With continued stay at home orders and more full-time employees working from home than before, many are enjoying the transition – and hoping to make it permanent. “Nearly 43% of full-time American employees say they want to work remotely more often even after the economy has reopened,” and many companies are on board with this trend. Whether your company is planning on keeping you working from home long-term or not, you want to make the most of your time working from home. The California Sliding Door team is still working from home as much as possible to make it safer for our techs who go out to repair your sliding doors, so we’ve got 4 tips to help you make working from home work for you:
Choose a Dedicated Space
Depending on the necessary amount of work space, like needing space for a file cabinet or desk to organize papers, can make the difference in choice of space within a room or finding a room in your home to convert. Having an individual room for your office may be appealing but a whole room isn’t necessary to have a functional space that is both comfortable and meets your work needs! Even if you only need a small corner of your kitchen table, make sure you have a dedicated work space. You may want to spend your time working on your couch, but you’re more likely to get distracted if your tv remote is right there next to your notebook. Keeping a dedicated workspace is important not only to prevent distractions during the workday but also to help keep work in work hours. Work/life balance is important, even if they’re both at home right now.
Get Creative and Colorful
Color theory is influential in our willingness to work and happiness while doing so. Changing the colors in the space around you to ones you particularly like can make all the difference in your desire to be productive. Whether muted, warm or exciting tones, personalizing your space through paint, placing art or sentimental pieces on your walls or desk can be encouraging and make the space feel more comfortable. Not sure where to start? This Pinterest board is some serious #homeofficeinspo and can help you find office accessories sorted by color.
Choose Functionable Tech
Working from home regularly requires that you have access to functional wifi, a working computer and a smartphone. Make sure that the space you set up has space for these necessities, but don’t forget other necessary accessories such as USBs, charging cables, and outlets nearby. With this in mind, unnecessary and recreational tech like televisions, personal iPads or tablets or non-work phones may cause more distraction than productivity. Making decisions about what to keep in a common area or non-work space can boost your concentration and keep you from distraction! On the flip slide, if your company requires you to do work that needs a certain type of tech you don’t normally have in the house (like a printer or a shredder), have a conversation with your boss about getting necessary tech for your home office paid for by the company.
Have a Visual Schedule
Sitting at any office – even if that office is your kitchen – for hours can make time drag on. Making a visual reminder of time to be spent on projects and breaks can help you draw a cleaner line between your work and personal life. Keep a color-coded to-do list with markers or sticky notes from the Pinterest board we mentioned earlier, or make the most of your space and put a calendar on your wall. Burnout can occur while working on-site or at home, but keeping track of your personal time during work and making sure you don’t end up working more hours than normal can be essential for balance.
Whether you’ve become a work from home pro or are still learning the ropes, choices in location and how you create your office space can make all the difference in your productivity and mental health during this time. And though you may return to the office as things slowly start attempting to return to normal, it can make all the difference in the meantime. Try out some of these tips and tell us what works for you while you’re working from home!
