5 essential tips for moving when you WFH

New expert  insight from Yopa, the full-service estate agents, reveals how people who work from home should best approach their home moving process to avoid disrupting their workflow as much as possible, from being proactive about WiFi to being practical about packing.

Working from home has become a normal part of post-pandemic everyday life and a recent survey by the Global Payroll Association found that just 29% of people now work from the office full-time.

The same research also found that we believe we're more productive working from home, but if there's one thing that is likely to dent this productivity, it's moving house. Yopa has compiled a few key things to consider if you're both working from home and planning on moving home.

 

Avoid WiFi frustrations

For such a hi-tech invention, WiFi takes a surprisingly long time to set up when moving to a new home, and therefore requires precision planning. To avoid spending days without internet access, you need to ensure a router is delivered to the new property and that, if required, an engineer is booked to hook it all up ahead of your move-in date.

Another key thing to consider is that internet providers will often switch off the service to your current home up to two days before the end date you provide them. This can be incredibly frustrating during what is already a very stressful time and so you might want to consider adding a few extra days to the end date provided to ensure you aren't cut off early.

 

Prepare an internet safety net

When working from home, the internet is absolutely essential, so even if you're well prepared in setting up the WiFi, it's worth having a backup plan should anything unexpected occur.

For example, when there's no WiFi available, you can hotspot your phone's 4G or 5G connection to power the internet on your laptop. So before you move, contact your phone provider and make sure you've got a good data plan, even if it's temporary, to allow you to hotspot for a couple of days without incurring a huge data charge.

Failing that, have a secondary location in mind, next to both your old and new home, such as a cafe where free WiFi is available. Whilst not ideal, the cost of a few coffees can be easier to stomach than a bigger phone bill, or the failure to stay on top of your work.

 

Pack your work stuff smartly

You need to make sure your work essentials - laptop, monitor, desk, chair, and so on - are the last things on and the first things off the removal van, all packed in clearly-marked boxes

When you get to your new home, it's good to have an agreed-upon room that you will be able to work in straight away without being too distracted by the unpacking process.

 

Consider taking time off

While it's not always convenient, it might be worth taking time off work for your move, or at least ensuring your commitments are kept to a minimum. Moving day is always more stressful than you think it's going to be, and always takes longer than you ever expected. A couple of days off can make a huge difference,

If it's not possible to take time off, try not to book any important meetings because the last thing you need is to have removal men clattering around in the background while you're trying to impress a new client or your boss on a video call.

 

Alert your colleagues

While you can do everything in your power to ensure that moving home doesn't interfere with your work, there is still a good chance that it will. But if you've made sure that your colleagues and clients are aware of what's going on, they'll know that if, for example, you don't respond to messages for a while, nothing is wrong and that you'll get back to them as soon as possible.

 

CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, commented:

"Moving home is incredibly stressful, and working from home can often add to this stress as you attempt to juggle your everyday work commitments with a momentous life event.

But an awful lot of it can be made easier with some forward planning and simple risk management and ensuring you have that all important WiFi connection is certainly a good place to start.

It's always going to be easiest to take a few days away from work to get the move completed, but if you can't, being upfront with your colleagues and clients will help, especially as they've probably tackled the dreaded home move themselves."