Where do you work from home?

15 Apr Where do you work from home?

Have you selected the study? Do you like the living room? Maybe you’re keen on the kitchen?

With week 4 of the UK lockdown well underway, and little sign of the current ‘stay at home’ rules being lifted any time soon, many people have now established an office set up in their homes that’s more permanent than temporary. But which room in the house is your chosen one? And, more importantly, which room could potentially be the worst choice?

The ideal environment

For most, the ideal home working environment conjures images of a cosy study or fully equipped computer desk in a vacant room. Yet for full-time office workers, dedicated home office space has rarely been a requirement or even an option. We have found that a desk in the spare bedroom is the single most popular option for employees; it’s out of the way, doesn’t need to be vacated at night and doesn’t serve another purpose!

Popular options

Whilst the spare bedroom took the most votes, the kitchen and dining room also proved popular as working spaces. “The kitchen is particularly suitable for cognitively demanding work” states productivity expert Jonas Altman, cited by the Telegraph; it’s not overly comfortable to sit at a kitchen table or countertop for longer than a few hours, so should enable shorter but more focused bursts. The kitchen is also home to the glowing warmth of the fridge. Whether that’s a pro or a con is up to you to decide!

The dining rooms tends to offer more space to spread out and, as a room used only for meals, can offer peace and quiet that might be sparsely found elsewhere in the house. Like the kitchen, though, you may end up being interrupted regularly if you need to work during mealtimes.

Rooms to avoid

Whilst opening your laptop in bed with a cup of tea might sound like the dream, the reality of working in your bedroom could be severe lack of motivation and maybe even trouble sleeping. Working where you sleep could lead to feeling even more isolated than you already are during lockdown. Also, associating the stresses of work with the joys of rest could easily lead to sleepless nights, and negative feelings towards your beloved bed.

The living room has similar downsides; whilst it might seem appealing to get comfy on the sofa, muddying the waters between work and downtime could be detrimental to productivity and happiness. Also, according to TechRadar, the living room is “potentially the busiest room in the house, with the sofa a magnet for family members”. Distractions and interruptions in the living room are inevitable, leaving you unfocused and unproductive.

Wherever you’ve chosen to set up your workspace during lockdown, we can help you make sure home working works for you. Talk to us to understand what solutions are available to enable remoting working and help you work the same, if not better, as when you were in the office.