Design Your Office for Productivity!
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According to Darrell Zahorsky of About.com, Small Business Information, “You may not have time or budget for an office design makeover, but a few simple ideas can go far in boosting your business productivity.”
When it comes to designing your home office, you must make it so your productivity will be high. You need to watch your brand; keep noise to a minimum; add elements of nature in; make sure ergonomics are as they should be and go for natural lighting whenever possible.
If you work at home, you know the challenges that come with being disciplined and time efficient. Ask yourself if your office is somewhere you want to be. Is it inspiring, thought provoking, full of light and does it make you feel happy and wanting to produce?
Watch Your Brand
Your brand is extremely important if your clients come to your home office as clients notice all of the details, big and small. The image you wish to project is very important to your success and level of productivity. You need to both look and feel the brand that you have chosen. Do not allow your furniture and office equipment become out of date or is will not contribute to the image you are trying to portray. If cost makes it difficult to keep as up to date as you would like then spend money on the most visible items in your office. You can keep your old fax machine out of sight easier than you can hide your computer or the chair a client sits in!
Keep Noise to a Minimum
The amount of noise around you can affect your working environment. Do whatever needs to be done to minimize irritating sounds that can affect your work performance. Move noisy office equipment as far away from the walls as you can; consider putting in carpeting or area rugs; curtains or office dividers. Shut your door if there is noise in the hallway. Create barriers to noise in whatever ways you can muster.
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“Increased stress levels and increased stress hormone levels may occur even when you are not consciously aware of the stress.” Dr. Melissa Stoppler, About.com Guide to Stress Management |
Nature is Needed
Nature is calming as well as relaxing to the body and mind. Your psychological health as well as your physiological functioning needs nature breaks to keep you on track. Situate your home office in a place where you will have plenty of windows so you can let in sunlight and fresh air. If you enjoy watching rain fall or seeing it on the windowpanes then you should make sure you give this to yourself. It is a simple pleasure that can add up to a lot of relief when you are starting to feel stressed or over worked.
Buy some real plants for your office and have a vase of flowers on or near your desk as often as possible. This helps to bring more oxygen into the room. Photos of nature such as rolling hills, waterfalls, beaches or snowy mountain ranges can also be encouraging and uplifting to your psyche.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is a newer field of study that has come into being because of the vast number of people who spend their work days sitting in front of a computer. This area examines the close connection between people and their proximity to machines. In other words how your body is affected by using office equipment on a consistent basis and its effect on your health on both a short term and long term basis.
If your office is set up in a way that the ergonomic design is improper this can have a tremendous negative impact on your health and work performance and can lead to injuries. Keep these simple rules in mind for proper ergonomic alignment:
-Your eyes should be at least 24 to 36 inches from your computer screen and the top of your monitor should be at your eye level or slightly below it. (To prevent eye and neck discomfort, tilt the bottom of your monitor slightly up from the bottom of it as the top of the monitor should be a greater distance from your eyes than the bottom)
-Your feet should either be planted on the floor or they should be comfortably resting on a foot stool.
-Recline your chair slightly in order to reduce the pressure on your spine and in particular to minimize the chance that you will develop pain in your lower back.
Important to note: Appropriate lighting is of the essence. You need your lighting to be suitable for your office and the work you are doing. Natural and ambient lighting is best. If you need to spend hours on end working on a computer then dim the fluorescent lights and instead give yourself a softer light in the background. Do not use one big light to light up the entire room. You are not working on a movie set after all! Instead create layers of light throughout the room. Use a variety of lamps as well as task lights.
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Disclaimer: Ideawala.com does not recommend or endorse the products or services mentioned by the authors. We have not verified authors' credentials. We do not guarantee the accuracy of the information in the article or the earnings claims. Nothing in this article should be construed as business, legal or tax advice. Please consult a professional business advisor, an attorney or an account for specific advice in your situation.
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