3 keys to creating a home office you’ll love working in


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Working from home — or telecommuting — is big and it’s getting bigger. Some 23% of businesses offer home work option and 18% of employed Canadians say they roll out of their bed and into their office chair at least some of the time. Factor in entrepreneurs too and a lot of us now call home our workplace.

As an at-home worker, you could save between $2,000 and $7,000 in transportation and other costs annually, a nice bundle of cash to help create a healthy and productive home office you’ll enjoy working in.

Here are 3 ways to make telecommuting work for you:

  1. Location: You’re going to be doing real work, not your taxes, so don’t make your kitchen your office. Choose a spare bedroom, if possible, or an area of your home where you won’t hear your kids playing video games or your spouse on the phone.
  1. Home office, not office home: You don’t have to work in a drab office so don’t replicate that environment at home. Give yourself ample space, plenty of natural light, a desk light, an ergonomic chair and a large enough computer screen. If looking out the window won’t distract you (much), orient your desk so you face a window — heck, your boss had a corner office with a view, why shouldn’t you?
  1. Smart filing: While you don’t want to work in a tiny impersonal office cubicle, you may not have a huge space to devote to your home office. Be sure to organize filing and storage effectively in a way that complements your work style — drawers or filing cabinet, for instance, but not boxes or piles on the floor. Except for your most pressing to-do items, keep your stored papers behind you or in a closet while you’re working.

You’ll find more great home office design ideas here and here. Do you work at home? Tell us about what you love — or dislike — most about it and how you make your home office space work for you in the Shop Talk Blog community forum!

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Did you know: Alberta tops telecommuting?

Some 34% of Alberta businesses offer telecommuting to their employees, BC is second at 26% and Saskatchewan and Quebec are tied for third. (Source)

 

 

8 thoughts on “3 keys to creating a home office you’ll love working in

  1. Could you please send me more information?. I am very interested in working from home. Been out in the public with Human Services for 36 years. Time for a change.=

  2. I have worked in my home office for 20 ( yes, twenty ) years. Many of the suggestions that have been mentioned, I have adopted over the years. A couple of things I do every day: kiss my wife as I ” go to work”, 95% of the time I get dressed for work… my company-logo’d shirt and dress pants, even though I may not leave my office that day. I break for a coffee and lunch and an afternoon tea. I work the full day until 5 PM. My other office is my SUV when I go out and meet with customers. I have won many sales awards and spent more time at my “office” than I would if I had to leave home to another building. You must discipline yourself that the office you have and the business you conduct is your own ” franchise” and it will succeed or fail in relation to the amount of work you invest.

  3. In my opinion, home offices are the healthiest advancement that has come along with the personal computers. Home offices allow a person to show his/her own creativity, set up their own time management schedules, no longer stress over situations such as being sick or having family that is sick.
    Home offices are beneficial not only in the big cities where distances to drive to work can become expensive as well as stressful but also in the smaller urban centers.
    To set up a home office does not mean that you need a ton of extra space in your home.
    If you have an extra room that you can transform into an at home office great but if you are working with limited space then here are some suggestions.
    1. If your dining room is lucky enough to have a large window on the back wall, start here when you begin your setup. Begin by getting yourself a smaller (but not too small) corner desk. Next figure out what you need for drawer/storage/filing space. If you think outside of the box there are numerous different pieces of furniture that will fit your custom needs. Make sure that whatever you choose does not cover your window. Nothing is better than to be able to have the natural sunlight brightening up your day.
    I like the idea of having my office in my dining room because it provides me the opportunity to be even more involve in my family’s live. After all isn’t that the absolute best part of working at home?
    The placement of your office in your home isn’t what is going to make your job work or fail, that comes from within. Your work ethic is what controls how you work and what you are willing to put in.
    2. No matter where you set up your home office make sure that you remember to still have a “home”. Set a time for yourself that you will shut the computer down and walk away for the evening. If you don’t do this you can become a workaholic just as easy if not easier at home than in some cubicle across town.
    3. Home offices also don’t have to be expensive. Remember I said think outside the box. If you need storage but only have so much space, check out places like Walmart. My office needed narrow storage/filing cabinets. Regular cabinets were all to wide so instead I picked up pantry cupboards. They come with adjustable shelves & doors and if you need drawers for filing then just take off the door, take out shelves and put in two sets of 4 plastics drawers. Works great.
    Have fun creating your own home office.

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