Work from home and remote resources

Whether because of personal or health needs, or as the result of shifting expectations and opportunities in workplace cultures, you may find yourself working remotely or in hybrid environments. Below you will find a series of tips and associated resources that the University has gathered to help students navigate working from home effectively.

Create or continue your routines

During the time you are working from home, try using these 5 tips for creating a daily routine. A well-structured routine is crucial to maintaining productivity at home.

Parenting

For graduate student parents, we know many childcare routines and activities are impacted during this time. Consider some tips for parents working from home, and check out these online resources:

The Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) at Home: includes games, videos and other materials to help kids with their math and computer science studies
CBC Curio: Online streaming platform, complimentary access through the University of Waterloo, with collections of educational videos.
Khan Academy: A non-profit providing free education through fun lessons, like “Imagineering in a Box."
Scholastic Learn at Home: Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing.

Set up an ergonomic workspace

Even if you are working at your kitchen table, there are strategies you can implement to create a more ergonomic set up. Review the ergonomics information provided by Safety Office, including an Office Ergonomics workshop on LEARN.

Stay connected

There are lots of free online tools available to help you stay connected while working from home. Try out a new tool for your next meeting:

Skype
Zoom

Stay active

Whether you are at your desk or kitchen table, sneak in some (free!) yoga:

Try a free online desk yoga session.

Even if you don't have fitness equipment at home, there are options to stay active:

Try a 20 minute full body workout - no equipment required!
Review the Physical Activity at Home resource page from Warrior Recreation.

Continue moving and stretching:

Try some desk stretches that you can do quickly and easily wherever you're working.

Take time to focus on your mental health

You may be avoiding a stressful commute when working from home, but remote work can come with challenges of its own. There are many free, online resources to help:

Check out some tips for maintaining your mental health while you adapt to working from home.
Try using a free meditation app like Headspace or Insight Timer.
Try out a Warrior Brain Break from Waterloo Athletics.

Take breaks

Elise Vist, Multimodal and Public Scholarship Program Developer at the Writing and Communication Centre, offered a tip for grad students: "the best academic writers write consistently rather than a lot. 15, 30, 60, 120 minutes a day - whatever you can do -- is better than 8 hours one day and a week of exhaustion!"

Try out these options to take a break and maintain motivation while working remotely:

Visit a virtual museum or attend a virtual concert. While you may not be able to head out to a museum or concert, there are many museums that provide virtual visits and several concert or opera performances available for you to view or listen to online.
Take a virtual hike through a National Park on Google Earth.
Listen to a new podcast. Try starting with the 20 best podcasts of 2021.

Continue your career development

There are many ways to engage in career development even when working from home and not actively present in an office space.

Read about At-Home Networking Strategies, with concrete actions you can take.
Consider ways that you can still include cancelled conference presentations on your CV.
Take advantage of free, online resources, like free how-to seminars and career conversations from Beyond the Professoriate
Review the campus services for academic and professional development services that operate virtually, including one-on-one appointments with career advisors and coaching sessions with Velocity coaches!