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Tag: Home Offices

  • How Your Home Office May Be Harming You — and How to Fix It | Entrepreneur

    How Your Home Office May Be Harming You — and How to Fix It | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    With the onset of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, we suddenly had to adapt our living spaces to create makeshift home offices. Today, 30% of Americans are still working either remotely or on a hybrid schedule. But how many of us have taken the time to ensure that our workspace enables us to do our best work — or to ensure it’s even safe?

    Your home work environment should be a well-designed space that ensures healthy, productive behavior. If you haven’t attempted to set up a clearly established home office, chances are your work-life balance is suffering.

    Related: How to Build an Effective Home Office

    How your home office may be harming your quality of life

    How many of us roll out of bed, pull on a pair of sweatpants, sit down in a chair in the bedroom, kitchen or living room and allow our work to bleed into the rest of our lives?

    Without setting clear boundaries — both physical and mental — we forget to say goodbye to our kids because we decide to respond to that one email that comes in at 7:30 a.m. Later in the day, a colleague sends a message at 8:00 p.m., and we choose to answer it rather than putting it off until the morning. We forget to shower or take lunch breaks.

    The consequences are clear: If we don’t create a routine in the same way we would when going into an office every morning, our mental health deteriorates.

    There are major benefits to working from home, particularly if you suffer from anxiety or are treated poorly in an office environment by superiors. Having the flexibility to work from home has also been a tremendous boon for families who can save time and money on child care. However, these benefits only work when we create clear boundaries and workable spaces. Thankfully, many of these can be achieved with little to no cost.

    Related: How to Perfect Your Home Office

    How to create a healthy, productive home office

    One of the simplest changes to make is with lighting. The best option is a room with a window that brings in natural light. If that’s not possible, look for lights that aren’t pure white — they tend to be harsh on the eyes and taxing on the brain. Avoid fluorescent white lights that are often found in hospitals and schools. They’re cold and sterile, ensuring only that people stay alert and focused.

    To create a calm work environment, install lights that have a warm, yellow hue. Note that LED bulbs, while efficient, produce soft, cool light. Reduce hard shadows in your space by using top-down lights or floor lights that can be placed around baseboards.

    You’re going to be sitting for long hours, so invest in an ergonomic chair that includes a footrest. Elevating your feet promotes good posture and reduces back pain. Consider a standing desk, which adjusts up and down. Take turns between sitting and standing during the day.

    Place your desk, if possible, in the middle of the room where there is space on all sides, allowing you to get up and walk around unimpeded. That will give you a sense of freedom and a reminder to take breaks. Remember to go outside, take off your shoes and stand on the grass. Breathe.

    Invest in two computer monitors, regardless of the type of work you do. They encourage you to move your neck throughout the day, and it’s also less stressful than working with a single monitor with multiple tabs open.

    Do you have a separate room for your office? If so, close the door at the end of the day to delineate between work and home life. If not, create a nook or segmented space and one with good, even airflow — you want to make it easy to heat and cool the space.

    High ceilings and long-range views will add to your mental well-being. Distant views are pleasing to the eye. It’s why our eyes get tired and sore if we sit too close to the television. High ceilings give us more space, making us feel happier and less anxious. Create a calm workspace cheaply by painting an accent wall with a pleasing color.

    If you can afford it, invest in a skylight to bring in natural light, raise the ceiling or add aesthetically pleasing touches like crown molding or wainscoting. Still, you need little to create a healthy workspace.

    The design of your office leads to the psychology of how you work. Smart, simple interior design helps you work better and more efficiently. You will experience a greater quality of life, and your employer’s bottom line will benefit as well. And while you may be hard-pressed to get your boss to pay for work-from-home upgrades, remember that a home office is a tax write-off.

