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At the moment, more and more of us are finding ourselves working from home. The spread of coronavirus has meant that many of us can no longer head to the office and are having to work remotely in order to comply with social distancing rules and regulations. Now, this can be great. You don’t have to commute. You can work in more comfortable clothes. You can sleep in a little later. But you do still need to do your utmost to make sure you’re still working in a productive and effective manner. A key to achieving this is to focus on your workspace. It needs to be comfortable and a space where you can actually concentrate. When you work from home, it can be tempting to work from bed or the sofa. But you’ll find you complete much better work if you create yourself some sort of home office. If you have a spare room, this could work perfectly. If not, you need to scope out another space and repurpose it for the time being. Who knows, you could find that you do well with remote working and enjoy it and that you either continue to work in this way or find a new job that allows you to work from home, even when restrictions are lifted. The following steps should help you to create the perfect home office to work from in a simple and straightforward manner!
Natural Light
A number of studies have been carried out into the effects of natural light on our bodies and our productivity. The results are generally conclusive – we need natural light to be healthy, happy and reach maximum productivity. When it comes down to it, natural light helps to regulate our circadian rhythms. It helps us to understand when we should be awake and when we should be asleep. When we begin to mess with our circadian rhythms, we can feel sleepy during the day and wide awake during the night. In regards to your home office, it’s important to make sure you have as much natural light in the space as possible. This will wake your body up, keep you alert and get you in the spirit to work hard. Now, if you only have a small window in the room you’re using, there are ways to maximize the light in your workspace. The smallest change you can probably make is to make sure none of the window is blocked (roll up blinds, pull back curtains and don’t leave items on the window ledge). You may also want to place mirrors strategically to reflect light around the room during the day. If you’re willing to invest more, you may want to consider renovations, such as having larger windows fitted or (if possible) a skylight fitted. While we’re focusing on windows, you should also consider window tints when bringing plenty of light into the room. These will help to prevent fade on your furnishings without blocking the light completely out – they don’t need to be dark or reflective to work. A reliable company like Solar Concepts will be able to help complete this work for you!
A Desk
With many of us working from laptops, it is technically possible to work without a desk. But a desk will make things a lot better for you. You can sit up and really type away. Laptop use on the lap is generally only ideal for browsing and casual use. Now, desks don’t have to be too expensive. Ideally, you should invest in an ergonomically designed desk. But until you can manage to get them, any stable and supportive desk should do. Invest in a good chair with a good backrest. You don’t want to experience strains or tensions unnecessarily – especially if you’re going to be sitting at your desk for long periods of time each day. Having plenty of surface top space is desirable too. Then you can keep your laptop in front of you, as well as having space for accessories like keyboards and mice, notepads, pen pots and anything else you might need in easy reach.
Storage
It’s also a good idea to have some sort of storage in your workspace. Sure, you will generally keep most of your files saved in a digital format. But a nice set of drawers or a simple filing cabinet can give you a space where you can keep any printed files, articles, journals or anything else that you might need for your work. This also prevents your work belongings from spilling out into your wider home. This will help to separate your home life and your work life, reduce clutter, and generally create a better work-life balance in your property.
Printers and Scanners
Every office will have a printer and scanner. This is because they are essentials for most jobs. Again, while we tend to keep most files digital (which is also better for the sake of the environment), you will find yourself with situations where you may need to print or scan. Perhaps you’ll need to print or scan contracts and other signed documents. Whatever you may use a printer or scanner for in your role, it’s good to have one at home. This saves you time and effort in going out to try to find a public computer and printer to use, or having to pay professional printing services to print or scan documents that you could easily complete at home. Look at the different options on the market. Printer quality and capacity varies drastically from one model to another. You don’t want to overspend on something that is much more than you’ll ever realistically need, but you also don’t want to find yourself with something too low quality. Reading reviews and taking recommendations can help to make sure you get the best possible to suit your needs and preferences.
Sure, it may seem a little odd working from home at first. But hopefully, the above advice will help you to create the best home office for your needs and preferences. The steps are simple to implement, and while you may have to invest, you’ll really benefit from these changes.
