Work from Home Tips from the PaperStreet Team (2025 Update)

A brightly glowing laptop emits white light and lines on a blue background, symbolizing digital connectivity or information flow, much like tuning your website for modern page speed metrics.

The Coronavirus transformed a large majority of America’s workforce into telecommuters. The shift created a host of new issues for employees in all fields of work. Pets and children crashed Zoom conferences. Spouses had to learn how to share offices. Production slowed down and budgets were tightened. The new work environment led to stress-filled conflicts nationwide — with a bit of humor mixed in, as well.  

PaperStreet, like most other companies, went remote during the pandemic, but we chose to stay remote. We have never questioned our decision to stay a WFH office and our productivity has only increased.

Like working in an office, remote work does have some challenges, but we feel it’s worth the effort. Read on to learn what we suggest to get through the challenges of the WFH culture and also some bits of humor as these tips may strike some familiar cords. 

The Top Products or Resources You Need to Make Telecommuting More Bearable: 

  • A standing desk to keep your workspace clean and as clutter-free as possible
  • The Calm app for white noise – Allison, Legal Content Director
  • Invest in a comfortable pair of headphones. 
  • Celsius energy drinks. Wish I were kidding. – Elyssa, Creative Director
  • For fun learning for the kids: https://franklloydwright.org/virtualclassroom/ Allan, Quality Assurance 
  • Another option for communication with friends and family – Chris, Lead Support Developer
  • Dual monitors are a must have for your at home workspace. Once you try it out you will never be able to work on one screen again. I strongly believe it helps you be more productive. Also, make sure you have a good desk and chair that is ergonomic. — David, SEO Manager

Our Top 5 Productivity Tips

home officeOutdoor setup with two laptops on a wooden picnic table, a pair of headphones, a colorful mouse pad, and a drink. The table is near a lake surrounded by trees.A small home office with a glass desk, computer, keyboard, mouse, pink chairs, a bookshelf with decorative items, a window with sheer curtains, and wall art.

  1. Stand up and walk around once per hour. Stretch and do breathing exercises as needed. – Andrew, Vice President/Web Director
  2. You can separate work from home on Google Chrome with different accounts. Sync history, bookmarks, passwords etc and switch between them easily. – Sergio, Jr. Developer
  3. Using your lunch break to exercise and get fresh air helps make your afternoon more productive. 
  4. Designate an area of your home to be your “office”, and explain to family members and roommates that you are on the clock when in that area. Once you finish with work, leave your office for the day so that it is exclusively a work area. 
  5. Instacart rocks for same-day delivery at Publix. So does Shipt with Target (same-day). Saves time and helps you focus on other priorities, like drinking the wine you ordered. – Pete, Founder and General Guru of PaperStreet

catA tabby cat lies stretched out on a wooden floor in the sunlight beneath a shelf with various electronic devices.A dog lying on a bed with a cactus-patterned duvet wears a pair of black headphones around its head.

The Highs and Lows of Working from Home 

  • A positive about working from home is being able to take a quick nap on the couch during your lunch break, even if that nap is only 30 seconds because your toddler wants you – Ashley, SEO Link Building Associate
  • When my apartment building’s (VERY loud) fire alarm went off mid-morning … – Chelsea, SEO and Social Media Associate
  • A lack of diaper availability as a result of COVID-19 forced me to jump-start potty training my toddler. It was relatively painless! – Nancy, Client Success Manager
  • Waiting three minutes for Google Ads to load on a client call while all of your neighbors are hogging the internet to watch Tiger King. 
  • All decor decisions made for my office aren’t for me, they are so my dog will want to hang out with me. 
  • You never realize just how much time your neighbors spend (loudly) mowing the lawn until you have to work from home. 
  • Shortening your work commute from 45 minutes to 45 seconds. – Drew, PPC Manager
  • I learned my husband is the guy that says “let’s circle back” in a meeting. – Allison, Legal Content Director

A man in a dark t-shirt and jeans is doing a pull-up using a pull-up bar installed in a doorway. He is smiling and the room appears to be a home setting.

PaperStreet’s Secrets to Maintaining a Strong Team While Working Remote

The strong team spirit here at PaperStreet is one of the best parts of working here for many of our team members. Here are some of our practices that we encourage you to consider as options for staying remote yet fostering a strong work environment.

  1. Have weekly meetings to discuss the overall status of your firm or business. If there aren’t major items for discussion, ask the team to share anything “cool” or worthwhile to their colleagues. At PaperStreet, we keep our team meeting to 30 minutes or less on Tuesdays.
  2. Pencil in time for fun. After our weekly meeting, most of our team stays on for an additional 15 minute trivia game. Though you can certainly try other games, the pauses in the questions allow our team to joke around with each other and comment on popular culture.
  3. Don’t just use Slack for “shop talk.”  Slack is a wonderful communication tool regarding our work-related matters, but we also make sure to have channels for people to chat. We have channels dedicated to TV, recipes, finance, parenting and more.
  4. Schedule a team trip. A definitive highlight of the year for PaperStreet is our annual trip. Though we use some of that time to work collectively on company ideas for improvements and growth, we also pencil in plenty of fun. From relaxing by the pool, to going to theme parks, to simply enjoying a good meal, our team makes full use of our social time together.
  5. Remember to sing your colleague’s praises and celebrate their birthdays. It’s important to not take your team for granted when you work remote. Avoid team members feeling anonymous or disconnected from each other by taking the time to celebrate them. At PaperStreet, we use our weekly meetings to offer a “thank you” to any team member who went above and beyond to help a fellow team member. Further, use those “thank you’s” as entries to our monthly raffle. Additionally, we have fun sending each other creative messages via a Kudoboard when it’s someone’s birthday or they’re celebrating a milestone such as a wedding, the birth of a child, etc.

 

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