Upwork predicted that “By 2025, 36.2 million Americans will be remote, an increase of 16.8 million people from pre-pandemic rates,” in their Future Workforce Pulse Report.
If you aren’t a work-from-home tech professional, chances are you will be to some degree in the future.
Thriving in this working arrangement depends so much on your home workspace setup. You need a space that’s functional but, more importantly, one that inspires creativity, new ideas, and a positive attitude.
Go beyond a traditional home office setup. Instead, try these innovative updates in your home workspace to stimulate creativity and take the remote work experience up a notch.
Start With the Right Furniture
Tech workers spend hours a day sitting at their desks on their computers. This can quickly become uncomfortable and lead to short and long-term effects on your body, including:
- Stiff neck and shoulders;
- Weakening of the muscles;
- Increased risk of metabolic syndrome;
- Higher risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke;
- Blood pooling in the legs leading to varicose veins.
There might not be a way around the long hours you spend sitting at a desk in front of a computer as a remote tech professional. So, your next best option is to give your body optimal support with ergonomic furniture and accessories.
A standing desk and ergonomic chair top the list of furniture and accessories to include in your home office space.
The chair will provide great lumbar support and force good posture. The standing desk will help you move more while working.
Think about purchasing these ergonomic accessories as well:
- An ergonomic keyboard;
- Blue-blocking glasses;
- An ergonomic mouse;
- Laptop stand.
When your body is comfortable and wholly supported by the furniture and accessories above, you can stay focused on producing high-quality work.
Choose Colours Strategically
It’s easy to gloss over the importance of colour in your work-from-home space. But colour psychology is real and could be the difference between being highly creative and productive every day or not.
Colour psychology is the study of how different colours evoke certain emotions and behaviours from people. Here are some examples of colours and what researchers are saying about the feelings and actions they inspire:
- Red is associated with love and passion and stimulates your mind and body;
- Blue can make you feel calm and secure in your environment;
- Yellow energizes people and helps them feel happy and hopeful;
- Green inspires growth and is associated with nature and freshness ;
- Orange makes people feel warm and incites kindness.
Take the concept of color psychology and apply it to your remote workspace. Choose colors that evoke the emotions and behaviors you want to exhibit while working. For example, if you want to step into the space and feel tranquility, go with a color palette of blues. Or, if you want more energy, creativity, and warmth, go with a yellow and orange colour scheme.
Your colours matter. So, choose them wisely.
Consider Soundproofing Your Space
Not many people think about soundproofing the space they work remotely in. However, it’s an innovative renovation to consider because outside noises can be incredibly distracting when you’re trying to work from home.
By soundproofing the space, you can limit outside noises. Also, if you’re ever working on a loud project or taking confidential calls with clients, you can do so confidently knowing that no one can hear you.
How you approach the soundproofing process depends on the space. For example, if you’re soundproofing a garage, start with the garage door.
You can apply soundproofing material directly to doors that tilt, slide, or open up barn-style. Or, you’ll need to put sound-dampening materials behind a sectional or roll-up garage door.
Seal the space around the door as well. After that, soundproof the walls, ceiling, floor, windows, and other doors.
Research the proper steps for soundproofing your particular space before moving forward with the process.
Incorporate Smart Lighting
Lighting is crucial in a remote workspace. A well-lit space facilitates productivity and helps you get more done. Good lighting protects you from eye strain and its harmful effects, like headaches, sore eyes, and blurred vision. It can also be a mood and energy booster.
Instead of your typical lamps and overhead lighting, incorporate a smart lighting system into your work-from-home space. You can control your lights from an app on your smartphone or through your voice assistant, turning them on and off, dimming them, and changing their color or tone.
There are many smart lighting options to choose from. Research them online and go see some in person at your local home and hardware stores to make an informed decision.
Create A Break Corner in Your Work-From-Home Space
To make working from home work for you, it’s essential to get up from your workspace often and take breaks to reset and boost productivity. You won’t always have time to venture outside or into another room for those breaks. So, a “break corner” is a good idea.
This is simply a space you create within your remote work office to take breaks in. It could be as straightforward as putting a floor pillow in the corner. Or, it could be as complex as extending the room to create more space for a loveseat, bookshelf, plants, and a coffee table.
Whatever you decide to do for your “break corner,” make an extra effort to ensure this and your entire home workspace is free from health hazards.
Asbestos, lead, volatile organic compounds, mold, and moisture can hide in different places in your home office, leading to worsened health.
Symptoms from exposure to these types of problems can be as mild as a headache but can develop into something much more serious.
There’s no relaxing, let alone creative work, in a space full of health hazards. Be on the lookout for the most common ones and educate yourself on how to take care of them.
There’s a lot that can stifle a tech worker’s creativity and productivity, including long hours and a heavy workload. However, a work-from-home space specially designed to inspire high levels of innovation, new ideas, and a positive attitude can help.
[Featured Image: Credit]
