9 Ways to Make Your Home More Work-Friendly

Having a work-friendly home can help you be more productive, especially with all the distractions at home. Here are some ways to do this.

Your enthusiasm for working from home diminishes if your home office isn't work-friendly. Less focus, constant distractions, and noises within your environment can impact your productivity negatively.

How can you make your home more work-friendly to increase your efficiency and productivity? Read along as we share some effective tips.

1. Create a Comfortable Seating Arrangement

Since your home office is where you’ll be spending a lot of time working, how you structure your seating there is very important. Before you rush off to purchase furniture and equipment, you first need to determine how the layout of your home office will fit your work needs and the available square footage.

It helps to understand the type and size of furniture you will need. Your desk angle setting should be where the window reflection isn’t too bright, and it shouldn’t be backing up the door. The desk position is called the commanding position. And according to Feng Shui principles, this placement helps you craft the best energy to be in control of whatever drives your way.

Also, your chair should be comfortable enough not to cause back soreness or pain. Even if you may not be receiving visitors in your home office, it’s okay to add an extra chair to make it office-like.

2. Set Up Speedy Internet Connection

A stable internet connection keeps communication smooth between you and your clients or the outside world. When your internet is slow, it can be frustrating and delays your workflow.

Identify the best internet network in your location and go for it. Sometimes, internet slowness is due to data shortage. Check if you have reached the internet cap. Most times, when you exhaust your internet or reach its capacity, it slows down.

You can also consider repositioning the router to another location. While doing this, remember to adjust the router’s antenna to seek a better signal. It would be best if you were up-to-date with the latest version of your router firmware. Periodic updates aid in securing it and making it run at its maximum peak. Likewise, running an antivirus on it is essential.

Know that some new routers can automatically update their firmware without you doing the work. You should also remove or disconnect devices that aren’t in use or functioning from your network. When a network carries more than it should, it automatically slows it down. Alternatively, you can use channel bonding to increase your internet speed.

3. Create a Software Stack

Being more organized with your online software makes it easier to locate your work quickly as a remote worker. Creating a software stack helps combine all your independent software into one for better performance.

When picking software for stack creation, you shouldn’t randomly select software. Check out the best remote work tools to boost your productivity. Any software you integrate into the stack should correlate.

Also, consider the distinctions between all-in-one software platforms, specialized tools, off-the-shelf tools, and customized software development. Ensure that the tools you select are for the long run to enhance business growth. Look out for tools that are affordable, customizable, and scalable.

4. Make Your Space Green With Plants

If you don’t have any green plants in your home working space, you might consider getting one because having one or two green plants in your home office can help improve work efficiency. Green plants enhance employees' concentration and efficiency at work.

They also reduce fatigue and increase the attention span. Green plants like rubber trees and spider plants are great for eliminating toxins to permit fresh air in the room. A stuffy room or lack of air can cause dizziness and a lack of concentration.

One good green plant for your home office is the lemon balm. This plant aids in releasing stress and helps maintain clear thoughts.

5. Allow Natural Lighting In

When setting up your home office, you might want to add numerous artificial lights to brighten the room. However, it helps to let natural lighting into the room. Natural lighting makes the room more homely and airy. You don't have to feel like you’re in an enclosed space.

Natural lighting can also give home meetings more video quality and tone. Workers feel more attached when they practice their work in natural light. So, open the windows and allow more natural light to flow into your home office.

6. Tidy Up Your Space

A neat space makes you feel ready to take on the day's challenge. This is why making your bed every morning immediately after you wake up is good advice. Just as a cluttered desktop reflects your personality, having clutter in your home office reflects your work quality.

Tidying up your home office space helps improve efficiency, creates zero room for a cluster, reminds you of the task you’re presently focusing on, and also prevents allergies due to the accumulation of mold and dust.

7. Build the Right Mood With Artificial Lighting

Having mentioned that natural lighting in your home office is better when compared to artificial lighting, there are cases when it’s okay to improvise. You can opt-in for artificial lighting when you don’t have office windows or the lightning coming from your window is faint.

To get the best lighting in your room, consider positioning the bulbs across the room instead of placing them in one location. By doing this, the light from the bulbs can spread across the room, hitting all areas. If you work in the evening or late at night, ‌invest in an accent desk lamp. This can help you improve your concentration on the tasks at your desk.

8. Create a Filing Cabinet

Instead of tossing or piling your files and folders on your office floor, create a filing cabinet to stay more organized. You can arrange folders and documents alphabetically or numerically for easy access. This helps in efficient file management.

You don't have to spend a lot of money creating your cabinet. With a speedy internet connection in place, you can watch Do-It-Yourself (DIY) videos online to create a decent filing cabinet for your home office.

9. Set Up a Hardware Stack

Similar to software stacking, setting up a hardware stack makes carrying out your everyday office duties easier for you. Your home office needs the right equipment to function effectively. Devices such as desktops/laptops, printers, scanners, and the like are necessary to perform basic office roles.

If you haven’t stacked hardware before, you should seek the help of a professional computer for a sleek installation process.

Boosting Efficiency in Your Home Office

Efficiency isn't exclusive to a traditional office setting. You can create the right atmosphere for your work in any location.

Working from home can be intriguing and financially viable if you set up a work-friendly space. With the right environment, software and hardware, your output will be of high quality.