It’s official: people who work from home are more productive than those who work in an office. This carries a lot of implications for people all over the business spectrum. For employers, it means that it’s time to consider cloud-based options that allow workers to have more time at home. For employees, it means that leaving their current job and starting their own from-home business isn’t as crazy as they thought. For those with temporary vacancies, they can be confident hiring freelancers who work from their bedroom.
Of course, this productivity has many enemies. When you’re at home, you’re exposed to more distractions. There’s no direct supervision, which means that discipline has to come from within. Many would assume that all of these factors would definitely make working from home less productive. But it hasn’t turned out to be the case. How does that work?
It’s because a lot of people working from home have a designated working area. They’re not just lying in bed with their laptop and working like that. They’re not working away on the sofa while trashy reality TV plays in the background. They have a home office that keeps them focused.
Here’s how a home office can be set up to ensure maximum productivity.
Exclusivity
The best way to go about this is to ensure that the room is used for nothing else. That room should be an office, and that’s about it. There shouldn’t be a television in there, let alone a games console. There shouldn’t be guitars in there that you can noodle around with from time to time. It should be a quiet place devoid of distractions. Of course, a lot of people don’t have the luxury of having such a room handy. But whatever room you do use, the same rules can still apply.
Communication
If you don’t have the right communication tools to hand, you can end up wasting a lot of time. Instant messaging is pretty much essential, whether you’re using Skype or Google Hangouts. But telephonic communication may also be useful. Not just for productivity, but because it will be good to hear a human voice now and then! Using headsets can let you do just that while keeping your hands free for other tasks.
Tech skills
When you’re in the office and something goes wrong with the equipment, you often have to get someone from IT to help. Well, unless you somehow have an IT department in your house, such help isn’t going to come for you. Working from home gives you independence – both a blessing and a curse! If something goes wrong, you’re on your own. People who work from home are often able to resolve many of the issues themselves. This keeps them able to solve problems without putting too much of a dent in their workflow.
A desk
Please don’t think about working from home if you don’t have a desk! It’s the key ingredient to making a room feel like an office, which is what helps you keep focused. If you’re working in your bedroom, get a desk in there. Don’t just work on your bed!