{"id":36391,"date":"2014-02-04T13:07:55","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T13:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loopup.com\/resource-center\/\/london-tube-strikes-halt-productivity\/"},"modified":"2019-03-05T17:02:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T17:02:27","slug":"london-tube-strikes-halt-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loopup.com\/us\/resource-center\/blog\/london-tube-strikes-halt-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Let London Tube Strikes Halt Your Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your office is based in London (or you work with any London teams), you will no doubt be affected by the two upcoming 48-hour tube strikes, one of which starts this evening (Tuesday 4 February).  Many will choose to opt out of the chaos and work from home. But how can you stay productive in the face of this obstacle?<\/p>\n

The Strikes at a Glance<\/h2>\n

If the strikes go ahead as planned, tube services will be affected from:<\/p>\n

–          Around 21:30 on Tuesday 4 February until the morning of Friday 7 February
\n–          Around 21:30 on Tuesday 11 February until the morning of Friday 14 February<\/p>\n

Although selected stations will still be open and some trains will be running, it is likely to be extremely busy on all modes of public transport during the strike action, and TfL is urging people to cycle or walk where possible.  So, expect people to be late in to the office, or opting to work from home.  More information can be found on TfL\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Staying Productive Away from the Office<\/h2>\n

Being productive remotely requires different considerations and tools from in-office productivity; this is something we explored in part in our post on managing remote teams<\/a>.  For the impact of the London tube strikes to be minimal, you \u2013 and your colleagues – need the ability, tools and resources to work flexibly.  Here are some strategies to stay productive when remote working is needed.<\/p>\n

A Home Office Set Up<\/h2>\n

One of the major difficulties of working at home is the number of distractions that abound, so a sensible approach is to set a defined office space, which you see as the same as your brick-and-mortar office, and within which you (try to!) act as though your boss is just around the corner.  Whether this is a specific room in your house or just a chair at your kitchen table, it should be equipped with all the essentials at hand – your computer, your company\u2019s VPN details, a landline phone if needed and so on – and away from major distractions.  It\u2019s also best to set \u2013 and stick to \u2013 your typical working hours so that you don\u2019t fall into a procrastination trap where you allow your work to expand to fill 24 hours rather than your normal schedule.<\/p>\n

The Right Tools<\/h2>\n

With your office set up in place, you will also need the right tools to support collaboration. Make sure you have access to your company\u2019s version of these tools:<\/p>\n