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    Josh Goldenberg

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  • New Study Reveals Why Not Investing in the Work-From-Home Office of Hybrid Employees Has Dire Consequences

    New Study Reveals Why Not Investing in the Work-From-Home Office of Hybrid Employees Has Dire Consequences

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A new study by Logitech of 3,000 employees and 1,000 IT hardware decision-makers in large organizations found that 89% struggle with video and 85% with audio in their work-from-home office. Less than 40% received accessories other than mice and keyboards from their organizations.

    While these results are concerning, I didn’t find them surprising. When working with client organizations to help them figure out the best hybrid work arrangements, I invariably get pushback when I bring up investing in hybrid worker home offices. CFOs don’t want to “waste” money on employee home offices after already paying for a set-up at the office; in turn, IT and facilities directors express reluctance to stretch their already-thin resources to support the tech and ergonomic needs of staff working from home.

    After all, these leaders say, we already gave in to employee demands for flexibility and allowed them to work from home part of the time. They can pay for their own equipment and furniture.

    Related: They Say Remote Work Is Bad For Employees, But Most Research Suggests Otherwise — A Behavioral Economist Explains.

    The reality of work from home office setups for hybrid employees

    In reality, the large majority of workers don’t pay to equip their home offices. When I ask about this issue in focus groups for my clients, employees tell me it’s the company’s job to fund their work-from-home needs. They feel it would be unfair for them to buy whatever they need for their home office just for the sake of doing work for the company. Indeed, in a survey I ran on LinkedIn with over 200 respondents, over two-thirds of respondents believe companies should cover the costs of equipment.

    So they end up struggling with technology and ergonomic challenges. Doing so harms their productivity since they can’t work as effectively. It undermines their wellbeing, due to physical discomfort from lack of ergonomic furniture and mental discomfort from concerns about how they appear on camera. It undercuts retention because employees feel frustrated and resentful over not having the equipment they need to do their job well.

    And it hurts their collaboration and communication: poor video and audio quality are a bigger problem for those the employee is communicating with rather than for the employee themselves. That involves other employees, but also external stakeholders, such as clients, vendors and investors.

    Related: Avoid These 3 Tempting Habits For Remote Work Productivity

    All of that harms a company’s bottom lines: as I tell leaders with whom I work, do they really want to lose a sale because they didn’t get a good microphone for their sales staff? That’s not an exaggeration: the Logitech study found that 37% of respondents hold video calls with clients.

    With 79% of companies switching to a hybrid work modality, according to the EY Work Reimagined Employer Survey, a large portion of the work employees do for a company will be done from home offices going forward. Given that, I tell my clients that it’s imperative to invest in equipping staff for work from home.

    Logitech insights on challenges and opportunities for the work-from-home office

    To find out more about the challenges and opportunities of equipping hybrid workers, I interviewed Simon Dudley, Head of Analyst Relations at Logitech, about the release of their study. He told me that Logitech discovered a common experience among most survey respondents.

    At the start of the pandemic, companies told staff to grab whatever they could from the office in the transition to remote work. And that’s what staff mostly ended up using for their home office, along with whatever additional equipment more tech-savvy staff had at home or, in some instances, chose to buy online. IT departments adopted a reactive posture: as Dudley stated, “IT departments sit there and basically wait for the phone to ring for someone to complain, at which point they go and try and fix that problem.” The problem with that posture? Most staff members “don’t even know what they could do to make their life better. But they do know what they’ve got today isn’t great.”

    The Logitech study confirms employee concerns: 64% struggle with poor or inadequate light in their homes; 60% have poor sound quality through computer speakers; and 58% need to sit in an uncomfortable position to be on camera. They waste valuable work time figuring out technology: 53% check if their speakers and microphone are working, 41% fiddle with the viewing angle of their camera, and so on.

    Yet staff don’t feel it’s right or fair for them to purchase better equipment and furniture themselves, and don’t feel empowered to reach out to IT or facilities to fix these problems. As Dudley said “the users are like, well, I assume this is the best that’s available. I mean, they’ve given me a laptop. I’ve got all the things, how can I say to the IT department, I want better when they don’t even know better exists?”

