The home office has many advantages and has been an attractive alternative to the company office since the corona pandemic. Many small businesses and freelancers also appreciate the home office because it saves travel and costs. However, working within your own four walls is associated with several challenges. How to properly set up and use the office at home to work productively is discussed in this article.
Create space to work
The basis for productivity is a workplace that promotes concentration. For example, if you work at the dining table while the rest of the family cooks, or even in the living room on the sofa, where various distractions lurk, it is tough to concentrate. It is, therefore, generally advisable to delimit the work area spatially. Ideally, work is done in a separate room, separated from the rest of the private living space with a door and set up as an office.
This working atmosphere makes it easier to maintain focus. If there is no office space available, the workplace should still be separated as far as possible. Setting up a desk is advisable to create a permanent place for a computer or notebook and all other work equipment and utensils.
There is no shortage of space-saving furnishing ideas. Corner desks, for example, are ideal for corners of a room. This means that the available space can be used efficiently, and plenty of workspaces can be created. Suggestions and furniture recommendations for this, as well as tips for a needs-based purchase decision, The objective buying guide presents high-quality models in a wide variety of designs.
Also, compact desks are sold online and in specialist shops, which can be easily integrated into niches, such as creating space for focused work despite the lack of space in small apartments. In some cases, even the most minor solutions are available with a height-adjustable desktop so that you can work standing up if you wish.
Tip: Privacy panels for offices are also ideal for the home office if the work area has to be integrated into living rooms that other residents use simultaneously. Models with acoustic effectiveness are efficient because their surface absorbs sound and thus contributes to a calm atmosphere. They ensure both visual and acoustic delimitation of the workplaces.
Ergonomics – not only crucial for the back
The home office has as little negative impact on health as possible; the topic of ergonomics should not be neglected at home either. Some tips on this at a glance:
- Desk chairs: Ordinary dining room chairs or the like are unsuitable for permanent computer work because they offer little or no dynamic when sitting. High-quality desk chairs, whose seat height, seat depth, seat inclination and back can be flexibly adjusted, are much more back-friendly. The lumbar support should not be missing either.
- Desk: Height-adjustable desks are an excellent addition. It would help if you allowed sitting and standing work because long-term sitting is particularly harmful to your health. Otherwise, interrupt your sedentary work at least regularly with short movement units!
- Viewing distance: Ergonomics has long been more than just back-friendly office furniture. It is also essential to protect the eyes. A practical approach is to have sufficient viewing distance – that is, the distance between the eyes and the screen.
- Light: The lighting in the home office must also be ergonomically designed. Finally, ergonomic workplace lighting promotes concentration and wellbeing. Among other things, it must be avoided that the daylight dazzles to prevent overexertion of the eyes. Also, lamps with around 750 lux (illuminance) and 5,300 Kelvin (light colour) are recommended for direct lighting at the workplace in desk lamps.
Avoid Distractions And Manage Time.
The many minor distractions that keep you from working in the home office are downright concentration killers. These can be smartphones and radios, but also social networks, newsletters and other incoming emails. In order not to lose focus, these interferers should be consistently banished. In other words: turn off your mobile phone or mute it and put it out of sight, block or time-limit the use of social media on the computer and close the email program while working on specific tasks and schedule fixed times for processing messages!
One popular method for personal time management is known as the Pomodoro Technique. It was developed back in the 1980s. The work with an alarm clock is divided into 25-minute blocks to sensitize the focus.
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