The Ideal Home Office
With more people having to work from home with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, home offices are becoming a part of our ‘new normal’. With a change in any lifestyle, home office working may feel very different for you, however there are some easy ways to ensure the change is smooth, allowing you to feel comfortable and most productive in your new home office!
The difference between a home and commercial office
Working from a home office in contrast to a commercial office can provide a new feeling of comfort and casualty, amazing for our stress levels! However too much comfort can cause a decrease in productivity and work ethic. The importance of creating a professional working environment in your home office is valuable, this begins with separating your home life habits from your office, something that can be done by the design of your office alone. As every business has different requirements, consideration of what your office work will consist of is needed;
Will I be participating in Zoom/Skype/Team meetings?
Shall customers be visiting my home space?
Which equipment shall I need to purchase?
Do I need to take extra organisation measures?
How much time will I be spending in here a day?
Where should my home office be set up?
The most key aspect to a home office is that it should be, to your best ability, separate from other home living areas. This provides you with the best levels of productivity and reduces the temptation to procrastinate work. This areas designated to your home office should have enough storage to keep all your work stored here, never entering the home living areas of the house to keep the work to home life balance separate (which also keeps stress levels lower). Perhaps you don’t have a spare room to have an office? A guest room that rarely is used could be converted, even an old garage space fitted with some heaters and regenerated designs, could become your next workplace.
How can the design of my home office help my productivity?
The design of a home office can play a huge part in your productivity there, and the professionalism others take from it. Some popular home office designs usually take to lighter coloured paint on the walls, and natural daylight, through windows especially, can enhance worth ethic hugely. The natural daylight and cool toned walls creates an open feeling to your office. The feeling of space and avoiding claustrophobia keeps you comfortable, relaxed, yet productive in your work. Popular colours include white, light greys and cool toned blue, recommended if you love a little bit of colour to be included in your work space.
Privacy in your home office
Another essential aspect to your workspace is the privacy that is has, your office is recommended to be fitted away from where lots of noise is taking place, key for concentration. If fitted near a window where distractions can easily take place, light coloured blinds could be installed to be pulled down to reduce distractions yet keep natural daylight in. Although noises from surrounding areas may be tricky to ignore, small notes from within your office may actually help to muffle out others. Small fans with underlying buzzing sounds can help to keep you ‘grounded’ in your room as best as possible for work.
If you would like a quotation for your home office, please get in touch
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