HNE Staff Are you still working from home because of the existing COVID-19 cases in the country? If you are, improve your home office to look appealing and stimulate your productivity. The improvements don’t need to be expensive when you can add a few affordable things here and there.
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Here are some ways and tips to improve your home office to make it more functional and conducive for work:
1. Invest in Quality Noise-cancelling Headphones
Most of your meetings will likely be done online. You’d need headphones with a decent microphone or ones with a noise-canceling mic. If you want to come across as clearly and professionally as possible, investing in quality headphones is critical. Besides, headphones are useful beyond office hours.
2. Fix Your Lighting
It’s important to sound good during online meetings, but it’s equally important to look good as well. Use enough lighting for your face during video calls. Position yourself where there’s plenty of natural light during the daytime. Ensure that you’re not turned against a source of light to avoid casting a shadow on your face. At night, use selfie ring lights or additional lighting on your table to light up your face.
3. Organize the Cables
You won’t realize just how many cables an office has until you set up one at your place. Fortunately, it’s not as hard as it looks to unplug the wires and detangle each one. You can use zip ties, painter’s tape, or Velcro wraps to tidy up the wires. It only takes a few minutes to organize everything.
4. Spruce Up with Plants
Breathe life into your home office using plants. Bring some plants to give your workspace a more natural look. Studies have shown that indoor plants may cut down stress levels, improve your focus, increase your feelings of well-being, boost your productivity, and improve your overall outlook on your job. There are even specific indoor plants known to be effective at improving the quality of the air naturally.
5. Declutter
Remove the non-essentials from your desk. Keep it as neat as possible. Use organizers to separate your documents from your office supplies, for instance. Make decluttering a habit until it is fully ingrained in you.
6. Keep Window Treatments Up-to-date
Reconsider your outdated curtains and blinds. Give your home office a new look. Replace your old drapes with modern panels or your plastic window blinds for modern ones. At times, you might also want to keep the windows open to let fresh air in and remove the room’s musty odor. It should give your window treatments time off from fighting off the sun, dust, and dirt outside.
7. Set Up Your Computer Right
Neck pain is one of the most common injuries among office workers due to their bad posture while working on the computer. The top of your computer monitor or laptop screen should be about eye level. Boost its height with a laptop stand or riser and an external keyboard and mouse for a more convenient setup. You can also prop your laptop or monitor up on a few books if a riser is unavailable.
8. Rearrange the Furniture
If possible, set your home office desk facing the window to get sunlight. This setup may also help trick your body into believing that you’re outside instead of cooped inside. You can do the same for your sofas and other seating. The longer you can get sunlight during the day, the better it will be for your mood and productivity.
Like how you declutter your office desk, do the same for your home office and furniture. Remove the pieces you find to be useless and move them to another part of the house. It should give you lots of breathing space while working.
9. Don’t Mix the Home Office with the Bedroom
Regardless of how small your home is, try to separate your office space from your bedroom. Use a temporary divider, sliding wall, or curtains. You can also raise the bed on a platform. Productivity experts recommend avoiding working in the bedroom, so your body would not associate it with work, which might disrupt your sleep. On the other side, you might fall for the temptation to nap or relax instead of working.
10. Repaint
Repainting your walls or parts of it is an affordable and easy way to upgrade your home office. Stick to bright colors that will boost your mood and keep you calm as you work. You don’t even have to color all the walls if you don’t want a longer downtime and a bigger mess for your home office.
Conclusion
If you’re one of the employees who are likely to work from home in the foreseeable future, it only makes sense to invest in the way your home office looks. It does not have to be expensive if you follow the ways and tips to improve the home office mentioned above. They can improve your workspace and make your office hours more productive.
Need help in saving money and feel more financially secure? Here are the 10 tricks to save money during a pandemic.
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