    Of course, it’s not only IT and facilities that need to step up. Dudley pointed out that HR needs to get involved. After all, they are responsible for talent management. Optimizing employee productivity, wellbeing and collaboration through support for worker home offices should be a major concern for them. Dudley told me that it’s simple: just go to HR and ask them “how much does it cost you when your workers are off sick with RSI issues or with eye strain or with migraines.” By comparison, the cost of equipping a home office is small, and this wellbeing benefit doesn’t account for boosted productivity and collaboration.

    Related: Malcolm Gladwell’s Fears About Remote Work Are Real. It’s Your Brain That’s Telling You Lies — Here’s Why.

    Work from home office funding: A case study

    Then, I asked Dudley to give feedback on how I helped my consulting clients determine how to support the home offices of their workers, using the example of the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute.

    First, we surveyed staff to determine their needs and concerns regarding technology and furniture, focusing on how we can help them be more productive and have better ergonomics and wellbeing. We encouraged employees to volunteer any suggestions on specific technology and furniture solutions they found to be a good fit for their needs. We also had the Institute’s IT and facilities staff conduct in-depth research on market options based on survey results.

    Then, we determined an initial list of standardized equipment that IT and facilities felt comfortable they could support in employee home offices. We shared the list with staff members in another survey and revised it based on their responses.

    Next, we purchased equipment for staff members and shipped it to their homes. For anyone who needed help with the equipment, we arranged for home visits by IT and facilities staff. To address tax concerns, we developed a policy asking staff members leaving the organization to donate any bulky furniture that was impractical to return to facilities. Finally, we covered the costs of fast broadband for staff.

    Dudley applauded this approach as exemplary. He did highlight that sometimes staff don’t know what they need because they may not be aware of relevant capabilities, and thus encouraged providing more hands-on guidance and expertise. I integrated that approach into my work with future clients.

    Conclusion

    In short, failing to invest in hybrid worker home offices is penny-wise, but pound-foolish. We know that much if not most of the work done by staff members for the large majority of companies going forward will be from home offices. And most employees won’t buy quality tech and furniture: they feel it’s not fair to ask them to do so. Companies that fail to invest in home offices will lose out on productivity, wellbeing, retention, collaboration and communication, all of which will reflect poorly on their bottom lines.

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    Gleb Tsipursky

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  • How to Create a Productive Home Office Anywhere You Go

    How to Create a Productive Home Office Anywhere You Go

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Traveling is a big part of life for most entrepreneurs. As an artist and owner of a business that specializes in niche marketing and PR, I need to be presentable no matter where I am. Traveling is a huge part of what I do, both for business and pleasure. I do work from anywhere and everywhere: Whether it’s in a camper or a fancy hotel lobby, on a ski lift, at a bar or even when I’m at my grandma’s house for a family dinner.

    I’d like to share a few tips that have helped me eliminate challenges and enabled me to focus no matter where I am. As we like to say in German, udbung macht den Meister, which means “exercise makes a master” — learning by doing is surely the way to go. Here are some insider tips to make your life easier:

    Related: The Pros and Cons of Working From Anywhere

    1. Stay organized

    Keep your things clean and organized. This will allow you to find exactly what you’re looking for faster, so you can keep focused on the task at hand instead of getting distracted by searching for something you’ve lost. Reorganize your travel bag, backpack or computer bag every day. It will take only a few minutes if you do it regularly.

    2. Create a short but solid to-do list

    Airports, business meetings, packing, unpacking, scheduling calls, trying to get some sleep and still look decent can get chaotic. Make a to-do list of things that must be done in just the next 12 hours, not more. Don’t overdo it. Create that list every night, and put it out next to your phone or laptop so that it is the first thing in the morning that you see. Keep it around you all day until you are done with it. For example, your daily list might look something like this:

    Unwanted mail, advertisements and things of that nature can be an annoying challenge and create clutter. You can make a daily contribution to sustainability by using the opened envelopes from the mail you receive to create your to-do lists each day. I like to use orange or purple ink to write my lists — there’s more on the reason behind that in the next section.

