Introduction
The onset of COVID-19 transformed the work landscape permanently. The perception of remote work has changed in the last two years as both employers and employees have realized its potential benefits. However, employees are still struggling to find ways to make work-from-home more productive. The period during quarantine under which work-from-home policies were imposed has made people realize that there is a need to re-orient the office space at home. Most working individuals came face to face with personal and professional challenges while working from home due to blurred boundaries between their work and personal life. The home design can be tweaked to make a home office more productive for hundreds of working professionals around the world.
We have listed some of the ways you can re-design your home office space to increase work productivity.
Keep a Dedicated Office Space
It is important to have a designated office space in your house. Most people find it difficult to allocate a separate room for work, but interior design experts suggest that a particular spot in the house can be allocated to work-related activities. For instance, a computer desk and a chair can be an office space in your room. Having a specific space for work allows people to focus, be more organized, and maintain a boundary between office time and family time. If you want to create a designated office space in your house, make sure it has all the office equipment you need e.g., a desk, chair, computer, pencils or other items.
Declutter your Designated Office Space
Cleanliness and maintaining an organized workstation at home is critical to reducing distractions and maintaining a decorum conducive to work. While working from home, it is important to put away the things not needed during office work and ensure the availability of the things one needs for work. The often-used material and items need to be placed at arm’s length to avoid distractions and inconvenience.
To stay organized and maintain a decluttered office space, make a list of all the things you need for office productivity and then make sure your designated office space has nothing else besides those things.
Practice Work-life balance
The boundary between the home and the office is crucial for productivity. Spillover of work from the office into family hours is a common problem, but working professionals should try their best to reduce this by actively maintaining work-life boundaries. Like the designated office space, which maintains the separation between office and personal life, it is important to set boundaries for your time as well.
While working from home, employees usually get distracted by housework, therefore, it is important to wrap your work-related activities before office time ends. Employees should practice responsibly clocking out to set a clear separation between work and home life. Similarly, during office hours, make sure your family and friends who live with you respect the office schedule and do not interrupt you.
Ensure Good Lighting and an Outside View
The visual appeal of office space has a significant impact, not just on the productivity of the workers, but also on their health. A well-lit room and a sufficient number of windows can help improve emotions and the overall mood. The key behind this is that clean and decluttered spaces improve the visual appeal of the house.
For office workers, lighting is linked to one’s concentration and productivity. According to recent studies on mental and physical health, lighting also has a deep impact on the quality of our life. Circadian rhythms or the built-in clocks that determine our sleep cycle, relaxation, and stimulation is largely regulated and controlled using light. A well-lit room is even linked with a decrease in depression, improvement in overall mood, alertness, and productivity. A study on office spaces in the US shows that 68% of employees complain about a lighting situation in their offices. Poor lighting can be a source of headache and eye strain, which leads to lower productivity. In short, to increase productivity at the workplace, office space inside the house must be in a well-lit place.
Rethinking WFH Continuously
As employers continue to provide flexibility with working from home, employees must rethink work-from-home continuously using sustainable design patterns. This can be done using appropriate and adjustable lighting, air quality, access to natural light and view, and the integration of office-space arrangement that is close to nature. Employees working from home should be creative while adjusting their office space and re-orient it based on their personal and professional needs.
Conclusion
Establishing a clear separation of physical space between office and personal life is key to productivity while working from home. A designated and decluttered office space is necessary to maintain work-life balance and harmony. Ensuring a well-lit room with views of nature alleviates the mood that leads to productivity. Moreover, employees are encouraged to rethink work from home constantly by using sustainable design patterns.
