More and more people are deciding to work from home. Some work for a company and have given up on the long commute and un-flexibility of being in a set location, whilst others have decided to go it alone and set up their own business from home.
There are however a number of vital things that you need to consider when creating an office in the home such as the points below.
Don’t mix your work and homelife
From early on in the process you need to define what is your ‘home’ and what is the ‘office’. Mixing the two can be dangerous and you need to ensure that when you go into your home office, you are there to work. Likewise, you need to have some downtime with your loved ones once you decide it’s time to leave the office.
Organise your workspace
Make sure that you have set up your home office how you want it. One of the great things about working at home is that you are not set by the boundaries which you may have when working in a larger company. Get the desk you want and the chair that you will feel comfortable in, install shelves and get drawers that will help you be as productive as you possibly can be.
Get the equipment you need
Likewise, you won’t have the luxury of using equipment paid for by a company (though you may be able to expense it if you do still work for a larger business and they have asked you to work from home). Make sure you choose some good quality equipment, such as printers from a good make such as Canon and a computer that is going to stand the test of time. If they are for your own business you should be able to save on the tax for these by submitting a claim with the HMRC.
Minimise distractions
Although you love your spouse and kids, you don’t want them popping in to see you every ten minutes when you are trying to work. Make sure that you set some boundaries early on to ensure that you aren’t distracted when trying to do important tasks.
Think about your lighting
To minimise tiredness and the damage to your eyes you also need to make sure that the lighting in your home office is adequate. There’s no doubt that natural light is the best source, though in rooms where this is hard to achieve then it should be complemented by a good quality hanging light, as well as desk lights to further accentuate your visibility.
Don’t turn into a workaholic
It can be tempting when your office is only a few steps away to overwork. The fact is that you need to be able to switch off and leave things until tomorrow. Try to implement some defined working hours into your schedule to help with this.
About the author
Kieran Fisher is a business entrepreneur and recently set up an office at home. He decked it out with some state of the art equipment including a printer from Canon, an Apple Mac and an oak wood desk.
