Recent years have seen a huge switch towards remote working in the UK. Dating back to the lockdowns over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a huge spike in the number of people who spend at least a part of their week working from their homes.
Many business experts and CEOs predicted that this change would be short-lived and the normalcy of working in the office would resume. However, we have seen a change in the way that people think about work. Hybrid working or even fully remote working is now considered normal.
44% of people in the UK work their hours either in a hybrid style or completely from home. It’s no surprise then that one of the key topics affecting workers in the UK is how to be productive at home.
Thankfully there are many things you can do to improve your home office design to the point where it makes a significant difference to your productivity.
In this article, we’ll look at what you can do to your home office setup that will allow you to be as productive as possible when you’re working from home.
Think about ‘where’
When you are thinking about setting up your home office, the first question that really deserves a lot of thought is ‘where’.
That might seem an overly simple question – if you already have a room set aside for your home office space then the decision is made for you. But not everyone has a full room available for their home office setup. And indeed, you don’t necessarily need to have to use a whole room, even if you have one available.
Theoretically, your home workstation could be anywhere – the corner of a living room, a dual-purpose for the guest room, or even in a garage or shed. It’s surprisingly easy to convert many parts of your house into a useful office space. But you need to consider how each part of the home is affected by its position.
For example, how is the Wi-Fi signal where you’re setting up? Different areas of your property will have different signal strength. That signal might be good enough for casual scrolling of the internet – but can it support a multi-person video call? It’s important to test these issues out before you commit to a specific location.
Great real about lighting
You’ll hear a lot about the importance of natural light – and yes in an ideal world, we would all get plenty of natural light in our home office space.
It’s important to think practically and picking a spot under the window might allow a nice view and plenty of warmth in the sunshine – but you’ll also have to deal with excess glare on your screen and varying daylight hours.
When you consider the UK’s unpredictable weather – it might not always be possible to get the kind of natural light you’re looking for.
Again, it is worth considering how lighting will affect how you look on an important video call. If you’re backlit, you might find that anyone on the call with you is looking simply at a shadow.
That’s not to say it’s impossible to work with natural light sources. You just need to ensure that you’re set-up includes made to measure blinds that can quickly and easily be opened or closed depending on exactly what you need at that time of the day.
Equally, you’re going to want good quality lighting to provide you with options for softer light in the darker months, but also the possibility of bright lights for when you are looking at important details, for example during data entry.
Boost your mood, personalise your space
We’ve talked about some of the important issues around the functionality of your workspace. Good Wi-Fi and quality lighting matter to your ability to be productive, and so things like that naturally have to take precedence in your decision-making.
Remember that you’re going to be spending a lot of time in this area – it needs to be somewhere you genuinely want to be.
If you’re not enjoying where you’re working at home, it’s all too easy to move yourself to the comfortable sofa in your living room. This is a surefire way to see your productivity drop. So, it’s important to consider the importance of personalising your area.
This can take any form you need – whether that’s artwork, personal photos, scented candles, or indoor plants. If you feel more relaxed and at home in the space, you’ll be able to get on with work far easier.
Save space
We have talked about the fact that you don’t necessarily need to have a whole room available to create a comfortable and productive home office design.
There are now many innovative space-saving solutions that could be ideal if you live in a more comfortable home but want somewhere to work remotely.
Options such as foldable desks or standing desk converters can be ideal. Also, consider your office chair and whether it could be used somewhere else in the house.
You’re going to be working long hours in your home office, so it's important to get furniture that’s not only smart and ergonomic, and but also actually feels comfortable to work in.
Your home office can be green
Going green is something that many of us want to do in any way we can at home, and there is no reason that this shouldn’t extend to your home office setup. You can easily make sustainable choices when designing your office space, for example by using second-hand furniture or opting for LED desk lamps.
It can be surprising how much money you can actually save by doing this too. Remember that if you’re going to be working at home, you might have to expect heating and electricity bills to rise. So doing anything you can to improve your sustainability around the house will make a difference.
Your home office design = perfect for productivity
Whether you have been working from home for a long time and you need a change in your working space, or you are looking at working remotely for the first time – it’s a great idea to take the design of your home office space seriously. Having a space that is effective for you as an individual might mean something that simply would work for anyone else – and that’s OK.
Remember that your goal shouldn’t ever be ‘to be productive’. Instead, you should think of your goal to is to feel comfortable, inspired and ready to go – when you work in a space that makes you feel this way, productivity will come naturally.
Your home office space is more than a desk and a chair; it’s where you work. And if you can find a way to make it feel positive and uplifting, it will help you get more out of your working day. Whether that’s by getting the right lighting levels, or simply ensuring that your space packs down small to allow you to get on with your evening when you’re done, many things can make a difference.
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