Working from home is one of the biggest workplace trends of 2021. In fact, according to Buffer’s 2021 State of Remote Work report, at least 97.6% of people would like to work remotely at least for some time during their career.
However, while there are lots of important benefits that come with working from home, there are also issues that need to be addressed. Fortunately, these problems can, for the most part, be easily fixed with the right app. Today, we are looking into work-from-home productivity apps. These handy tools can help you stay efficient and focused — even if your home is a gallery of distractions.
Staying Focused
Working from home can be remarkably convenient. You get to avoid the daily commute, have the freedom to plan your day, and organize your workspace any way you want to. With that, it comes with complications of its own — and getting distracted is a big one. After all, it can be challenging to teach yourself to use social media less when there isn’t a supervisor hovering over you. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you stay focused.
Dewo is an app that can deal with digital distractions. It uses artificial intelligence to determine when you are “in the zone” and activates the “do not disturb” mode on chat apps to limit distractions. The app can also take meeting coordination off your hands and help out with other administrative tasks.
Another example is Inbox When Ready, a mail-focused tool. Most office workers check their email almost every 30 minutes. According to a study conducted by Loughborough University, it takes an average of 64 seconds for people to get back to the task they were working on before the interruption. Inbox When Ready is a Chrome extension that comes with an inbox lockout feature. It lets you check new mail in bulk instead of getting distracted frequently.
Organizing Workspace
They say that a messy desk is a sign of creativity. However, a messy digital desk can actually cause quite a bit of trouble. Luckily, there is an app for that.
MindNode lets you visualize your thoughts and create a mind map to make a better sense of things. You can color-code your thoughts, style them, add context — all on a fun, intuitive interface.
Magnet is another tool that can help keep your digital workspace organized. The app lets you lock all the windows you are working with on the side of your screen — wherever you drag them. It eliminates app switching and helps you save lots of time by keeping everything right where you want it.
Tracking Time
Keeping track of time is one of the essentials of working from home. Plus, it’s something that needs to be done on both sides: the employer and the employee. Workers need to be aware of how much time they are spending on assignments. Employers, on the other hand, need to make sure that company time is being used efficiently.
Pomodoro Tracker is a great tool for individuals who find it difficult to stay focused on one task. It is based on the Pomodoro technique — a way of working on projects in 25-minute intervals. You set a timer for 25 minutes that you then spend working on a task. Once the time is up, you get a five-minute break. This may sound simplistic. However, you will be surprised about how much more you can get done if you take small breaks after minutes of focused work.
While you can often evaluate your own work performance, how do you show productivity when working from home to your employer? Well, Traqq is an app you can use for online monitoring. It helps employers efficiently manage remote teams, analyze productivity, and improve performance. Traqq does so by taking background screenshots and video recordings of screen activity, monitoring web use, logging individual performance levels, and more. This way, companies get to identify their best-performing teams and manage productivity lapses if such are discovered.
Automating Tasks
Some tasks need your focus and undivided attention. Others can be automated and taken off your hands. This is where apps like Otter come in. Otter can generate smart notes by collecting audio, images and text. The Ambient Voice Intelligence feature can turn what you say into shareable text. You can also use the app to search for documents and files by speaking specific phrases.
Another example is Boomerang, which can help you manage emails better. It removes emails from your inbox that don’t need your immediate attention — or are not relevant to what you are working on at the time. The deleted emails will then “boomerang” back into your inbox at a later time. You can also use the app to improve your email writing, schedule correspondence, and more.
So, which app is best for work from home? This, naturally, depends on the specifics of what you do and who you work for. Hopefully, you’ve been able to find some interesting options in our list above. However, we do encourage you to explore more and experiment with different work-from-home tools until you build up your ideal remote work productivity tool kit.