13 Ways To Setup A Proper Work From Home Office
Homes have always been built as a place to unwind from the hectic day’s work. For many, it is a place of rest; a place where one exhales the air of relief from the listless number of tasks that shadows the average worker daily.
The structure of most homes has always been designed to offer rest to bodies that have been wearied with the chores of the day.
It becomes strange a thing when a part of that home has to become an office.
The most important task when setting a proper work from a home office is not a space, but making members of the family accept the changes that may occur, as it means a part of the house would probably be forbidden and the way they relate in the house may become a little bit restrained because of the serenity and sanctity that may be required in the about-to-be created work-from-home office.
To set up your ideal work-from-home office, you also have to consider what you want to use it for and the purpose it has to fulfill. This will help you in the choice of items that you want to put in your dedicated office space.
The following tips would guide you on how to properly set up a proper work-from-home office:
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Consult Your Family Members
This may seem insignificant in setting up your home office, but it is crucial if you desire the serenity that would make you concentrate on your work. Consulting your family members means informing them that you need to take a space that may be forbidden to them; that would not accommodate the much chattering and loitering that they are used to.
It would also mean that feedbacks from them would help you determine the area that would not have too much human traffic.
2. Identify a Zoning Area
Your Zoning Area is the area you will cordon from others. It would become your work-from-home office. After speaking with your family, this becomes your most important task as you have to consider space, access to fresh air, air-conditioner, ventilation, closeness to the convenience, distance from the kitchen, etc.
It means that you must consider the type of tasks you will be engaging in while working from home to determine the zone within your house that would fit that purpose. By all means, ensure you get the best location.
3. Don’t Use Soft Furnishings
You might be tempted in the attempt to set up a comfy office to want to use soft furnishings, but you must not forget that what you are setting is an office and not a relaxation center, so you can’t use soft furnishings else you would frustrate the purpose of creating a work-from-home office and resort to relaxing or sleeping in the supposed home office.
It doesn’t mean you won’t get to relax, but your office space should be arranged in a manner that gets you to work. It should be comfortable but it shouldn’t afford you the luxury of relaxation.
4. List and Get All the Needed Work-Tools
There would be a need to write out a list of all the gears, tools, and equipment you would be needing while working from home. This would help you determine how you would set your home office.
A PC and a laptop must be a priority amongst the many things you would need. This includes an internet facility, PC stand, desk, chairs, etc.
5. Ensure You Are Comfortable
You must also ensure that you are comfortable. If you need to install an air-conditioner, get a standing fan, a blue-tooth speaker, a blue-tooth earpiece, glasses, coffee table, kettle, and cup; then you should get them.
Everything that would make you comfortable so you can perform optimally must be acquired.
6. Be Keen On Ventilation
You also have to be keen on ventilation. Your work area must be a place that isn’t too stuffy and you must be able to enjoy fresh air so that you don’t uncomfortable working to the point when you would need to be leaving the dedicated work area to catch fresh air or catch your breath.
7. Avoid Cluttering
Do not put too many things in the office space, so that there wouldn’t be too much cluttering. One of the ways to ensure adequate ventilation is to keep only the items needed to make your dedicated space a workstation. This is to avoid looking for important items because of cluttering.
8. Ensure Your Work-Office is Private
Learn not to share your office space. Give it the sanity and sanctity it needs by ensuring that no other activity occurs in that workspace.
It should not be a place where members of the family have to sleep in when you round-off work for the day, else it would have a smell that doesn’t befit the office and the worst of it, is to have office items missing and you can’t hold anyone responsible because it has become a public space.
9. Have A Daily Planner or Diary
You must also ensure you have a daily planner that helps you engage basically with your work activity. This daily planner can be a diary that is always on your table where you write your “to-do list”, or some sticky notes that you stick to the small office board to guide your plans for the day.
10. Protect Sensitive Document
It means you must have a cabinet that can only be accessed by you where you keep physical documents that must not be tampered with. This is to ensure that all-important and official documents within your reach and jurisdiction are meticulously protected.
11. Have Back-Ups
Get an external hard drive to keep all your documents. Use i-cloud so that both can serve as backup for all your documents should the unexpected happen.
12. Get A Fire-Extinguisher
By all means, protect your office from fire. This means that fire igniting items must not be kept in your dedicated office space.
Also, make provision for the unexpected. Have a fire extinguisher in your office space that you can easily access.
13. Light It Up
Ensure you provide enough lighting for the workspace when you have to work late into the night. This would be needful when you least expect.