The coronavirus pandemic has the world on a standstill and has forced everyone into hiding. As for the greater fraction of the working class, the pandemic has done a good job of changing the working norm.
From regular commutes to work, everyone is now stuck in their own homes—not by choice but to help flatten the disease curve. Right now, there is no effective way to avert coronavirus but to comply with quarantine rules to ensure safety for you and your high-risk loved ones.
While this is a dream come true for most of us, working from home comes with its own set of challenges. One most likely issue is separating the ‘work’ aspect from home. It’s a bit tricky to make your home a conducive place for ‘real’ work since it’s easy to succumb to a Netflix and chill mentality—but hey, it’s possible!
Today, let’s discuss a few tips that can help transform your home into a highly productive (yet comfortable) workspace.
Make an actual home office
As you may have guessed, the golden WFH rule is to have a designated workspace in your home. Resist the temptation to make the bedroom your office. If you don’t have a home office yet, have a legitimate office space set up in your home.
Whether it’s converting a spacious guest room or maximizing the cramped space beneath the stairs, make the space sacred for office work. As long as it’s a quiet spot away from your home’s foot traffic, it’s an ideal makeshift (or possibly permanent) work zone.
Creating a real office space subconsciously conditions your mind for work and sets you up for productivity.
Stay safe and secure while working
We all agree that working from home has great advantages, but one thing we don’t want is to worry about the security and privacy of our connection, so it’s wise to use VPN for all devices. A VPN provides a secure connection between our laptop and a server on the internet. This prevents anyone from seeing any messages or data that we access over the connection.
Add home accessories
How do you make an ordinary room feel office-y? Home interior accessories are the answer. Experts agree that the following fixes can make any room professional and work-ready:
Lighting
For that familiar office feel, invest in stark lighting. Offices are known for their intentionally bright, luminous (often blazing) fluorescents. Surprisingly, generous lighting makes work easier and contributes to productivity.
Maximize natural light as possible. In poorly lit areas, supplement your workspace lighting with adequately incandescent fixtures to assist your eyes.
Wall Art
Hanging art or picture frames also make a good office. These tasteful art details will come in handy in your home office, whether you’re an art fan or not. You can’t go wrong with minimalist, monotonous abstract frames; likewise, no one will judge you if you’d prefer a boldly colored statement piece for your sanctum.
Plants
Be green-minded—the other ‘green’, anyway. If you’re unsure of what to decorate your office space with, try plants. Not only do they brighten a dull space—NASA says they also filter toxins from your air and significantly improve the quality of the air you breathe. Plus, they make you happy.
Some of NASA’s 9 air-filtering plants include the snake plant, spider plant, Boston fern, dracaena, and ficus.
Set up your office for productivity
Whatever home accessories you decide to include in your office, make sure that they make you productive instead of distracting you.
Check out this guide on how to achieve work-life balance while working from home.
Dress like a grownup when working from home
To make yourself more productive while working at home, dress as if you’re actually going to the office. Regardless if there’s a forthcoming Zoom meeting or not, come to your home office proper corporate garb. Or at least make sure you’re decent from top to bottom to avoid having utterly embarrassing video call blunders.
Do shopping online to look great while business meetings online
You’re still allowed to do online shopping while you’re working from home, so why not take advantage of it? Try to do online shopping, so check-out your favorite brands websites.
Invest in functional furniture
If you’re bringing your desk job home, chances are, your back is gonna take a good beating from 9 to 5 (or whatever your work hours are). Freelancers recommend gaming chairs because they offer a good balance of comfort and functionality. Large, cushy swivel chairs also do the trick.
- Office chair. Since we’re probably looking at weeks to months of isolation and quarantine to quell the virus’ spread, why not invest in functional, productivity-boosting furniture, like a high-quality office chair, for instance.
- Standing table. If you want more ‘action’, an ergonomic standing table is also a suitable investment. Just check the proper table height for your height to encourage a perfect posture while working.
- Light exercise equipment. As they say, sitting is the new smoking, so why not add in some light exercise equipment in your home office?
Make your company’s mission statement visible
When designing your home office, it’s also great to integrate your company’s mission and vision into the design. Whether it’s integrating your brand’s colors into your home office or literally hanging a framed vision statement on the wall, including some elements of your
Organize your office
From color-coordinating your office supplies to investing in quirky storage solutions, making sure your office is organized will help you think more clearly.
A few tips in keeping things tidy in your workspace:
- Get matching office supplies
- Use functional storage furniture
- Outline areas of your ‘office’ using rugs
- Use actual dividers to organize your space
Keep distractions to a minimum
Whether they’re things, animals, or people, keep distractions to a minimum. Or better yet, ensure there are no distractions in your workspace. Don’t put a TV in your office. Put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign or lock your door when you’re at a meeting.
Keep your space decluttered
Don’t let things pile up. Diligently clean your surroundings. Throw your trash regularly and don’t keep non-office things in your workplace. Keep your office pristine at all times.
A great home office is easy to set up
Now that working remotely is the pandemic norm, it’s fundamental to set up a workspace that sparks joy yet encourages a systematic workflow. We hope these 10 tips will help you set up a productive but super comfortable workspace that you’re proud to call your own!
Author BIO:
Mariam Simmons is a trendsetter at Alpine Swiss and business fashion enthusiast with a love for writing. She loves traveling to the world’s top stylish destinations and gets inspired to create helpful business fashion and lifestyle guides.
