Flexible working arrangements, especially working from home, is the way of the future. Remote working has been shown to lead to greater productivity, higher employee satisfaction, and is more family-friendly.

But scientists are finding that there are also a number of health benefits for people who work from home.

Better Sleep

If you’re one of the around 40% of Australians who have a poor sleep, you’ll be pleased to hear that working from home will help you get a better night’s sleep. Studies have shown that people who under sleep or who have chronic insomnia are more likely to have weakened immune…

More and more people are choosing to work from home rather than an office.

Whether you work remotely for an employer, you’re a freelancer, or run a small business from your home, there are ways to tweak your routine to keep you feeling motivated and stave off procrastination.

Adapt Your Commute

Commuting is probably everyone’s least favourite part of working.

Crammed onto the train or stuck in an endless traffic jam, commuting can be the bane of your working life. But it serves a very useful purpose in separating your home life from your office life.

You can recreate that effect at home by developing a ‘commute’ routing before you start your work for the day.

Make…

If you’re a home-based professional, you might be finding yourself swamped by emails.

Your day is full of demands from reaching out to colleagues and actually getting some work done. And all the time, emails keep coming in. So how do you gain control over your inbox and build your business?

Here are some expert tips to help you get your inbox working for you.

Get Organised

If your inbox looks like a pile of laundry, you need to embrace the email folder!

Folders are easy to set up to suit your business needs and make keeping track of messages and prioritizing them so much easier. Be rigorous about moving messages to folders and resolve…

No one is born with the innate ability to make brilliant decisions all the time. Decision-making is a skill that as professionals we learn through experience — but this skill can be developed and improved to help you make the best possible choices in any given situation.

Being an effective decision-maker means you make timely, confident decisions with the least possible stress.

The next time you have an important decision to tackle, use these six steps to dramatically streamline your thinking and clarity. …

In previous articles the steps in addressing transport challenges were outlined:

The next step is getting a decision on resourcing — a systematic approach to evaluating transport proposals and presenting a business case to decision-makers.

The decision-making process involves selecting the intervention or package of options that is expected to deliver the best outcome for the investment required, and within resourcing, political and institutional context and constraints.

The preferred option has to provide value for money, which means be cost-effective, practical and acceptable.

There are three different forms of assessment — socio-economic valuation of benefits and costs; qualitative assessment of…

Analysis means identifying and describing the specific problem(s) being faced and getting an understanding of the underlying cause and effect relationships.

Avoiding Mistakes

In the article: How can you avoid transport policy mistakes? I discussed the key mistakes that transport professionals experience when solving complex challenges:

• Problem-Solution Thinking
• Forgetting key stakeholder perspectives
• Ill-defined problem statement

Rational Approach

There are numerous analysis methodologies, including rationality, incrementalism and evidence based. The rational approach involves formulating the problem which leads you to ask a number of questions:

• what is going on?
• why did the issue arise?
• who is affected by the issue?
• how much time and money…

More and more people are deciding to embrace the flexibility of working from home.

There are so many pluses, from cutting out the commute to being able to focus without the distractions of open offices.

But it can be a challenge to maintain motivation and productivity when it’s just you and the cat. So how do you organise your life to maximise the opportunities of working from home?

Here are some expert tips to help you stay on track.

Have a Dedicated Office Space

It’s essential to keep the work and the living spaces of your home separate.

Having a dedicated home office is the best solution, but you can also have a desk and computer set-up that you…

Millions of people are now taking up flexible employment options, like working from home. If you have set up in a home office, there are some ergonomic basics you should remember, to stay in top shape.

1. Set Up a Proper Home Office

Having a separate room for your home office is the best option, but you can safely work at a desk in the corner of the living room too. Just make sure you can get a proper office desk and chair that are height adjustable to suit your body type.

You can still use a regular chair and table and customise them to make them…