Top 5 Work From Home Tips for Your Home Office
Top 5 Work From Home Tips for Your Home Office
Top 5 Work From Home Tips for Your Home Office
We work at the office, remotely when we travel, and of course, at home. But you’re probably spending a lot more time working from home as a result of COVID-19. You’re probably wondering if working from home is just a temporary solution for office closures for the coronavirus or if there are any long-term implications to this new shift in behavioral civility to prevent future pandemics. Time to rethink your home office space and adapt.
Here are 5 tips to help create a comfortable, productive space that will ease your transition to working at home and may even urge you to want to STAY at home.
1. Comfortable Chair
Let’s start with the basics. A comfortable ergonomic chair is a must-have. You’ve probably tried sitting on the bed with your laptop. How long before your feet fall asleep. Argh! Let’s try somewhere else. The couch – not much better. Very inhibiting in terms of functionality with a laptop on your lap and using your couch cushion as a mouse pad. It’s time to get serious about putting in long hours and not just answering a couple emails for a few minutes at a time. You’ll need a proper work station and a comfortable chair to get focused and put in a full day’s work. You’ll want to consider the long term effects of comfort and posture. Investing in a good office chair will pay for itself in many ways – by keeping the chiropractor away and by keeping you focused.
2. Functional Desk
Your desk should provide a clean work surface that has ample room for your computer, phone, and writing pads. You’ll also need somewhere to put your stuff! Choose a storage drawer organizer to keep essentials like pens, paper clips, and other loose articles. On average, work desks have a sitting height of 29”, but you may have to adjust accordingly based on your height to avoid hunching forward, slouching, or reclining. You’ll want to maintain good posture for extended use. You may want to look at adjustable height desks to give you some mobility with a standing height desk as an option. A monitor riser or platform is also helpful to put your screen at eye level.
If you don’t already have a desk that you can use, you can get a table top and add some fashionable Table Legs. Most desktops are about 1-1/2” thick, and range from 48” – 60” long by about 30” deep. These are just general guidelines for a personal work space that will provide ample room and comfort for basic work needs. The rest is up to you! Color, wood species, density, you will find a lot of options to make your space more personal.
If you’re tight on space and don’t have room for a traditional work desk, you can even mount a pair of work surface support brackets on the wall into studs and create a private work space. This is an easy and inexpensive way to substitute for a full desk setup and still effectively create the same result. See Mockett’s SWS2 shelf brackets for example.
3. Power Grommets & Wire Management
Turn your ordinary desk into a professional work station with simple Power Grommet additions that bring convenient power access to the surface level so you can plug in laptops, charge cell phones, and more. Choose from power docks that are installed directly into the desk or that mount to the edge of the desk. These gadgets will prevent unnecessary cables from being draped across the desktop for unused devices or having to crawl under the desk to plug into a wall outlet. Simply plug in the devices you need when you need them.
Your power connections are now terminated at the surface level and your desktop is nice and clean, but what about underneath? You might have a new set of problems with loose cables drooping or hanging. Wire Managers will gang cables together and move them where they need to go without any clutter. Wire stays and wiremold raceways channel cables behind the desk, under the desk, or down a table leg. A clean work desk will do wonders in helping maintain focus and optimize efficiency. It’s easier than it looks too!
4. Light
Find a spot in your house that provides ample natural lighting. Proper lighting will help you remain calm and focused. If you’re lucky, you may even get to enjoy the view too and take on a whole new appreciation for your property! Artificial lighting helps, but having at least some natural light will have a dramatic effect on overall mood and physical well-being for long stretches. Low light may cause eye strain and headaches. Also consider the effects of too much light at night – use your built-in blue light filters and night modes on phones and computers to prevent squinting to block out excess light.
Credit: The Lighting Judge
5. Music
Last but not least, try to make your space more fun and turn up the music! After all, it’s your house. Don’t feel like a prisoner in your own home. Having a good set of headphones will help put your mind at ease, or if nobody else is around, hook up to a Bluetooth speaker and let your favorite playlist play out loud. Whether you like ambient sounds to keep you calm and focused or high energy rock or electronic music to keep you energized, let the soundtrack of your life power your work day.
Investing in these 5 areas will help you fall in love with your home office. Once you get comfortable, you may never want to go back to the office! Share your favorite tips and home office must-haves with us.
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