Report Writing While Remote: Practical Tips to Boost Productivity
It is 3:00 in the morning. Your investigative report is due. It is the eleventh hour. You stare anxiously at the blank Word document — the cursor blinking at you — almost as if to mock your current predicament. We have all been here once or twice, even under normal circumstances. But with the ongoing change and uncertainty of the current COVID-19 crisis, the risk of facing that blank space seems more real than ever. Despite these challenges, workplace investigators must remain cognizant of their duty to conduct thorough, timely, and impartial investigations.
Today, investigators find themselves working from home due to shelter-in-place orders, setting up makeshift offices and juggling family and work obligations while focusing on staying healthy and safe. How do you remain focused and on-task with increased responsibilities and stressors impacting our lives?
In this blog post, we provide practical remote report writing tips to boost your productivity and ward off the dreaded blank screen.
Create a Personal Workspace. Give yourself the feeling of working in an office by creating a personal workspace, used solely for working. Any space will do — a spare bedroom, the kitchen counter, the attic — so long as it is your designated workspace. Avoid working from bed, given the temptation to nap. Personalize your workspace with photos, candles, and other items that will keep you motivated throughout the day. Be sure to keep any necessary work supplies nearby. By creating a personal workspace, it will be easier to focus, optimize productivity, and set boundaries.
Outline Before Writing. To remain efficient, make a plan before you write. Start broadly and organize the structure of your report. Will you discuss the allegations by party? By event? By the type of allegation? Then, think about differentiating between evidence that supports and undermines the complaints. Consider ways to organize the information coherently and digestibly. If you already wrote your background sections, piecing the remaining information together will be even easier. No matter how you outline the information, doing so at the outset will pay dividends later on by making the writing process less muddled.
Write As You Work. Stay ahead of delays by drafting certain, factual portions of your report as the investigation proceeds. Do not wait until the end. In particular, this can include the portions of the report necessary for background and context, such as descriptions of parties, summaries of relevant documents, and chronologies of relevant events. You will be surprised how much these small inserts add up by the time you turn back to finish writing the report.
Stick To A Writing Routine. Fight distractions by adhering to a steady, consistent writing plan. Remember, you do not need to write the entire report in one sitting. However, you should strive to make progress every time you write. Consider creating simple writing “to do” lists every day. For example, your list may break down your report into multiple sections and writing one to two sections each day until completion. Alternatively, you may choose to write the easier, more factual sections of the report first (such as the methodology), then move onto more complicated sections. As a reminder, the findings and analysis should be the last section you write. Regardless of how you structure your routine, sticking to it will help ensure steady progress.
Balance Life And Work. Try to maintain boundaries between your life and your work. Doing so will help you focus and maintain efficiency, which in turn, will improve your reports. For example, carve out times for breaks on a daily basis. Likewise, if you are accustomed to taking walks during your lunch breaks at the office, find a way to do these tasks at home. Also, if you’re sharing your home office with children, be sure to read our blog post with tips for investigator parents working from home. We know this time poses difficulties for all workplace investigators. Remember to be kind to yourself and take care of you and your loved ones while managing your reports.
Make Progress And Stay Positive. 2020 is shaping up to be a year like none other. Stay positive and remember this will eventually be behind us. In the meantime, embrace these trying times as a personal challenge. Be confident that your writing skills will improve and sharpen in response to the challenge.
Next time you sit down at home to write, consider applying these tips. Doing so will help boost productivity and maintain the high standards that your clients, and the law, require of you as a workplace investigator.
Lauren Becker and Matthew Rose are Associate Attorneys with Van Dermyden Maddux Law Corporation. Their practices focus on conducting workplace and Title IX campus investigations.
The foregoing is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice, nor should it be construed as such.
