By Tom Edwards

On a scale of 1-10, how would you say you’ve dealt with the shift to working from home? How many Deliveroo lunches have you treated yourself to? How many times have you had to ask your flatmate to keep quiet while you have a meeting? Have you grabbed that glass of wine at 5 o’clock on a friday whilst you finish off your emails? This is how to adapt to the shift in working from home.

With working from home carrying many challenges – not to mention working from home for over a year – it’s important to remind yourself of the best ways to maintain a positive working environment. Whether you’ve decked out your flat with a new desk or you’ve upped your snack game to the nth degree, we could all benefit from switching up the ways in which we work.

The last year has intrinsically taught us that adopting new ways of working is necessary – whether we want to or not! With companies like BP announcing that they’re continuing remote working in 2021, as well as Facebook and advertising firm WPP, it certainly brings up the question: ‘How can we best adopt work habits conducive to a good and productive remote working environment?’. The ONS reported that 46.6% of Brits worked from home in April 2020. Now that’s a lot of people cooped up at home, which will naturally bring a few challenges along the way. 

The biggest precursor for adopting new ways of working is often both learning new skills and refining those ones you already have. Whether you do this through collaborative activities with your peers or you work solo on building upon what you already have. The Industrial Strategy Council stated in its 2020 report that most UK companies are reporting skills shortages and 40% of their workforce having skills significantly mismatched with their jobs. How does one fix this deficit? By pushing the boat out and trying something new, of course! An activity that both stimulates your employees mentally as well as refining their skills is undoubtedly the way forward.

Adapting to any changes is just as important as making the call to adopt them. There’s no shame in reassessing the way we work and switching things up in order to improve our end results. Not only is it important to recognise that change is constant, it’s important to take time reflecting on your own goals and what you’re currently producing in your role. 

What challenges do you face? How have you adapted to working from home since 2020? What changes have you made in your way of working in order to combat these challenges? 

Your adaptations may be as simple as separating your work and leisure space in your house or it may be as complex as working with your boss to divide up your day into manageable chunks in order to keep engaged out of the office.

Now, the biggest ‘A’ of them all, and our favourite: Adventure! Any job needs a little bit of adventure and – especially right now – a distraction. 

Despite all of the challenges that we have faced, and the prevention of getting out and experiencing physical adventure, here at Escape Hunt we’ve gone digital! By providing a gateway into another world from the comfort of your home working environment, you can take an hour (or more) to get away from your desk and find new ways of working with your peers. Companies like Aviva, Adecco, HSBC, Capita and Lloyds are leading the way in hybrid working environments, with Lloyd’s predicting their office spaces will shrink by 20%.

Whether you’re disarming a bomb to save your city or trying to join the world’s most renowned spy agency, our games certainly bring the adventure aspect to your work life. In particular, our brand-new corporate game – Five Eyes – puts your critical thinking, time management and emotional intelligence to the test. These three skills will be instrumental in aiding your ability to both adopt and adapt to changes in the workplace (as well as provide you some adventure!)

To find out more about how we can help your employees build upon their skills – as well as have a good time – get in touch with us today here.