Working from home: From luxury to necessity

According to research by the TUC and stats from the ONS Labour Force Survey during 2016 the number of employees regularly working from home increased by 118,000, taking the total to 1,639,000. This increase in employees working from home of 7.7% out-stripped the growth in employee jobs by a factor of 12 last year. And this is just employees – the overall total number regularly working from home including the self-employed in the UK is now 4.2 million. This trend is only set to rise as the cost of commuting rises and the drive towards greener working increases.

So, if saying goodbye to water cooler gossip and rush hour traffic is on the cards, take a look at these great tips from Daniel Barr, Owner of Anglia Factors in Martlesham.

Get the technology right

If you’re going to be using a computer a lot, try to find a place with plenty of natural light – always good for motivation – and with as few distractions as possible. However none of this works well if the phone and internet connection is below ‘office’ standard. In rural areas this can be a challenge but services like BT Infinity are getting more widely available and this is a minimum standard. Similarly if you’re going to rely on a wireless connection make sure that’s strong or use a wired one.

Make it yours

Whilst you may be taking the work home, you can leave the dull carpet tiles, sealed windows, poor air conditioning and utilitarian desk styles at the office. Many of the UK’s most successful companies use homeworking to great effect. More people are now expecting to be able to work from home as they leave college. Others are only able to work from home because they have caring responsibilities or because they have a disability.

Whether you’re disabled or not make your work space fit the way that you work. Designing home offices usually means that you are better catered for at home than in a traditional work environment.

Don’t forget comfort

What you do need is a comfortable chair and good lighting. Your seat should fit easily beneath your desk, and offer plenty of support for your back. It’s a worthwhile investment, as you’ll be spending long hours on that chair. If you haven’t got access to plenty of natural light, then get a desk lamp to illuminate your workspace. If natural light is in seriously short supply, consider a vitamin D lamp (with medical guidance) – it’ll help keep the blues at bay.

Colour is a thing

No matter the size of your space, once you know where your office is going to be, you should think about your colour scheme. This is far more important than you may think. Studies have shown homeworkers tend to be more productive than their colleagues. Many people who work from home say that they face fewer distractions, which helps them to get more done.

It’s worth finding a different colour from the rest of your house, as this helps keep your home office from feeling too much like home, and more like a work space, again, good for productivity.

There’s a psychology to colour, too. Dealing with a lot of finance? Then calming and reassuring green may be the colour for you. Yellow is good for creatives, helping to get those juices flowing.

Meanwhile, grey has been shown to lower performance levels.

Size doesn’t matter

Don’t have the luxury of a whole spare room? Then don’t worry. Try and find a space to call your own, ideally away from pets and children. This helps keep the distinction from home and work, but also makes it a lot easier to take calls without disruption.

Whether you’ve got a whole room to work with, or just a nook under the staircase, a little creativity is called for to make the space work for you. The advantage of using bespoke furniture means it’s designed to fit the space you need. And besides being functional, and effectively maximising the space you have to work with, our experts will create furniture in a style and finish to suit your taste.

Now we’ve given you some food for thought, if you want to make that perfect home office a reality, visit our showroom or call us on 01473 610192.