4 Ways to Set Up a Work-From-Home Office to Boost Productivity

Setting up a work-from-home office was very different in the past. Working from home was a privilege only available for a few management staff for remote access to the office.

This privilege is for management staff or regional executives who are not required to be in the office daily.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the entire office work culture. It became necessary for a business operation to maintain its maximum capacity without having every employee in the office.

With the start of the covid-19 pandemic situation, the world came to a standstill for the early period of 2021. There was a scramble to set up a work-from-home office wherever possible.

What are the ways to set up a work-from-home office to boost productivity?

As far as possible, working from home should be maintained with the same efficiency as in the office. In what ways can we set up a work-from-home office for better productivity? Here are 4 ways to do so:

The home office setting must be conducive to the user, ideally you would want to create an ergonomic work-from-home office. You can begin with a designated room you intend to use as your home office.

A small study room would be an excellent place to start, and having a door you can shut from the outside disturbance would help when making phone calls or having online meetings or having productive online meetings.

Find a table that can fit the room (if it is a small space) and have a couple of shelves for files and books. A study table with assembled shelves and drawers would tidy the place.

Don’t try to use your dining chair as your office chair unless it has the same features as an ergonomic office chair. An ergonomic office chair will provide the best sitting posture for long hours at your desk. Pay attention to working comfortably and not straining your back and neck with poor ergonomics.

Other ancillary items required are table lighting, extension power sockets, and an electric fan to provide good ventilation if these are lacking.

A wall clock nearby would help remind you of the time and while putting in a reasonable amount of work is good, regular breaks will help rest the body and mind for sustainable performance.

What kind of computer and accessories would a user need to be productive in a work-from-home office?

Imagine if you had to use a small laptop and squint your eyes to look at different documents and navigate in and out of files, this would be unproductive and stressful.

For a good investment, a large screen laptop of 15” with an additional 24” monitor as a second screen would be ideal.

This 24” monitor will significantly enhance your productivity, where you can have a second screen to open up multiple apps, files, and internet browsers.

Having a minimum 15” laptop would be better if you are working without a monitor. The 15” size will at least be comfortable enough to read articles without an external display.

What is the minimum required laptop specification?

• CPU processing speed: If your work depends on software or downloading huge files, which need a lot of processing speed, it will be better to choose the upper range, i.e.,  Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7
• RAM: This is the computer memory to load and run your program. Generally, it is better to go for the higher 16 GB RAM for most users. An 8GB RAM may be enough if your works are not performance-intensive.
• Graphics card: Usually, the laptop-integrated graphic card should work fine for most users unless you are using graphic intensive software like 3D drawing, crypto mining, or video editing.
• Storage: Storage to store your files. You can choose between an HDD (hard disk drive) or SSD (solid-state drive).

HDD is cheaper and has a high storage space of at least 1TB.

SDD is faster when saving and loading files; recommended if you do not need to keep many files.

• Spreadsheet / Word / Powerpoint: 
  • Microsoft Office Home and Business 2019 (Microsoft 2021) – one-time purchase
  • Microsoft Office 365 – monthly fee. It comes with the latest features and updates. Free cloud storage. No extra cost for technical support.

Is the monitor compatible with the laptop?

Buy the monitor from the same vendor so that they will make sure that it is compatible with the laptop. Most monitor and laptop comes with an HDMI port, and a regular HDMI cable is sufficient to connect the computer to the monitor. Otherwise, you may need to purchase a special adaptor.

Subscribe to fiber-optic broadband to provide you with better connectivity and high-speed internet. You don’t want to face internet connection issues while you are working during the day. Contact your ISP service provider for advice on your plan.

Unless you are familiar with setting up a remote desktop, consult your IT specialist to recommend a suitable computer system and set up your user name and remote desktop connection on your laptop.

The IT specialist will help address computer security issues that align with the company’s standard operating procedure and avoid hackers and malware.

You may like to consider the following accessories which may be helpfull for your work. 

• Printer – recommend the wireless printer to avoid the extra connecting cable. A laser printer is preferred if there is not much printing work daily.
• Wireless or USB headphones with a microphone for attending any online meetings.
• Wireless keyboard and mouse so that your work desk will not be cluttered with cables.

Conclusion

Covid-19 has forced all employers to move toward a remote office capability to enable more of their staff to continue working when cities are being lock-down by the government.

This lock-down has provided both employers and employees the experience of such a work culture. The work-from-home office allows flexibility in carrying out business and office work remotely.

By setting up your home office with the few basic steps listed above, you will definitely experience a boost in your productivity.

For many employees, this would probably be one of the peeks they would look out for when seeking new employment.

Even if the current pandemic is over, working from home, which allows flexibility in carrying out business and office work remotely, is here to stay.

Therefore, it is a good idea to set up a conducive work-from-home office that will last you for the following years to come.

Read more business articles from our guest authors at SugerMint. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn