Working From Home For Dummies

Tara Powers

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781119748496
• eBook ISBN: 9781119748373
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Small Business
• Index: Business

Your essential guide to working from home and staying connected

In today's networked global economy, working from home is no longer a novelty. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and organizations everywhere are embracing the game-changing benefits of allowing employees to work outside the office, and the results are profound: managers benefit by saving money and resources and by having access to talent outside their zip codes, while employees enjoy greater job opportunities, productivity, independence, and satisfaction—in part from the time saved not commuting. According to one source, 85% of businesses say that productivity increased along with greater flexibility—and 90% of employees say that flexibility boosted their morale.

Working From Home For Dummies, gathers the expertise of multiple industry experts, featuring best of the best content from Virtual Teams For Dummies, Managing For Dummies, 3E, Company Culture For Dummies, Zoom For Dummies, Microsoft Teams For Dummies, Slack For Dummies, Mindfulness For Dummies, 3E, and Stretching For Dummies, as well as new material from award-winning author Tara Powerson setting expectations and boundaries, and more.

• Set up your workspace
• Stay connected to your team
• Run productive online meetings
• Get in the right headspace

This book is the full guide on how to successfully work with virtual teams, whether you are a team member or a manager.

Part 1

Getting Started with Working From Home

IN THIS PART …

Set up your workspace in the right spot and with the right gear.

Develop skills and behaviors to ensure success, such as establishing goals and priorities, managing your time effectively, and boosting your productivity and motivation.

Follow virtual meeting etiquette, from checking your background to minimizing noise and more.

Chapter 1

Setting Up Your Workspace

IN THIS CHAPTER

Finding the perfect place for your home office

Equipping your home office

Imposing order on the chaos of working from home

Personalizing your workspace

Working from home brings both benefits and challenges. Initially, it may seem like the ability to work from home is the most important option for any job you’re considering. Given that you can save hours of time not commuting, walk your dog whenever you want, and stay in sweatpants all day if you feel like it, working from home can feel like a dream come true.

However, many professionals quickly find that working from home is frustrating, distracting, and uncomfortable if they don’t have a designated workspace and proper setup that allows them to be productive, available, and efficient in their home environment.

The bottom line is that productive work can happen in a variety of home workspaces. You don’t need to build an addition to your house for the perfect executive-level home office suite. Instead, some tried-and-true best practices can yield a functional and comfortable workspace. Hint: It’s not your bed or the living room sofa.

This chapter walks you through all the factors to consider when setting up your home office, including picking the best location for your office, ensuring you have all the right equipment, and keeping your workspace organized, ergonomically friendly, and pleasant.

Choosing the Right Spot in Your Home

The first order of business when working from home is setting up a workspace that’s as functional and comfortable as possible, even if you have limited space. If you work from home, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a freelancer, or a remote team member, you need to have a dedicated space to get work done.

Home offices are as individual and varied as the people who work in them. They come in all sizes, shapes, colors, degrees of privacy, and ability to control noise and interruptions. What works for some can be completely nonfunctional for others.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a dedicated office space in your home, good for you! But if your home office is in your basement without natural light and with terrible Wi-Fi reception, you may need to rethink where to work each day. In the following sections, I walk you through the top factors to consider when choosing the perfect spot for your home office.

Picking the best room

When you’re finding a place for your home office, you’ll want to consider factors such as location, lighting, the amount of space, and the level of privacy.

A separate room in your home is not required to get work done. So, as you read through the following sections, consider all your options to find the spot in your home that meets your needs, whether that’s a spare bedroom or a corner of your living room.

When you’re choosing a place for your home office, consider the following factors:

• Location: Consider the type of work you do and the equipment you need. If you’re a graphic designer, you may require a design table, along with a desk for your computer. If you’re a consultant, you’ll most likely need space for filing cabinets, shelves for books, and possibly a seating area to meet with clients.
  

