Professionalism transcends the office setting and is believed to manifest in your character traits no matter where you are. The general assumption is that being away from the office setting and colleagues may interfere with an individual’s sense of professionalism. One reason for this is the inability to separate business from personal life. This may be true to some extent, and fortunately, there are ways to prevent it, starting with knowing what not to do. If you’re a part of the work-from-home moms who spend an average of 4.5 hours daily, below are a few unprofessional habits to avoid.
Poor Phone Etiquette
Poor phone etiquette speaks volumes about you and the business you run from home. First, it immediately puts off the person on the other end of the line. Whichever way you look at it, poor phone etiquette is not appealing. As a work-from-home mom, you may juggle business and child care simultaneously. Especially with toddlers involved, you may not be too fortunate to have a quiet moment to have a professional phone discussion. If this is your scenario, you may want to apologize firsthand to the other person. It would be best to let them understand that you work from home and have kids under your care at that moment.
Some people may show empathy, while others will not. The most important thing, however, is to let the other person be aware. Furthermore, you may want to avoid talking on the phone while eating at your desk. The best thing is to avoid making calls until you’re done with your meal. What if a call comes through in the middle of your meal? In that case, phone etiquette experts say, the professional thing is to swallow before answering the call.
Being Unresponsive on Your Digital Platforms
Being a professional work-from-home mom involves being communicative and available to clients and customers. Therefore, unresponsiveness is often interpreted as being uncaring about your clients and customers. This occurs when you leave people hanging for longer than necessary. You are responsible for attending to your audience on digital platforms like social media and your business website.
Indeed, answering every email that comes through when it is delivered is impossible. Additionally, you may not be in a position to respond to every question or comment on your social media platforms. However, it is recommended to give responses within 24-48hrs. If you must respond later, it would be best to apologize in your first line. Another consideration is to opt for an affordable web design with an embedded bot. They will provide automated responses and help you avoid being tagged as unresponsive.
A Constant Negative Outlook on Work
All days are not equal. There may be times when work carries on smoothly and other times when everything seems to go downhill. These are to be expected. What you should not do is have a negative outlook to work at all times. Often, people assume that working from home is all breezy, but in reality, it is not.
It can be as stressful as working outside the home. When that happens, it would be unprofessional to approach work with a negative outlook. This can make your customers and clients begin to look for another person to transact business with.
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