Thanks to an upturn in both self-employment and flexible working trends, the home office is emerging as one of the most important residential amenities. According to the latest ONS figure over 1.54 million people in the UK do the majority of their job at home and many more work from home at least one day a week. With options ranging from integrated systems to stand-alone ‘shed quarters’ at home, workers aren’t just making do, they’re finding their own ways to work.
Where is your home office going to be located?
Advantages of home-working are obvious – a comfortable environment, no need to travel to and from work, fewer overheads, and much more. But there can be disadvantages – distractions and a decrease in productivity. That is why it is so important to arrange a convenient, practical and functional working space in their home that provides a balance between relaxation and productivity. You may have a dedicated room already allocated but many of us don’t have the luxury of a study. Even if you do, is it really a place you can feel happy to work in?
The home office could be a:
- a separate room – study, attic space, basement, spare bedroom
- a separate building – annex, chalet, above a garage, ‘shed quarters’, outbuildings
- a multi-purpose room – living room, bedroom or kitchen-diner.
It might be useful to experiment before investing in your set up. Sometimes places that seem unlikely turn out to be real havens of productivity!
The main restriction for the home-office is space, whether a separate room or building is available, or whether the office is shared with a living space. The advantage of a dedicated building is that people can achieve the perfect balance of working at home with the psychological satisfaction of walking out of a room and turning the lights off. Where there is a shared space, there is a greater need to be flexible. We’ll come onto some innovative space-saving ideas in Part 2.
The Legal Bits
Working from home is normally pretty straight-forward and you won’t need permission, however if you are employed rather than self-employed your employer has a duty of care to ensure your workspace is safe and fulfils requirements for employee well-being standards. Before you embark on your home office plan check with your employer about what policies and requirements they have. There may also be planning covenants that prevent working from home – check your lease or tenancy agreement. It is unusual but it’s good to check, especially if you are planning to work with a colleague or invite people to your residence for meetings.
Start Planning What You Need and Want
Your specific job determines what you need from your home office. As interior designers we need a large desk space to mark up plans, a large format printer, two screens, a wide plan chest, somewhere to house samples and all the other accoutrements of a desk job. Make a list of everything you need to hand. Do you need a bookshelf with all your tomes of reference books in reach. Do you need multiple computers to render heavy files or do you need a packing area to fulfil orders from your online store? Once you have a list of the essentials you can start to work out how your potentially limited space is going to contain these items.
Consider whether you really really need this equipment. For example if you occasionally need to scan and email a document do you really need a flat-bed scanner? Could you just photograph it on your phone? If you occasionally need to provide photocopies would it not be better to use your local print shop? This is time to declutter your workspace, don’t get any equipment that is not vital to your job.
In Part 2 we get down to the fun stuff. Start your design, find innovative space-saving solutions and begin to enjoy your new home office!
Need some help with your home office or need to order furniture? Get in touch.
We work with Peter Green who have a great selection of furniture for your home office.
