Are You Working From Home?
by Diana L. Martin
A lot has happened in the past couple days in regard to the Coronavirus outbreak. With President Trump’s latest actions, many workers are now working remotely from home and it could be an extended situation. If that’s you, there are several things you need:
A quiet workspace - a location in the house (spare bedroom, den, basement) where you can set up a dedicated space that will be quiet, minimize distractions and allow you to concentrate.
Furniture - at minimum, you need a desk, a chair, a computer and a phone. Comfort is just as important in a home office as it is at work and ergonomics should be considered as well. The chair should be supportive, comfortable and have the proper adjustments to allow you position the monitor and keyboard at the correct heights to avoid injury. Our experts at OEX can help you with picking out the appropriate pieces and delivering them to your home so you can get up and running quickly.
Supplies - every office needs paper, pens, highlighters, ink/toner, legal pads, staplers, etc. We have you covered there as well - give us a call and let us know what you need! We offer next business day delivery.
Aside from the physical workspace, you also need to be able to communicate - with your coworkers and your customers. Make sure you can access the company VPN. Does your company have a chat program that it uses, like Slack or Microsoft Teams? You could always call your coworkers, but chat is faster and many times more efficient, plus it allows you to carry on two conversations at once - one on the phone, one on the chat. Teams also allows you to share your screen with others, which makes collaboration very convenient.
A word of advice: be sure to separate work time from personal time. That may sound obvious, but it’s easy to get distracted. Your company isn’t paying you to do laundry or fix the leak in the bathroom sink. If you can find a space with a door, use it - that will help keep you focused for the entire shift. When your shift is over, leave your workspace and close the door. Head into the kitchen or the family room for relaxation. It’s important to keep the work and the personal separate.
