We want to know how to create a comfortable and efficient home office. With many temporary work-from-home opportunities becoming permanent, it is important to ensure your environment accommodates your needs.
Using a sofa or kitchen table as a home office is not ideal. We must prioritise our physical and emotional health to ensure WFH’s long-term success.
Home-working is not impossible. Without balance and order, you may be more productive at home than at work. Creating a productive setting may boost your motivation and help you establish your home-working rhythm.
These tips might help you create a home office that stimulates you to work, enhances concentration, comfort, and creativity.
Work zones
It is hard to find personal space in busy households, tiny houses, and open-plan situations. This problem involves several aspects. Foldable screens may be moved and stored when not in use.
When working from home, properly segregate your corner desk to preserve isolation. A visual divide can help you emotionally and physically disconnect from work.
Set rules with housemates.
If you live with a partner, children, or other housemates, set explicit restrictions on your workplace and work hours as soon as feasible. Explain your break schedule and ask them not to disturb you.
Setting limits can be difficult, especially with small children, but it can boost productivity and work/life balance.
Take work breaks.
Short pauses are vital for enhancing productivity because they allow us to refresh and recover, then return with newfound energy and perspective. In a conventional workplace, coworker interactions prompt breaks, but you must be more mindful in a home office.
Time or work completion should determine breaks. Short breaks throughout the day can help you retain your energy and productivity.
Tidy up
Without office cleaning services, many home workers accumulate clutter. This makes home workplaces chaotic and disorganised. If you can not find an important document, your productivity may suffer. Ensure your workplace has enough well-organized storage to prevent clutter and save time.
Make sure you are comfortable.
Getting caught up in a desk’s appearance and overlooking ergonomics is easy. Incorrectly sized workstations may limit productivity and create aches and pains that increase over time.
Follow these ergonomic sitting desk principles for optimum productivity and comfort:
- If you are taller than normal, your workstation should be higher.
- When sitting at a desk, keep your elbows at 90 degrees and your hands flat.
- A keyboard tray might help you type with flat wrists.
- Make sure you can stand up, sit comfortably, and reach all desk portions without twisting or straining.
Lighting
Bookcases, closets, and high-backed chairs or couches should not obstruct windows to let in natural light. This boosts mental vitality and productivity.
Even a few hours a day near a window will maximise natural light. Natural light boosts worker happiness and productivity, so why would you not want it when working from home?
Natural light makes you more attentive throughout the day, and more rested at night. Full spectrum light bulbs can replicate daylight without windows or natural light. Reflective surfaces may bounce light across a room.