Making the most of working from home
Since the outbreak of Covid 19 hit the UK back in March, working from home has become normal for many. Personally I’ve got used to it and I quite enjoy it.
But I spoke to someone recently and they told me that they can’t wait to get back to working in the office.
Why?
They told me that when they work at home, they sit on an uncomfortable chair all day looking at a small laptop screen.
At the start of lockdown in March, I made sure that I created myself a comfortable working space at home and I think that is one of the reasons why I’m happy to be at home… Here are my top tips for a comfortable working environment.
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Tip 1 – Create a dedicated workspace
Firstly, and I appreciate this isn’t possible for everyone, I have a dedicated space for work – the spare room has become my office.
This helps me separate my workplace and my home life. I can walk out of my workplace on an evening, shut the door and bring an end to my day.
One of the main reasons I think people don’t like working from home is because they find it hard to distinguish between home life and work life. They find they’re loading the dishwasher in between conference calls and working on their laptop while watching TV in the evening.
Having a dedicated space – even if it’s something you put away on an evening – helps with that.
Tip 2 – Investigate a standing desk
My second tip is something you may not have considered: a standing desk solution.
There is a lot of evidence out there that sitting down for long periods of time just isn’t good for you and can lead to all sorts of health issues – as well as a decrease in productivity.
I have wanted to try out a standing desk for ages, but all the solutions I looked into were quite expensive.
Instead, I invested around £150 in this from Amazon.
It’s excellent quality and sits on your normal desk. You can raise it when you want to stand or lower it to sit at.
I like to stand for one hour, then sit for one hour and keep repeating this throughout the working day.
It’s a great solution if you don’t want to spend big on a dedicated standing desk – and you can easily fit two monitors on it…
Tip 3 – Invest in dual monitors
Which takes me onto my next tip – dual monitors!
I spoke to a customer last week who told me that they’d just discovered the two monitor solutions and felt like they’d missed out on years of productivity!
We all have so many applications that we use on a regular basis and waste time swapping between windows.
Having two monitors allows us to get more done and is a much better and easier way to work than one monitor and definitely better than a small laptop screen.
Tip 4 – Choose the right chair
My next tip is to make sure that every member of your team has a comfortable chair at home. I made the mistake of not doing this with one of my team members then they told me they had backache because they’d been sitting on a dining room chair all day.
Let people take their office chairs home if need be. It’s critical that people are comfortable if they’re sitting for long periods of time.
Tip 5 – Make sure everyone has a webcam
My sixth and final tip is to make sure that everyone has a webcam on their computers.
While remote working, as a team we’ve been relying on using video conferencing solutions like Microsoft Teams or Zoom.
It really helps to be able to see each other, we’ve found it makes lockdown that little bit easier, so if you want to see their faces, make sure everyone in your business has a webcam!
If you’d like to talk any of these through, or if you have any tips of your own to add, please get in touch!