leaving a building or commute to worry about. Although we encourage overtime in your first few weeks to get to grips with your new job and work culture, remember to ensure you have a good work life balance. Make sure you take your lunch breaks and get away from the screen and get out for some exercise if possible which all helps with your mental health during these difficult times.

6. Make added effort to get to know your team. Communication software like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Hangouts are great communication tools that allow you to chat with your teammates, even if it's not always work-related. Some clients we work with have one channel for work discussions and another for anything fun and non-work related.

7. Lastly after working from home every day, make an effort to socialise outside of work with your friends. Not always possible during a pandemic but make an effort to somehow stay in touch even via WhatsApp or FaceTime video calls.