Working from home has become part of the everyday employment landscape, even as return to office mandates are being issued. Many companies have studied the ramifications of having certain executives continue to remote work, and have subsequently implemented more flexible, hybrid working practices to enable certain employees to balance their work location more in tune with their lifestyle.
In many respects, offering a hybrid structure can help set you as a company apart from your competitors, and thereby more attractive to work for – an issue that is extremely important in sectors suffering from real skills shortages and a lack of experience.
While the office environment is one where many can thrive (especially the younger generation who are fresh on the market after finishing their education), for many working from home is an ideal solution to help balance work and family. However, not every home is blessed with a spare room which can be isolated for work purposes alone. Instead, finding a corner of a home where work can be carried out, then shut away often requires a bit of clever design.
Finding the right work life balance
As much as you want to be able to shut your domestic world out when you are concentrating on work, so do you also need to be able to shut out your work life when the working day is over. It is all too easy to distract yourself from work with household chores, in the same way that it is easy to distract yourself from domesticity with the constant draw of work emails.
Try and identify an area of your home which is under-utilized, and which could be converted into a dedicated work space. This could be under the stairs, or in a dark, forgotten corner of a dining room.
Invest in the professional skills of a carpenter to craft you a working area which can be shut away when not in use. Using MDF boards which are cut to size you can create a highly functional work station in a very limited space, incorporating storage and shelving, with PC stands set at optimum heights for working a video conferencing.
Don’t skimp on your office chair – comfort is paramount
It’s all too easy to ‘make do’ with a spare dining room chair for your home office. However, it is as vital as ever that you are adequately supported physically so make sure that your office chair provides the ergonomic comfort that you need. While working from home, your employer is still responsible for your overall wellbeing.
Your office chair also acts as an excellent ‘trigger’ that differentiates between work mode and home mode. As soon as you sit in your office chair, this puts you in the work mindset necessary for maintaining high levels of productivity. Once it is tucked away under your desk, and the ‘office’ door shut for the day, that is the equivalent of your commute home, placing you firmly back into a home frame of mind.
Be organized and avoid clutter
Cloud based IT systems have dramatically cut down on the amount of paper based clutter that is required throughout the working day. That is not to say that you don’t create a degree of mess.
Get into the habit of decluttering on at least a weekly basis to avoid it becoming too overwhelming and seeping into your home life.
Noise cancelling earphones
There will be times throughout the year when children are at home from school and the noise levels in your house increase. To avoid distraction and disturbance impose certain guidelines about being disturbed during working hours. You may need to invest in some noise cancelling headphones.
