Nowadays, most people are either entirely working from home or have the option to go into the office for a few days a week. This trend is here to stay with more than 95 per cent of people working in Ireland wanting to continue with some form of remote employment. With this way of working becoming the new norm, it’s extremely important that we ensure our working environment at home sets us up for success.
Here at TalentHub, we embrace a hybrid working model. At the moment, we operate 2 days a week in the office and 3 days at home. The team here wanted to share some of their top tips for setting up an effective space when working from home. We hope you find them helpful!
Natural Light
If possible, we highly recommend setting your desk up near a window where natural light can get in. Natural light will benefit your mood and your productivity, especially as we enter the brighter, sunnier months.
Being situated near a window is also very important for getting fresh air into your working from home space. This will help to keep you alert and improve the indoor air quality of your room.
Clean Space
It’s true when they say – a clean room is a clear mind. No one wants to work being surrounded by a mess and clutter everywhere, it leaves you feeling overwhelmed, swamped and unmotivated.
Go get yourself a big black bag and chuck anything that’s sitting around gathering dust into it. Bring old books, furniture or clothing to your nearest charity shop where it will get some TLC from a new owner.
Adopting a Co-Worker for Home
Working from home can become very lonely at times, especially if you’re living alone or if your friends/family go into the office. We have the solution! If you have the time, resources and space for another half, we highly recommend adopting a working from home companion.
Here at TalentHub, our Digital Marketing Specialist, Ellen Kilgallon, would be lost without her Head of Barketing, Hendrix. Having a four-legged companion makes you get up, stretch your legs and close that laptop at the end of the day to give them all the attention they need.
Here are some of our lovely four-legged pals that keep us company while working from home:
Essential Accessories for WFH
The team here at TalentHub all have certain accessories or clothing that makes WFH a lot more comfortable. Our resourcer, Blaithin Mac Hale is mad about her clogs. She lives in them at home and says that they are “the comfiest things on this planet”. It may be a slight exaggeration, but we will take it on board.
Ellen loves a pair of headphones to listen to some music or a podcast in the background while doing some work. Blaithin has created a WFH Playlist, check it out here.
Emma Robinson, one of our Senior Consultants, loves having a candle at her desk. She says it’s great for de-stressing and the fragrance makes her working space more tranquil.
You Can’t Beat Good Furniture
Rule number 1 when working from home, is making sure that you have a good set up when it comes to your actual working area. To make this easier for you, we have put together a list of furniture we think is necessary, along with links. Enjoy!
Some other essentials…
Ways to Keep you Focused
Working from home is great but it does come with distractions. We have a few tips on how you can stay focused. Blaithin recommends an app called ‘Stay Free’. It blocks you from accessing your social media apps on your phone for a set time period.
Ellen likes to set 45-minute timers on her phone and leave it on the other side of the room. This helps her get good focus work done and keeps her away from any distractions on her phone.
Investing in a mini whiteboard is also a great way to make your day more focused and structured. Plan out your day and break it up into morning tasks and afternoon tasks. And make sure you pencil in time to get out for a walk and take regular breaks away from your desk to stretch.
Well, there you have it! We hope you found our teams’ tips and tricks for setting up an effective working from home setup helpful. If you have any top tips of your own, please do share them with us – we would love to hear them!
