In the past few years, many people have discovered the joys and challenges of working from home. While this situation certainly isn’t for everyone, it does have its advantages for employees and employers alike. However, it does require that employees have a home office to work from, and that isn’t always a simple matter.
Furnishing an Office
If you’re working from home at a makeshift office at your kitchen table, you know how important proper office spaces are. Desks for home offices and proper ergonomic equipment can make a huge difference in your work-from-home experience. It’s also important to have proper storage to keep your office neat and tidy.
Setting Office Hours
Anyone who has been working from home can tell you that the hardest part of setting up your home office is setting your office hours and then standing by them. Whether it’s children who come in and interrupt the middle of an important meeting or a parent who works overtime without even asking for overtime pay, sticking to office hours is just as important as proper furnishing and equipping. Whether you set those hours with the assistance of a locked office door or a strict “quit at five o’clock” policy is up to you, but it needs to be done.
The Home Water Cooler
However, it’s useless to pretend that you don’t need time to relax, at least a little, during the day. Support from co-workers can be hard to come by when everyone is working from home. Group chats can provide some of the benefits of a water cooler, allowing co-workers to bond and share ideas, but office cohesion isn’t built on chat relationships alone. Make sure you have a support network you can reach out to if you get stuck.
Alternatives
The best thing about a home office is that it’s flexible. If you don’t have a space of your own, you can still get a lot done at a coffee shop or a communal workspace. Fold-out desks make a space-efficient alternative set-up, and they pack away neatly when your workday is done. If you’re balking at the expense of setting up a decent home office, remember that business expenses are always a tax write-off.
It is likely that work-from-home options will continue to be popular. Many employees prefer to work from home, and many employers have come to appreciate the savings. Be prepared for the future of work with a decent work-from-home setup!
