Working From Home

In response to the spread of novel coronavirus (Covid-19), some Ogden School District employees will begin working remotely. For many people, it will be challenging to adjust from being around co-workers in an office/school to spending most of the day at home. Therefore, we have organized some resources and tips that will assist our employees in transitioning to a remote work environment and help make working from home more effective and enjoyable.

Productivity at Home

Collaboration

Whether working from home or in an office/school, Ogden School District employees have access to powerful collaboration tools via G Suite; including Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Take a moment to look at the resources below to view some tips to enhance collaborative action in your daily work.

Edit Team Documents in Real Time
Editing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, or other files while working at home? There’s no need to email files back and forth and deal with multiple attachments. Use Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to edit simultaneously in real time, and get targeted feedback using comments. Changes save automatically, so team members are always accessing the most up-to-date versions.

Learn how:
Collaborate in Docs, Slides, or Sheets
Add Files to Hangouts Chat

Store, share, and access Team Resources From Anywhere
Want an easy way to securely store and share your team’s resources? Save all your team’s files in one folder in Google Drive or in your school's shared drive, and share them instantly. When someone makes a change, Drive shows you what files have changed. Team members can securely access the latest files on any device, at any time.

Learn how:
Upload and store files in Drive
Add Files to Shared Drives
See Changes in Files

Calendar

Keeping a tight schedule and staying organized is especially important when working at home. Google Calendar has some powerful features to help you stay in sync with your co-workers and ensure that you never miss a meeting.

Follow the links below to learn more about Google Calendars basic features:

Schedule events

Respond to and manage events

Instant Messaging

When working at home, it is important to overcommunicate with co-workers and always remember that you cannot rely on the subtle communication that occurs when you share a physical location.

Google Hangouts Chat is our district's instant communication (text messaging) tool and will work in your computer browser and in mobile apps for Android and iOS. Chat will keep all your messages in sync no matter which devices you use, even if you switch between them.

Getting Started with Google Hangouts Chat

To get started with Hangouts Chat, please follow the link below to view our support page:

OSD Google Chat support

You can also view Google's support page here

Online Meetings

While working at home, it will be important to virtually meet with co-workers and/or other stakeholders to have more robust discussions and work sessions. Virtual meetings will also help our staff avoid developing a sense of social isolation.

Google Hangouts Meet is our district's online meeting tool and will work in your computer browser and in mobile apps for Android and iOS. Meet will allow you to stay connected while you are home by holding video meetings with people inside or outside of your organization.

Getting Started with Google Hangouts Meet

To get started with Hangouts Meet, please follow the link to view our support page and watch the video below:

OSD Google Hangouts Meet support

You can also view Google's support page here

Email

We are familiar with Gmail, so we will save the "getting started" tutorials for later and focus, rather, on emphasizing a few key features that will make you more efficient while working at home. Please follow the links below to view some video tutorials for these key features.

To improve your daily use of Gmail while working at home, you can follow the links below to learn more about Gmail's basic features:

Create and send email

Organize your inbox

Find email

Access your calendar, notes, and tasks

Ten Tips for Working From Home

Everyone who works from home has to learn how to maintain a consistent schedule, determine where to work, and decide how to create clear boundaries between work and personal time. Here are 10 tips from leading authorities for developing work habits that will ensure an effective and enjoyable home-work environment.

Maintain Regular Hours - Having clear guidelines for when to work and when to call it a day helps many remote workers maintain work-life balance.
Overcommunicate With Your Team: It’s easy to forget that you’re all experiencing work differently because you’re not in the same physical space.
Dress for the Day - What you wear doesn’t matter, but changing outfits can help normalize the work routine.
Check Your Surroundings: Before you join a video call, check yourself and your surroundings.
Ask When You Need Help: You can’t count on someone noticing that you’re struggling with something or hearing audible sighs.
Set Ground Rules With the People in Your Space - Set ground rules with other people in your home or who share your space for when you work. If you have children who come home from school while you're still working, they need clear rules about what they can and cannot do during that time.
Keep a Dedicated Office Space - Not everyone has a separate office in their home, and keeping two machines isn't always realistic. Instead, dedicate a desk and some peripherals only for work use.
Don’t Work From Your Bed - At the very least use a table (if a desk is not available) and a chair.
Schedule Breaks - Know the district's policy on break times and take them. Give yourself adequate time during the day to walk away from the computer screen and phone. Really...get up, leave your computer, stretch, and walk around.
Drink Water Throughout the Day: Also, don’t forget to eat.

General Tips Adapted from: PCMAG (2020) 20 Tips for Working From Home & The Overflow (2020) Working From Home Tips From our Experienced Remote Employees