Working from home is one of the luxuries that many employees and business owners experience because of the pandemic. If you are enjoying your remote working set-up and are planning to embrace this completely, you’re going to need a dedicated home office. You are going to need a design that’s practical, inspirational, and eco-friendly. 

Here are some tips to consider: 

1. Choose a room with a view – Got an extra room with a window? That’s perfect for a home office! When you don’t, squeeze yours in your most preferred location in the house. Station it near the window for daylighting and a quick glance outdoors.

2. Look away from the wall – Feng shui suggests to position your work desk in a way that you can see your entire home office. This way, your energy is not set on a wall or thrown out the window!

3. Introduce plants to the space – Houseplants brighten and liven up a room, provide oxygen for increased brain power, cleans indoor air, and makes you feel happy. Go for trending indoor plants that are easy to care for and provide more than aesthetics.

4. Zone the office – if you are lucky to have a dedicated room for an office, you need to set up zones for brainstorming, meeting, resting, and admin work. Zoning forces you to stand up and move from one spot to another. Remember, sitting for a long period of time is almost as dangerous as smoking!

5. Use encouraging decorations – Displaying inspirational quotes on a frame and other visual encouragement is nice to have in the office. It reminds you of your mission and gives you a little push to get work done early.

6. Use a colour scheme that suits your work mood – White home offices are great, but it’s better to introduce pops of colour in the room. Colours affect your work mood. Go for blue for calmness. Go for yellow and orange for an energy and creativity boost. Go for reddish tones to improve productivity. 

Lastly, if you don’t have an extra room but you have enough space in the garden:

7. Build an outdoor office – Convert a shed or a granny flat or a shipping container box house into a garden office. A dedicated office space in your garden separates you from all the distractions inside the house, helping you stay focused and productive during work hours.

Can remote working set ups make businesses more sustainable?

In a 2020 study conducted by WorkPlace Analytics, they found out that remote working can help nations achieve ecological sustainability. 

Working from home, people are paying for the energy they use. This makes them more aware and conscious of their consumption. Everyone wants to save money so:

• They adapt more energy-efficient behaviours (e.g. turning off lights when not in use)
• They opt to use energy-saving LED lights at home
• They opt to open windows and use a fan instead of cranking up the air conditioner

In addition, working from home helps reduce the amount of waste produced. Nobody uses single use paper or plastic plates, cups, and utensils at home.  

Thanks to document sharing, there’s no need to print out and photocopy documents and distribute it before meetings. 

There are far greater savings in transport energy. There are less cars travelling to work, so there’s less gas consumption and lesser carbon emissions. 

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This guest post was kindly written by our friends at Superdraft.

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