How to Prepare for Working from Home
Author: jwallace | Posted: 21.05.2012The thought of leaving the office and starting to work from home is an incredibly tempting proposition. You’ll never have to commute again, face overpriced
and underwhelming cafeteria food, or dress up in a suit! However, if you’re going to make the change, you should first make sure you’ve properly prepared a
space at home to work from.
First, you need to decide which room you’re going to work in. Working in your bedroom, living room, or kitchen is possible, but it does make it very
difficult to delineate the working part of your day from leisure time. Also, if you have children or a partner you live with, it’s much harder to persuade
them that you’re working and can’t be disturbed. This is far easier when you have a separate room with a door that can close.
Think carefully about what you personally need in order to work and set up your room accordingly. A good source of natural light and a spacious desk to
spread out papers will both make work a more pleasant experience. A decent chair with support for your back is also incredibly important.
The beauty of working from home is that you can decorate your office however you please. Use colours and pictures you find inspirational, tack quotes to the
wall if you like, but do be careful not to include too many distractions. Without a boss to check up on you, you may find it’s hard to concentrate.
In terms of equipment, you’ll need a reliable computer with superfast broadband. It’s worth investing in a
decent computer rather than the cheapest one you can find, as being on it all day will wear it out faster than occasional leisure use. Also, get an external
hard drive to back up all your work in case of disaster.
Work out what you will need in terms of other office equipment too. Depending on your job, a second phone line for office calls, printer, scanner,
photocopier or fax machine could all be useful. However, be wary of splurging too much in the first instance on things you think you might need. Unless you
are regularly sending faxes, it will likely work out cheaper to do them at a special copy shop rather than buying the equipment to do everything from home.
If you’re concerned about money, you can always start small with the essentials and get more things for the office as and when you need them.
This takes care of most of the physical requirements of working from home, but you should also be aware of the mental and emotional concerns. Knowing when to
start your day is important, but equally important is knowing when to end things. Don’t get sucked into working all hours just because the office is there.
Take regular breaks, get some sunshine, and don’t let yourself become entirely isolated. This way, making the change to work from home can be one of the best
decisions you’ve ever made.
About Author:
Jesse Wallace writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to
promote, but should be considered professional content.
Jesse Wallace writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to
promote, but should be considered professional content.
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