Many businesses have moved to have their employees work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. We support this move for enhanced social distancing… but what if you need to set up a home office? How can you create a space that will help you be efficient and productive during this time?
Read on for 5 tips on how to set up a home office that will keep you focused!
Set up a home office by creating a designated area
While it may seem easy to set up shop at your dining room table, chances are your family will not appreciate this or respect this as a designated working space.
Instead, find a spot where you can gather all your necessary items and deem as an off-limits space to kids and other family members. If your workspace is in an open area, have headphones on hand to signal that you are working, and turn up the tunes to drown out other voices.
Add some warmth to your home office
Working from home means you can wear your slippers and even have a blanket on your lap with zero judgment (just make sure to look presentable if you are going on a zoom video call!).
Make sure you can add some warmth with either a blanket or sweater so you are not spending time running around the house looking for items during your workday. Having those items will help you stay focused on the tasks at hand.
Focus on Comfort
If you don’t have an office chair (and you don’t want to buy one), you can modify a dining chair with a lumbar pillow for support. Just make sure that it is comfortable, as you will be spending a lot of time in that chair!
Take breaks from your chair and your computer screen as well … and don’t just switch to your phone screen to scroll social media as a break.
Make your home office inviting
An inviting space is a productive space. If you don’t want to spend time in your home office, chances are you will not be very focused. Instead, take a bit of time to make the space inviting…
Add in some plants, your favourite water bottle and mug (filled with coffee of course!), a candle or any other items that make you feel comfortable and happy. This is your space, and you set the rules on how you want it to look. Take advantage of that!
Keep your home office organized
It is important that you also maintain an organized space. You don’t want to be called back to the office only to discover you misplaced a bunch of files. Set up a system of organization with labelled magazine files as a great temporary solution at a low cost.
Also, make sure you back up your electronic work!
Set up a home office that works with AMR Design
While business is still anything but usual these days, we can do our best to BE our best while we work from home.
Having a designated workspace at your home is always a good idea if you need to work from home.
If you have any comments or questions about your home office, please share them with us below! We would love to hear from you!