After the Covid-19 pandemic; many people shifted to working from home. While for some, it was a forced and difficult adjustment to make, for some, it was the best thing ever. Many people have set up their home offices and have permanently adopted the work-from-home life. Of course, working from home has many benefits, including flexible work hours, no stress of showing up late at work, saving up on commute costs, and just being able to work from the comfort of your home.
At the same time, working from home also has some disadvantages. If you are a parent, working from home becomes a big challenge. It is impossible to get privacy and be able to have your quiet time to work. Working from home can sometimes make you lazy and laid back and compromise the quality of work. Suppose your home is not adequately equipped to support a work-from-home environment. In that case, it can significantly compromise the quality of your work, make you feel exhausted and demotivated, and prevent you from getting into work mode.
Home Office Designs That Boost Productivity
Here are some great tips that you can incorporate when designing your home office. If you already have an existing home office, you can make a few changes to make it the ideal working space to boost productivity and improve your performance.
Bright Spaces
Bright spaces are one of the most important features of a home office. The best way to brighten up your office space is by choosing the brightest room in the house for your home office. If the room is large, you can choose a corner, create your home office, and combine it with your living room space. Natural light is the best light to work in as it has many benefits. It provides the ideal lighting for you to work under and puts the least amount of strain on your eyes, and it also helps boost your energy and mood. Bright lights delay the release of melatonin, a sleep hormone that triggers your circadian rhythm or your inbuilt sleep cycle. By restricting its release, the brain is triggered to cause a boosting response in the body, which is what one experiences when one first wakes up in the morning.
If you are building a home office, be sure to include large floor-to-ceiling windows that bring plenty of daylight into the room and incorporate a skylight into the room as well. The more natural light there is, the brighter and more positive the room will look. Energetic and motivated individuals perform better at work and are bound to increase their productivity and performance in the workplace.
Greenery
Staring at the laptop or computer screen all day can make your eyes feel fatigued and strained. It is recommended to take frequent breaks from the screen, look away, and focus on something green. Preferably the garden outside, some plants outside the window or trees. You may even keep indoor plants in your office, shift your focus away from the screen, and look at the plants. This helps to soothe and refresh your eyes and prevent your eyes from over-straining. Some people like to paint a wall green in their office space as well since the color green has been shown to have a calming and refreshing effect on the eyes.
Ergonomic Furniture
Most people assume that working from would means that they can make their favourite room their workstation, even their bedroom. This is a huge mistake! Working from your bed, dining table, or kitchen counter is a bad idea. Not only can this damage your spine and your back health, but it can also make you more fatigued and demotivated and cause a drop in your productivity levels at work. If you plan to work from home, you must create a designated workspace for yourself and invest in proper ergonomic office furniture. Ergonomic furniture has the advantage of providing optimum comfort while you work prevents you from becoming fatigued, minimizes the risk of injuries, and boosts energy and productivity in your work.
Ergonomic Office Chair
An ergonomic office chair is highly recommended for a home office. An ergonomic office chair has the following benefits:
It supports your lower body
It supports your back and your spine
It maintains the natural S shape curve of your spine
It prevents neck and shoulder pain
It prevents eye strain
It prevents the stiffening of your muscles
FlexiSpot has some of the best ergonomic office chairs available that you can choose from and is highly recommended for use in the home office. They have adjustable height functions, good backrests, lumbar support, and a movable and swivel option.
Ergonomic Desk
Ergonomic desks should be a part of your home office. they are ideal for use as they maintain the correct workstation height. They allow your arms to rest comfortably, heighten, and prevent excessive strain on the forearm or elbows. It prevents carpal tunnel syndrome, a prevalent disease in typists and those who use the computer and the mouse too frequently. It provides adequate space so that all your important office items can fit on the desk and are within reach. The desk should ideally be made of good quality material, should be water-resistant, and durable so that it lasts a long time.
Peace And Quiet
If you plan to work from home, you have to ensure that your office is in a peaceful and quiet room. Without peace, it would be impossible for you to separate yourself from your home and enter into work mode. There are too many distractions in the house and can make it very difficult to detach yourself from them. The idea of creating a home office is to make sure that you can create an ideal setting within your home that allows you to work efficiently and more productively.
Fresh And Clean
Any space that you are working in should be clean and fresh. A cluttered, messy, or dirty room is neither a pleasant site nor a pleasant experience to be in. You do not want to be in a room that is dirty while you work, as it can reduce your productivity levels. Make sure that the room has adequate ventilation. There shouldn’t be dirty clothes, dishes from the night before, pieces of food, pet droppings, or even wrappers. Everything should be cleaned out, and the room should be tidy and smell fresh and clean.
Sleek And Minimalistic
If you have combined your home office with the living room space, try to make sure that the furniture in the living room is minimalistic and simple. Bulky furniture, big maintenance, large light fixtures, and other interior pieces can sometimes be too in the face, make the room look too stuffy, and create a congested environment. The ideal workspace is airy, open, and bright.
Storage And Shelving
Often some important documents and files need to be properly organized and stored. You should invest in a good quality shelf for storing all your important work-related materials. For this reason, it is very important to have a designated office space so that nothing leaves the office. if you carry your file or an important document to another room in the house, there are chances that important items will start getting misplaced.
Create A Meeting Room Space
If your work requires you to meet with people frequently, then it is a good idea to create a small meeting room space within your office. you can add two extra chairs so that there is seating for more than one person to sit and have a meeting or if your office is combined with the living room, you may even hold your meeting in this space. Make sure to keep this area clean and tidy so that it looks professional and comfortable to receive potential clients or colleagues with whom you often have meetings.
Get Connected
Make sure that you are well connected to the internet in your home. Your internet speed should be at the optimum level, and you should be connected to all the relevant applications and mediums that officegoers use to communicate with daily.
The Final Word
Working from home can be the best or the worst decision of your life, depending on how best you can create your work environment. The more comfortable and ideal your home office is, the better it is for you to be able to work and get the maximum benefit from it. You should carefully design your home office and ensure that it is a separate designated space for you to work from. FlexiSpot has some amazing ergonomic furniture and equipment ideas that can help create the ideal workspace in your home.
