Working From Home – The Super Station

Depending on your line of work, you may be able to work from home and your employeer may encourage you to do that.

Here are a few ideas to reorganise your home to fit your new working style. Sorry to disappoint but no, working in your pyjama or from the couch is not one of them. Your mental health may be impacted if you cannot feel the difference between “being on work mode” and “relaxing at home”.

Divide and Conquer

hum yes, I’ve seen a lot of history and war documentary during the 2020 lockdown, but let me explain. Dividing your space between the people living in your household is key. Just like most office workers hate open space in the office, a place where you can hear everyone’s work phone conversation, it is no difference at home even if the noise is created by a loved one.

Separate areas to work

Some ideas for each person in the house:

Use a small office desk in the bedroom, this would be typically your childrens or young professionnals living in a flat.
Use the spare bedroom or dedicated office room
Take the dining table in the living room or the breakfast bar or table in the kitchen.

Use Natural Lighting in your favour

Location of your desk is just as important as what desk to use, and it’s a very easy one: prefer to locate your desk next to a window with plenty natural light. Us humans love being outside, therefore when you are indoors, why not choosing to work near a window. You don’t have to be facing the sun au contraire, place yourself nearby and you’ll benefit from a well-lit room as opposed to a dark corner in the corridor. You’ll see, you’ll want to seat on it more often and it will be done with pleasure.

Recommended Home Office Equipement

You may wonder what is it that you need. Here are some ideas which may or may not apply to your line of work but are fairly common with office based staff.

Home Office Printer

depending on your needs. I’ve got the Brother J5330DW and it is really good to print Architecture Plans and Scan documents. My partner and I both use this one printer. It is convenient because it is wireless (connected on our home wifi) so he can print from two rooms down and come collect when he needs the documents.

Dedicated Working area

A space of at least 90cm wide but 120cm is ideal and comfortable. If you have bigger than that then you are a lucky one. A depth of about 50cm is correct again anything bigger is a nice to have.

An office chair or Task Chair.

Typically design for office-based workers, there are now more and more office chairs available to the public. Get one that can be adjustable in height, with armrest and back support ideally. Another tip is to make sure the castor wheels are compatible with your type of flooring: either hard flooring or carpet. It’s not the same wheels.

Storage space

so you can place your computer, keyboard, mouse away when not needed.

Computer and a High Speed Connection

The computer is typically supplied by your employer with a charging cable.

Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Ask your employer for a dedicated external wireless keyboard and mouse as it is much more comfortable than working from a laptops keyboard.

Keyboard Mat

Makes your space more organised and level up a textured table top.

Stationary

You may need the following: pens, pencils, notebooks, paper (for your printer), letters, envelopes, stamps, pen holder, tape, glue, eraser, etc.

A Desk Fan for the hot days

A little usb-powered table fan is perfect for hot days in summer to help you work through the heat. Indeed, we take for granted the AC units at the office, but most homes don’t have AC units so it can get hot in summer. This is a very mindful approach I know, but I’m all about it

A Table Lamp for winter

When the days get short and the night starts falling in the middle of the afternoon, you’ll be happy to have a table lamp that you can switch on and help you see clearly the tasks on hand.

A few nice mugs and coasters.

Because the craving for a cup of coffee or a tea doesn’t go away when you work from home. Get yourself a nice set of cups. Your employer might even let you use the ones company logo which would be a nice touch during conference calls with your internal colleagues.

If you’d rather have someone else design your Office Room for you and would like a design from a freelancer that was working from home “before it was cool”, check out my online design service page where it is all done virtually. Otherwise follow on social media: Instagram, for more inspiration.

Ask your employer for a better Desk (or at least a proper wireless keyboard!)

Think about asking your employee for support with setting up your home office.

Eventually companies may save money on office rent, so it make sense that they shift some of that money towards making sure their employees have all the ergonomic tools to work from home comfortably.

There are sets of rules that offices may obey to for Health and Safety in the work place, and you are probably familiar with those if you typically work at an office. So at least ASK!

Hope you liked the blog! If you did, you may like this one: 9 items for a Mindful Office.

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