We are not unfamiliar with working from home. In fact, we get to have this kind of benefit twice a month. Oh, and in case you didn’t know... YOYO is our name and digital is our game.

Hey guys! I'm Reese, Marketing Communications Executive from PH Team! How are y'all doing? 😊

Since March, we had to comply with our government’s guidelines for Enhanced Community Quarantine, (ECQ) which required us to stay at home and work in front of our screens instead. This news could have been a little exciting for some since you’ll totally cut off the time and effort commuting to the office and start work, and you get to be productive in the comforts of your own home.

While the office offers a sense of professionalism and comfort, we admit that having all your tasks and files organized on a cloud or web, makes WFH not any less different from being present at the office. Or is it? Spotted in YOYO PH Office is a comfy Kuya Marius haha!

Fortunately, we are a tech-savvy company so we only had to make minimal adjustments in our work routines. With the help of advanced applications, productivity is the new normal for us. Here are 4 productivity tools you can use while you are working at home [aka until when lockdown is finally lifted]

1. Slack [oh yea!]

Let me introduce to you the place where communication happens.

Reader, meet the Slack application. Slack, meet the reader.

How ironic it is that they name an application over the opposite action it gives to its users. 😅 Slack is one way to improve your business’ processes. It is designed to make it easier for you to organize chat rooms by direct messaging, private groups, or even by topic. Slack has a way that keeps everyone in the loop anywhere and anytime as you can access it through your mobile phone or your laptop. Additional points for how it allows you to personalize your application through your own preferences. I just changed my sidebar’s theme…is it a yay? Or nay?

Working apart does not equate to working alone. Teamwork is essential in these trying times.

2. Zoom [virtual backgrounds!]

Communication does not end in chat rooms. Presenting… the one and only Zoom Application!

Zoom is a cloud platform for audio or video conferencing, chat, and webinars. Within the four months of working from home, everyone has most likely encountered this application. In our case, this means bi-weekly company meetings. Check us out posing with our company t-shirt virtually! Can we get anymore digital?

Remember arriving in the office at different times and never having much time to align with your team on your daily tasks? Now, mornings are incomplete without a daily dose of my teammates, Kara and Tine. We start the meeting by having a check-in meeting. Each team member gets to host the meeting and select an ice breaker question to get us personally motivated.

3. Excel Sheet [classic]

One of the things that helped us in managing our time for each assignment was having a common sheet for our weekly tasks. This gives us full transparency to be able to practice our ownership and responsibility to accomplish them. Practicing this led us to really work as a team, since we have a preview of what things can we assist each other on while still being professional.

4. Personal Planner [personal fave!]

However, when I find myself too attached in the world full of screens, I add some balance by having my very own planner. I truly suggest this productivity tool for everyone who has been trying to take a break with technology but still wants to finish their tasks in an organized but creative way. I have been using planners ever since I was a kid and I made it a habit to bring it with me until this day. Sneak peek of my recent best friends.

Having a planner is not a requirement to be in control of every single thing that enters your life. The same goes for the other productivity tools I introduced to you. It is a big part of accepting or acknowledging your unique ways of responding to your responsibilities. This is what I truly appreciate in working in a startup company. We are trusted to accomplish our tasks in a way that we don’t have to put our comfort on the line. The culture and process of the team function as one though unique. We may be spending our days apart but our work routine is better than ever.

I hope you make it a point to find ways to make life easier through the helping hands I suggested in this blog!

Until the next blog, I am tasked to write!
Reese