Now, more than ever, people are adopting either full or part-time working and studying from home. There are many lifestyle benefits – the lack of a commute being the main one for most people, but there are also some problems associated with home working/studying. Here are some of our top tips for improving your wellbeing in the home office, and optimizing your productivity:
Establish a dedicated space
If you can, keep a separate space devoted to working or studying. This will allow you to ‘leave the office/classroom’ when you are done with work for the day. There is a psychological boost to keeping your work and home life separate – if you are spending all day working at a table in your living room, for example, and then you simply move to a different chair in the same room for your relaxation time, it can be hard to switch off and fully embrace your free time. If you don’t have the space to dedicate a room for your studies or work, make sure that you at least have a different place to sit and try to face in a different direction to get a bit of a change of scenery.
Sit comfortably
You’ll likely be sitting in the same spot for upwards of eight hours if you’re home working. Invest in a good quality ergonomically designed chair – it will make a huge difference to your productivity and comfort.
Most people were thrust into home working with little to no notice, and started off on dining chairs or sofas – neither of these is the right approach. Sofas are too soft and provide very little in the way of support for the back, neck, or arms while dining chairs are too rigid and lack comfort over sustained periods. An ergonomic office chair purchased from officelogixshop.com will give support where necessary, and also has the cushioning and flexibility to give the user a degree of comfort. You don’t need to break the bank; you can find office chairs at prices to suit different budgets.
Use peripherals
If your main computer is a laptop, you can improve your work or study space immeasurably by using peripherals. Buy an external keyboard and mouse and you can set your laptop up as a monitor (giving a better viewing angle/height adjustment) and use the peripherals to control it. Wireless and wired options are both available at very budget-friendly prices.
Think about your background
If you are likely to be called into a Zoom meeting or video conference at any moment, consider what the space behind you is saying about you. Obviously, you want to avoid a disorganized mess, but also get rid of anything that might be considered controversial or offensive – stick to a couple of generic pieces of art or a few books, or even a plain wall if you have to.
Dress appropriately
A lot of jokes have been made about working in pajamas, or dressing work-appropriately from the waist up only (for those pesky video chats), but your general productivity and engagement can be increased easily by dressing as you would for the office. It provides an unconscious separation of work and home and keeps you in a working frame of mind – something that can be easily lost after a long time of home working.
You don’t have to go full suit and tie (unless you want to) but aim for smart casual at a minimum – get ready for work or study with the assumption that your boss/lecturer will be popping around at some point in the day and you won’t go far wrong.
Author Bio: First Mats started life as safety matting specialists, but has since expanded to become a complete industrial and commercial supplies company. The focus of First Mats is to provide safety-focused products that improve the well-being of staff through quality-approved products, backed up by extensive knowledge. www.firstmats.co.uk