For those of you that are enduring what seems to be the never-ending onslaught of snow, then you are probably becoming increasingly familiar with the “snow day.”

Perhaps you live in the suburbs and all forms of public transportation have been shut down – or, maybe schools are closed and you have no childcare back up – whatever the case may be, you find yourself in quite the snowy predicament.

Yet, even when Mother Nature comes screaming, we still need to work. What does this mean? It’s means working from home.

As some of us here at PRBC find ourselves snowed in and forced to work from home, we thought we would put all of our heads together and share our best tips for getting the job done…even on a snow day.

Prepare ahead of time.  If you’ve tuned in to check out the latest weather forecast and you see nothing but snowy days ahead, chances are you are probably in for it. Therefore, it’s important to make sure you are prepared. Bring work home that needs to get done and make sure you have remote access to your work computer and e-mail.

Get dressed.  Wake up like it’s any average workday.  Shower, get dressed, put on make up, make coffee, etc.  This will help you get in the mind set, instead of wanting to crawl back into your pajamas and nap on your lunch break.

Find a quiet place. Turn off the TV and find a comfortable place that you can get some work done. If other people are home that have a non-working snow day, don’t let them distract you.  If you and your spouse both have to work from home with a child, take turns and help each other out so that both parties have the opportunity to get tasks accomplished.

Check in with coworkers.  If there are people on your team that made it into the office that day, make sure you check in with them. Let them know you are around and what you are working on. Try to co-work with anyone else in your hood who may also be stuck, makes it a bit more pleasant without being burdensome.

Don’t forget the phone. Setup a Google voice account that forwards to your home/cell phone, so if you need to receive phone calls you don’t have to give out your real number.

Take lunch. You’re still allowed to go to the bathroom, get and eat lunch and not have your boss pester you.  If everything’s closed because of the weather (e.g. daycare), tell your boss that you may be away from your keyboard occasionally because of that.

Clock off. Just because you may not have a commute, work ends when it ends. You don’t have to keep working until the point you would normally be home.

If you have any work-from-home snow day tips, please share them below.