Expert offers advice on improving work from home set-up during stay-at-home order

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Initially, the government stay-at-home order seemed temporary, and many may have set up a laptop at the kitchen counter and did some work.

Now that the work from home situation is more permanent, it is time to rethink our work from home setups.

Dr. Joyce Russell, dean of the Villanova School of Business said initially this felt like a snow day, but now it's becoming the norm so we need new ground rules.

Russell suggests setting a schedule. "I think it's good if they can just have clear boundaries on: 'okay here's the time I am going to work,'" said Russell. "I know some people who have been good at it and say: 'I just close my laptop at a certain hour and I tell people once it hits whatever time, five, six, seven that I am done for the day.'"

Russell said then is a good time to tell family: 'okay now I am accessible to you.'

Next, Russell said to designate your own personal work space. If you are lucky enough to have a work space, "you can say that's where I do my work, and then when I leave that space, I am not going to be doing work."

Establish family ground rules. "We just need to establish some rules for what works well for the entire family," said Russell. "And that's why, like I say, it's like the new normal because now the whole family has to have a conference call to talk about this."

Finally, Russell suggests to build some fun into your day. "You have to build in fun because once again, work and home and all of that is so blurred," she says. "Where's the time for just a little bit of us whether its with your family, whether it's for yourself, I do agree with just cut yourself some slack."