  Try to find a space in your home that provides some quiet and privacy (for example, when you’re having an important meeting). Ideally, your home office will have a door so you can block out distractions and noise, have phone and video calls, and effectively separate your work space from your home space. If you don’t have a separate room to dedicate to your home office, try to find a place that’s removed enough from the main living space that you can get some quiet when you need it (maybe by asking your housemates to go in another room for short periods of time).
  

  Whether you have a door or not, choosing a dedicated location to get work done will set a boundary for housemates, letting them know that when you’re there, you’re working and you may not be available.
• Light: There are many reasons to consider lighting in the early stages of your workspace planning. Having enough light is necessary to reduce eye strain, headaches, drowsiness, fatigue, and depression.
  Whenever possible, try to get light from natural light sources (sunlight streaming through a window) as opposed to artificial ones (a lamp). The benefits of natural light include alertness and an overall sense of well-being. And where there’s natural light, there is likely to be a view of the outdoors. Turning away from your computer every few minutes and looking outside can create a moment of mindfulness and peace. This simple strategy can affect your overall productivity and motivation. It doesn’t take much natural light to fill a small space and elevate your mood.
  

  Even if your workspace gets plenty of natural light during the day, you’ll need to add a light source to have enough light for winter months and evenings. Be sure to keep supplemental lighting indirect, and avoid working under the direct glare of overhead lights. Use lampshades to soften and diffuse the light.
  

  Floor lamps can provide a lot of light but also take up coveted space in small areas and can make it feel cramped. Consider hanging pendant lights to keep the light source off the ground and free up valuable space.
• Wi-Fi: Having access to a strong, reliable Internet connection is essential for home-based workers. Before you settle on your workspace, make sure you can get online and stay online consistently throughout your workday.
  

  Choosing a space that’s close to your router can help provide a stronger Wi-Fi connection.
• Electrical outlets: You need power outlets near your workspace to plug in a computer, printer, lighting, phone charger, and potentially a router or a wireless booster. Consider whether you’ll be doing a lot of video calls and test out a mock call in potential workspace areas of your house to see how it looks. A plain wall that isn’t too distracting is a good backdrop, and proper lighting will make the video quality better, too.

Don’t worry if your workspace isn’t ideal. You don’t need a soundproof home office. Ask yourself the following questions before randomly choosing your workspace. You don’t want to set up shop in one area of the home only to have to move to another spot if it’s not working for you.

• What is the regular work that you’ll be doing and how much space do you need to spread out?
• Where is your router? If you can’t set up your workspace near your router, can you get a booster if your router isn’t close by?
• Will you need some type of room divider to separate your workspace from your personal space?
• Where is the natural light best in your home?
• Are there enough electrical outlets for all your gadgets and a surge protector?
• Is the workspace quiet or can it be if necessary?
• Is there enough room for necessary equipment like a computer, printer, storage, shelves, chair, desk, monitor, and/or paper shredder?
• Is the background acceptable for video calls and meetings with clients?

Creating an effective layout

Your home office may need to fit into a small or unique space or even share space with another room in your house, like a living room, dining room, or bedroom. This can absolutely work for you! By getting creative with space, form, and function, you can create an optimal home office space that is effective and allows you to be productive during the workday.

Using the space you have

When space is limited, you’ll have to get creative when figuring out where your designated workspace will be. If you’re using your living room or bedroom for this dual purpose, consider putting your desk behind your couch and adding a throw rug under the desk to create an area that’s at least visually separate from the rest of the room. If you’re using your bedroom, a room divider can help to keep your personal space, well, perso...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: Getting Started with Working From Home
• Part 2: Staying in Touch with Slack
• Part 3: Focusing on Zoom
• Part 4: Taking Advantage of Microsoft Teams
• Part 5: Managing Employees from Home
• Part 6: Adding Balance and Peace to Your Work-at-Home Life
• Part 7: The Part of Tens
• Index
• About the Authors
• Advertisement Page
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement