One thing that I have encountered while dressing to work from home is that when wearing office clothes, it makes it much more difficult to get up from my desk and go off to do non-work-related chores around the house. When I look down and see my PLH Medical branded polo it acts as a reminder that it’s time to work. Do you know how difficult it can be to start vacuuming or to do the dishes in your work clothes? I am not suggesting you wear your most expensive shirt or trousers to work at your computer, but just wearing a shirt or blouse can easily keep you seated and focus on the projects at hand, in my opinion at least!
I never dreamt I would see myself writing about the fundamental need to wear pants for work, but I am. It is very tempting to just roll out of bed and start working. For me, that is a recipe for failure. For some reason, I subconsciously associate pyjamas or lounge pants with relaxing and free time.
Typically in the office, we wear smart dress Monday to Thursday with a much-loved dress down Friday. Now that we don’t have that to look forward too, I wondered what I could do to mix up my days. Now, I am going to sound like a hypocrite but I thought I would brighten up my conference calls with themed clothing. Today, it’s my Star Wars top and bottoms. Due to the government lockdown, we no longer have the weekend to look forward too. Our environment isn’t going to change much at the end of the working week, so if my outfit can crack a few smiles on today’s conference call, it’s a bonus!
Nevertheless and Friday aside, I still feel it’s important to keep in the right mindset and wear a smart but casual outfit I would wear when working in an office. My main reason for doing so is that the clothing, aside from flipping a psychological switch to tell me that it is “time for work”, also makes it harder to do non-work-related tasks. Let us not forget all this helps build the much-needed routine that remote workers should adopt. Build your daily routine and beat those distractions.
Gemma Wilson
Marketing & Communications