5 Tips for Reducing Distractions While Transitioning to Hybrid Work These strategies can help you stay focused and productive whether you're working from the office or anywhere else.

Small businesses all over the U.S. are attempting to strike a balance between being fully remote and requiring everyone to return to the office full time. In a recent survey of small- and medium-size businesses, 67 percent said they don't anticipate returning to the office five days a week anytime in the foreseeable future. The solution: A hybrid model allows employees split time between working at the office and from home, or from anywhere.

While many employees say working from home can benefit their productivity, some grapple with how to stay focused and on deadline while bouncing between home and the office. Research indicates that hybrid employees are 2.54 times more likely to experience digital distractions than office-based workers. Managing the influx of video calls and other work-related communications and navigating the different apps between work and home can take some getting used to. Maintaining focus in your work environments requires the right mindset and the right tools.

This is why Citrix created an integrated suite of digital tools that enables employees and IT professionals to zero in on their respective core competencies. Businesses of any size can improve productivity and modernize IT with Citrix technology. Regardless of a worker's location, the integrated solutions in Citrix Workspace enable both IT and the employees they serve to streamline workflows and alleviate manual and unnecessary tasks. They can concentrate on the core competencies for which they were hired in the first place.

Here are five tips from Citrix for how small businesses and their employees can reduce distractions while transitioning to a hybrid work environment.

1. Adopt routines that maximize productivity.

Establishing routines can help direct work and alleviate distraction. For instance, a daily routine that includes set times for working on different types of tasks, such as checking email, meetings, etc., can help you stay focused. You might decide to check email only twice a day, at the same two times each day, and reserve management tasks such as approving PTO to one time daily if needed, say, in the morning.

"You just need the discipline to set the appropriate boundaries and stick to them," says Kathy Holoman, a Senior Product Marketing Manager and a vertical marketing expert at Citrix. Holoman recommends that managers should notify team members so that they are aware of your new routine and expectations are in place.

The right tools can help maximize productivity, too. A Citrix Digital Workspace, for example, serves as a central hub for all your employees' apps and offers automation of many formerly manual tasks. Less time spent switching between apps means greater concentration and better productivity.

2. Have a dedicated space for working remotely.

Whether it's a dedicated home office or simply a quiet nook with a table and chair, make sure each person on your staff has a dedicated space that is as free from distractions as possible. When working from home, make sure family members or housemates know that your workspace is just that—for work and nothing else.

"Mentally, having a set location enables a worker to feel as if he or she is actually "going to work' and enables the worker to have a psychological beginning and end to the workday when the space is entered and vacated," says Matthew Crawford, Director of Workspace Product Marketing at Citrix.

3. Familiarize yourself with communication and collaboration tools.

The barrage of chats, calls, video conferences, e-mail and more can be a lot for hybrid and remote workers to get accustomed to. The best way to start managing daily communication and collaboration with colleagues and clients is to understand how the different apps work, when to use them, and why. The more familiar you become with these tools, the less distracting they will be.

Citrix Workspace takes it a step further, with an intelligent feed that can push IT notifications or HR training to employees that people can take action on immediately - with the click of a button. This speeds up onboarding, education, and the time it takes to become familiar with company tools.

4. Practice good security habits as part of your workday.

If you think your business is too small and you don't need to worry about cybercriminals, think again. Nearly half of cyberattacks target small businesses.

When your devices, company data, and customer information are vulnerable or compromised, it causes endless headaches and distractions—for individual employees, IT departments, and even entire teams. It creates financial, business stability, and reputation concerns for small businesses as well.

Having good security consciousness and behavior is just as important at home as it is at the office. Don't share work passwords with anyone and don't let anyone else (even family members) use your work devices. "Such an action could cause an inadvertent security breach that could open up the entire company network to cyber threats," Crawford warns.

With a Citrix digital workspace, many security measures are built in, including policies and safeguards that are transparent to all users. This allows unintrusive secure access to applications across networks. And because sensitive company information lives in the data center rather than on the devices themselves, it stays safe even if an employee's laptop or mobile device is lost or stolen.

5. Know your work style and play to your strengths.

Small businesses exceed expectations when their employees work up to their potential. Do you work best in a group? As part of a virtual collaboration team? Are you energized by sporadic bursts of contact with workers? Is your job role and your work style best done as a solo sport?

To reduce distractions, choose the work model that allows you to be most productive.

"Having this kind of self-knowledge helps you choose how you best work – whether in an organized office setting or in a remote environment," Holoman says.

Click here to find out how a Citrix Workspace can help your team reduce distractions and maximize productivity securely.