Setting up a home office: the essentials

Setting up a home office: the essentials

Setting up a home office: the essentials

Telecommuting is set to be the way of the future for businesses and staff. Increasingly, businesses are finding that they can save significantly by doing away with physical office premises and having their staff telecommute from their home office set-ups. And ever-growing numbers of start-ups are discovering that they can lower their overheads by running their business from home.

It makes sense to set-up your office at home. For staff, it means more flexibility with working hours, and time and money saved by eliminating the commute to work. While for business owners, it means you only have to pay rent and upkeep costs on one premises (your home), instead of two, or even more.

But before you pack up your cubicle, there are a few things you'll need on hand to ensure your home office works as effectively as a traditional office. First and foremost is a reliable phone and internet plan. You can't afford to have any downtime when you're working from home, so ensuring your internet and phone provider is reliable and affordable is priority number one. For home businesses, having a business phone and broadband and phone line that is purely dedicated to your business also makes it easier to work out which costs you can claim as business expenses, and which are personal.

Secondly, you'll need a reliable computer and phone set-up. A laptop may be fine when you're travelling or hot-desking', but if you're working at your home office full-time, then investing in a decent-sized monitor screen will make life a lot easier. Other technological requirements are a scanner, fax machine and printer luckily these days you can often get one machine that does all of the above. And don't forget to stock up with a supply of branded stationary and office supplies you don't want to have to stop working to dash to the shops if your only pen stops working.

Two things you may not immediately think of, but which you'll soon find are essential, are a good-sized desk and a comfortable chair with good back support. Perching on a stool may seem laissez-faire and new age, but your back and neck won't thank you.

In many countries, home offices must meet the same health and safety standards as traditional offices in some cases this involves a simple self-assessment test to ensure your home office meets standard requirements your relevant government authority can offer advice on workplace health and safety legislation.

Last, but not least, is to ensure that you have a comfortable and distraction-free place to work. If your home office is in the living room and family members are likely to be using it at the same time as you're trying to work, then your productivity is unlikely to be at its best. On the same token, you don't want to lock yourself in a dark cupboard, either.

Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

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