5 Simple Tips to Create your Ideal Home Workspace

Working from home? Skip the sofa (and don't even think about the bed). Instead, try these simple tips to create a home office that inspires health, happiness and productivity.

Maximize Comfort to Optimize Productivity

How you position your desk, chair and device can have a major impact on the way you work. In a traditional office environment, customizing the layout of your personal space isn’t always easy. Fashionable furniture may be important, but ergonomic design is essential. When your team works from home, it’s your duty to provide them with the right resources. Advise them on the best practices for device and furniture positioning. By encouraging everyone to resolve minor layout issues in the design phase, you can help them maintain their health in the long-term.

Create the Best Lighting

Working in an area with poor visibility can contribute to vision problems, exhaustion, and irritability. Not only does that affect team performance, but it also prevents people from enjoying time outside of work. Those unable to work by a source of natural light should keep their home office space well-lit with ‘natural’ white light bulbs.

Declutter Your Workspace

To avoid the stress of constantly searching for things, encourage your team to remove all unnecessary items from their home workspace. As a team leader, it’s your responsibility to educate, not dictate, on the best practices. That means encouraging the sharing of knowledge between team members. Consider creating a digital space dedicated to sharing tips and photos on how to layout a home office. This provides an insight into how different team members work while uniting them in a shared vision.

 A dedicated workspace for dedicated work

Working from home, your team can customize their space to their own specifications. And central to that is a clear division between your ‘work’ and ‘relaxation’ spaces. Not only does this clarity increase efficiency in the workspace, but it also increases contentment outside it.  

Having a work-free space is also crucial for inspiration.cBut to truly step out of the work mindset, your team must be able to disconnect. Social media and texting aren’t breaks. Knowing when to walk away to refresh the brain, the body, the spirit… is the smart move for doing high quality and accurate work – whatever that work is.

  Design Contentment to Power Creativity

The home office is more than a place to work; it’s also a place to develop as a person. Without the restrictions of a corporate office, you can design the space in a way that encourages growth. There’s no set standard for this – it’s about designing the space to your own ideal. But there are key features proven to support strong mental health. Numerous studies have shown that adding plants to a workspace can have a dramatic impact on your mental wellbeing. Plants increase indoor oxygen levels and clean the air. Not every element has to be practical – it’s important to make room for items that inspire you and lift your spirits. The difference can be dramatic.

Encourage Inspiration Anywhere

Effectively working from home requires optimizing your environment to maximize health, happiness and productivity. Of course, a safe and practical setup is essential to working productively. But it’s just as important to integrate inspiration into your setup. That inspiration is vital for the team pushing members to find dynamic solutions to challenges

In short, where creativity and self-expression can flourish, inspiration will surely follow!