Tag: remote working

How to make your home office more energy efficient

How to make your home office more energy efficient

There are lots of benefits to working from home. During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people found themselves creating makeshift home offices. Now, many companies are making remote and hybrid working the norm for their employees. If you’re one of these people, then it’s time to level up your home office.

There’s no shortage of information on how to design and decorate your home office; however, you should also think about making it as energy efficient as possible. After all, you’ll be spending a lot of time in it and an inefficient space is bad for the environment and your utility bills. You don’t want to be wasting all of that money you’re saving on not commuting.

illustration of a home office with sofa, shelves and picture

Insulation

If your home office isn’t well insulated, then you’re just going to be spending money trying to heat it up or cool it down. So start with a solid foundation and ensure that your windows are draft-free and have no gaps.

Have your walls and ceiling lined with Celotex insulation board to keep precious heat from escaping your home.

illustration of a warm home office

Watch the thermostat

In general, a temperature of between 18-21ºC is optimum for adults. If you have any medical conditions or are one of those people who’s always cold, then it could be tempting to turn up the heating.

While every once and a while won’t make much difference; if you’re working from home every day, the heating costs are soon going to add up.

Rather than immediately reaching for the heating controls, try putting on an extra layer of clothing or something warm on your feet.

illustration of working on a computer at night

Use energy-efficient lighting

If you work late, or throughout the winter months, you’ll have lights on for long periods. Replace your bulbs with more energy-efficient ones to reduce the amount of electricity you’re using – and your bills. Energy-efficient bulbs cost more to buy, but they last a lot longer and are better value for money in the longer term.

Illustration of a home office

Switch everything off

It seems that everything is designed to be left on standby these days. Some items don’t even have an off button. While standby is preferable to leaving everything switched on, it still uses a significant amount of electricity if things are switched on 24/7.

At the end of your workday, switch off all of your electronic devices. To make this easier for yourself, attach them all to smart plugs so that you can control them from your phone or smart speaker. You can even set a timer for all of the plugs to switch off at a particular time, just in case you forget.

Illustration of a home office desk with coding books

Final thoughts

Working from home can bring with it a lot of benefits in terms of the types of jobs you can apply for, work-life balance and saving money. But it does mean that you’ll be using much more energy at home, which could have a huge impact on your energy bills. So it makes sense to make your home office as energy-efficient as possible.

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How to make your home office modern and stylish

How to make your home office modern and stylish

Working from home, or hashtag ‘WFH’, is the new normal. Despite the fact that the world is opening up, more people are working from home than ever before. The novelty of working from home wears off quite quickly therefore, creating a plush, modern home office might provide you with the motivation that you need to get focused and boost your productivity.

Here are some essential tips to help you turn your home office space into a modern and stylish workspace.

Minimalist home office

Eliminate clutter

There’s nothing worse than a cluttered, overcrowded workspace. Especially if your work requires razor-sharp focus and attention. Studies show that clean, clutter-free workspaces boost creativity and productivity. Get rid of clutter by using the Marie Kondo method; if it doesn’t bring you joy, get rid of it.

Give it away, swap it or sell it. Once you’ve cleared the clutter, you can start with a clean, blank canvas to create the workspace of your dreams.

Home office with teal feature wall

Colour scheme

There is no ideal colour scheme for a modern workspace, choose the colour scheme that works for you and find pieces that complement and accentuate those colours. For example, if you wanted to go down the simple, minimal route, you could opt for neutral shades like white and light grey. Add pops of colour like yellow, blush pink or bold turquoise. Create an accent wall using your colour pop shade to add some drama to the room.

Home office furniture

Furniture

Choose the right furniture to fit your taste and needs. The most important furniture in the room for a home office is the desk and chair because that is where you will be spending most of your time. You can either choose a desk and chair set or purchase them separately. You need to search for a modern chair and desk to match the contemporary theme of your workspace.

Grey decorated home office

Accessories

Accessories complement the main pieces in the room. Consider getting a desk lamp, one or two bean bags, maybe a comfortable armchair and throw cushions. Art is always a good idea, opt for contemporary picture frames and find art that complements the colour scheme and overall look and feel of the room. Add curtains or blinds to dress the windows and purchase desk accessories like a desk tidy, flowers and other items to give your desk the wow factor. If you prefer a minimal approach, just keep your desk clean and free from clutter and accessories.

Home office storage solutions

Storage

Storage is crucial, especially in an office space where things can get messy pretty quickly. Get some modern ottomans, storage boxes and maybe some drawers to complement your desk. Storage accessories will keep your workspace free from clutter, clean and minimal.

A modern, well-designed home workspace will improve your work flow and boost your motivation to complete tasks. Choose modern furniture, add pops of colour and invest in some high-quality accessories to complement your space. Storage is also vital if you want to keep your workspace clutter-free. Contemporary artwork could also provide your workspace with an extra creative element to give your home office a peaceful and inviting ambience.

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Benefits of remote access for small businesses

Benefits of remote access for small businessescredit

With a small business, it’s important to note that remote access isn’t something that will only be beneficial for larger corporations. A lot of small businesses are finding that when they can access office files and resources remotely it provides a lot of benefits for the business as well as for employees. Supporting flexible and remote working is an obvious benefit, and by using remote access it means that the business will still be able to keep up to date and catch up, in this post-pandemic era. Remote access solutions are something that can benefit your small business, and they don’t have to be things that are expensive or out of your budget.

Illustration of remote working outdoors

Flexible office solutions

One of the big costs that a business will have is the office space that they occupy. With employees who work flexibly and work remotely the majority of the time, you can reduce the office space that you use, if you need one at all. If there are fewer workers that need a desk space, the cheaper or smaller place that you could rent for an office, if at all. As the site https://physicaladdress.com shows, you don’t have to have a physical office space to be able to get business mail, neither do you need to include a personal address on a business website. If you do decide to go down the route of getting rid of the physical office, then you have real flexibility as well as more adjustable office solutions.

Interview taking place over a conference call

Talent recruitment

If you work flexibly and run this across the whole of your small business, then it improves the talent pool that you can reach when it comes to recruitment. Normally, the talent pool for a business only extends to people who live in a commutable distance from the office. However, if you work flexibly and allow employees to work remotely, then it increases the geographical location of potential candidates. You can really choose the best people that apply, rather than having to choose the people that apply only because they live in the vicinity.

In a similar vein, you can also have continued access to existing staff. If they’re moving home to a different part of the country, they don’t have to leave working for you when remote access is implemented. Another benefit for business and the business budget.

Three people working remotely and collaboratively

Collaborative working and resource sharing

When you have a remote working business, you can work with colleagues on a collaborative basis, as well as externally with clients, third parties or suppliers. When you interact remotely, it helps to save time on travel, save money and improve productivity on the part of all involved.

Using remote access and accessing something in the cloud for document sharing means that you can share work with others, wherever they are in the world. As documented here, https://workplace.com/cloud-collaboration, cloud collaboration can be something that can really benefit business and be a good thing for employees too. You just need to think outside the box and it will help to make a difference to how your business works.

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