Not everyone has the luxury of a dedicated home office. With more companies now adopting hybrid working permanently, you may find that the makeshift home office you created during the lockdowns of the pandemic is no longer suitable.

If you’re struggling to stay focused and productive when working from home, you might need to take a look at your workspace and working practices. By taking the right steps, you can create a productive working environment, no matter how much space you have.

Find the Best Space to Work

Firstly, you should think about where the best space to work will be. If you live in a place with housemates, you might prefer to work in your bedroom where it’s quieter. In that case, you should try to work at a desk, rather than on your bed. This will help you to work comfortably and will also mean you can keep more of a separation between where you work and where you relax.

If you don’t have to worry so much about other people, you might be able to set up a desk elsewhere. Think about whether you could fit one in your living room, or even tucked away under the stairs or at the end of a hallway. Ideally, you’ll be able to create a dedicated space that you can walk away from at the end of the working day. This will help to keep a healthy work life balance when you’re remote working and can prevent burnout.

It might be that you don’t have space to create a permanent working area with a desk. In which case, perhaps you have a kitchen table or dining table that you can work at. If you’re working at this type of setup, you’ll need to pack away your equipment at the end of the working day – a storage carry box can be the perfect home office storage solution when you don’t have a dedicated space to work in.  

Remember Ergonomics

Wherever you choose to set up your workstation, you should always consider ergonomics. The right ergonomic office equipment will help you to keep a good posture whilst you work, preventing work from home injuries and allowing you to work comfortably. If you’re able to work at a desk or table, a laptop stand will help to raise the monitor to the right height, so you don’t have to slouch or bend to view your screen. You will also need to use a separate keyboard and mouse, so you don’t have to hold your arms at an awkward angle and risk injury.

Ideally, you’ll be able to adjust your desk and chair to the right height so you can hold your wrists and feet in the right position. But if you’re working at a table or chair that isn’t adjustable, you can use other ergonomic tools for support, like a keyboard wrist rest or mouse wrist rest. The Leitz Cosy wrist rests are adjustable so you can find the right height to comfortable keep your wrists at the right angle and help prevent stiffness and aches. You can also use a seat cushion or desk foot rest to further improve your work from home posture and help you to keep working comfortably.

Incorporate Home Office Essentials

Just because you don’t have a dedicated home office doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using home office equipment. Work from home essentials will include everything you need to work effectively and keep organised. If you work with documents, you might need filing equipment, like lever arch files or pockets and folders. These can also help with personal home file storage or transporting paperwork between the office and home if you’re hybrid working. Letter trays and magazine files are great for keeping paperwork tidy when you also need regular and easy access. Leitz’s range of stylish document filing and storage solutions will blend seamlessly with every interior, so you don’t have to hide them in a multi-use room.

Desk storage is essential for keeping good organisation at home. With an organised desk, you can work more productively and also help to keep a separation of work life and personal life, by making it easy to tidy everything away at the end of the working day. A desk organiser will keep all your equipment to hand whilst still reducing the clutter across your desk. Or a classic pen pot will keep your tools organised whilst still looking stylish. 

 

Improve Your Indoor Air Quality

It might not be your first thought when looking at work from home accessories, but an air purifier can be a great addition to your remote working setup. Our smart TruSens air purifiers have three speciality HEPA filters available. If you’re working in a dual-use room, like the kitchen, the Odour filter works to remove common cooking and other odours from the air. Or if you have allergies, the Allergy & Flu filter will work to remove airborne viruses and allergens from the air. The Pet filter is perfect if your home office includes a furry friend for an office-mate, removing 99.97% of pet dander and hair from the air. All will help you to breathe clean, fresh air, so you can focus on your work.

Minimise Distractions

To work effectively from home, you should aim to keep distractions to a minimum. This can create more of a challenge when you don’t have a dedicated home office where you can shut the door from the goings-on around the house.

If you’re working in a household with other people, get some noise-cancelling headphones. These can help to drown out the noise from around the house and help you to focus on your work. If you’re working in a communal area, communicate with others when you’ll need quiet time, for example when you’re in a meeting or on a call with a client. You should also aim to minimise distractions from your phone by turning off notifications from apps that you don’t use for work. 

Find a Helpful Working from Home Routine 

It can be tempting to roll out of bed five minutes before your start time and log on in your pyjamas – especially if your workstation is set up right next to where you sleep. But you should aim to keep to a normal working routine, by getting up with plenty of time to eat a nutritious breakfast, maybe do some exercise, and get changed into suitable clothes for working. This will all help you to feel energised and focused, which can help you to work productively.

You should also aim to switch off properly at the end of the working day. Whatever your workstation looks like, you should shut down your laptop or PC, tidy away your equipment, and walk away – even if it’s just to sit in another part of the room. This will help you to keep a healthy work life balance and prevent the risk of burnout that can come from working long hours. 

Leitz has a full range of home office essentials that can help you to work productively even without a dedicated home office.

See our below articles for more information on working from home:

Could Creating a Greener Home Office Also Save You Money?

The Best Office Organisation Tools You Need for 2022

10 Sustainable Swaps for Your Home Office

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