    3. Understand the environmental impacts on your brain while working

    An understanding of colors and how the overall environment subconsciously affects your mood and wellness is crucial if you want to be able to work more efficiently anywhere, at any time. Regarding colors and their typical effects, some of the most uplifting and motivating, yet not overstimulating colors include green, purple and orange — hence, my choice of ink colors referenced above. Blue is known to calm the senses but can perhaps make you too calm and possibly trigger depression. Red is often associated with anger or aggression. The precise effects of color on each individual depend on their personal circumstances, so it’s best to conduct some research based on your own needs.

    Related: 8 of the Best Travel Spots to Work Remotely

    4. Choose a view

    Studies have shown that exposure to nature benefits mental health and reduces stress. Depending on where you find yourself, put yourself in a position where you have a view of something that is either relaxing or neutral, not overstimulating. For example, a mellow restaurant or coffee shop with an outdoor patio area (preferably) that has a view of the majestic Pacific Ocean would be relaxing (as long as the surf does not look too scary that day!) When I was recently on the exotic island of Kauai in Hawaii, I chose a view of the volcano canyon which encompassed the beautiful rain forest with an entire color palette of greens.

    When in New York City, there are many designer boutique hotels with great décor and colorful art in the lobbies. You don’t need to stay there to work there. The surroundings have a mood-elevating effect. Or you could bring the work to a museum; for example, a place such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art inspires me to be more creative.

    5. Find the right environment for you

    Art has a huge impact on mental health and stress reduction. Different images, paintings, photographs or sculptures can affect you in multiple ways. Once again, the colors play a very important role as well. If you are in a tight spot, facing a time constraint or an imminent deadline, try to stay away from the color red as it tends to bring up negative feelings. On the other hand, if you feel down or are experiencing low energy, the color red can help in a smaller dose. For example, you could wear a red t-shirt or set up a red screen protector. Choose blue or purple for more creativity and mellowness. Purple also helps enhance problem-solving skills, orange supports optimism, and green fosters a sense of harmony. Avoid images that could trigger stress or those that might bring up bad memories. If the art or the color in your immediate environment is creating issues for you, set yourself up elsewhere in the room.

    6. Use reminders to improve your focus

    Use a tool as a gentle reminder to keep you in a focused working mode. It could be anything, such as a sticker on your laptop that shares a positive message or even some uplifting words on the mug that’s by your side. A nice little notebook that could also be used for the above-mentioned to-do list can be easy to consult. Additionally, you can write down some thoughts and reminders to “tune out” from all that surrounds you. Sometimes it can be good to put yourself into working mode by creating a pleasant bubble and keeping the outside world out of it.

    The influence of various intensities of Hz sound waves on the ability to concentrate or focus has been demonstrated in various recent studies. When music was tuned to 432 Hz as opposed to 440 Hz, the subjects of the study showed a marked decrease in heart rate and slight decreases in both the respiratory rate and blood pressure. Experimenting with different wavelengths of music and sound or listening to recordings of the ocean or other natural sounds can relax you and help you to focus on the tasks at hand.

    Related: 9 Products That Can Help You Work From Anywhere This Summer

    7. Remember to breathe

    Studies have shown that taking control of your breath and using meditation can have major positive impacts on your brain and on your entire body. These methods are being employed in schools around the world to elevate the concentration of students before class. What I like to do, throughout the day, is to take three deep breaths to supply the brain with fresh oxygen; if you desire, you can conduct a short meditation session while you are doing the breathing exercises.

    Wrap up your day

    Remember to cross items off the to-do list as they are completed. This elevates your sense of accomplishment and is also very satisfying. Be sure to write down the next steps for follow-up actions you need to take so that when you next pick up your work, you can start exactly where you left off. These little things can all make a big difference to your productivity at the office, whether at home or away!

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    Oliwia Szczekot

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