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In 2019, only 30% of UK citizens were able to work from home*; but in a time when many of us must work from home, it can be harder to get into a new routine. 

When working from home it’s not always in the front of our mind to get up from our desks, to walk around, to stay hydrated or even to get food. We can lose track of time, forget to take regular breaks and become more focused and engrossed in our work and jobs without thinking. 

For some, there are also distractions in our home environment, everything from children to TV shows, our phones and social media channels can all have an impact on productivity, motivation and overall wellbeing. 

So how do you find a happy medium? 

Read our tips on how to ensure your working from home set up, is working for you. 

Routine

Regardless of how many people are with you at home, or what you would do on a normal workday, you should create a routine and stick to it.  

Routines help us to become mentally prepared for the day, even doing simple things such as getting dressed, getting up at a set time and eating breakfast can help us to be more motivated and focused for the day ahead.  

As well as this, ensure you stick to your normal work routine – if you work a regular 9-5 job, try to stick to your work hours at home. It can be easy to lose track of time when working from home, so try to set alarms/alerts for breaks throughout the day and for when you are due to finish. Something as simple as an alarm can help prevent you feeling tired and burned-out.  

You should also make sure you aren’t tempted to read your work emails or check your messages outside work hours; although it may seem like a quick look or a short reply, it can actually make you more stressed/tired than you may think. In order to do this, you could ensure your laptop isn’t in view, or silence or delete any apps temporarily while at home. 

Working with children can also be a challenge but take steps to incorporate them into your daily routine. Make sure when you take regular breaks to talk with your children, make them a drink, ensure they have activities to do while you are working, and if you are home schooling, ensure you have a set out ‘lesson’ plan for the day. If there is another parent or carer in your household be sure to communicate with your them to share the responsibilities. 

Here are some helpful activities to keep your children occupied and entertained while you work from home.

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Ensure you have the right equipment

Even though you are working from home, this shouldn’t be an excuse to neglect your health and wellbeing. You should be sure you have access to the equipment that is right for you. 

Furniture

Furniture is one of the main areas where you should ensure you are using the correct equipment, even when you’re at home. If you don’t have the correct equipment this can lead to back pain, curvature of the spine, neck pain, sore eyes, decrease in productivity and in some cases these areas can cause poor mental health. 

You don’t have to invest in top of the range furniture, but you should ensure for your health and safety, that you have the correct DSE checks in place. This can be simple things like investing in a riser for your laptop, a small desk and desk chair for you to work at or even a footrest. If you have ergonomic products, set up in the correct way to create a comfortable working environment, you can continue to work safely and comfortably in your home. 

Technology

Another focus area for equipment is technology, setting up a home office or workspace may require a small investment. Technology is necessary to be able to work and communicate with each other from home, the same way we would if we were working from our usual offices. During this unusual time period you may have forgotten some tech pieces that you need to operate.  

Laptops, tablet, desktop monitors, a remote phone, headphones or even a high-performance router can all benefit you when working from home. Headphones can be a benefit when there is more than one person working from home in the same household, as this can allow you to work in a more peaceful environment than listening to everyone’s conversations.  

With more of us working from home, you may find that your internet speed is slower than it would usually be due to the number of devices connected to it. A tech product that you may not think about investing in is a router. This is something that is in everyone’s homes and enables us to access the internet. Therefore, you should invest in a secondary router, specifically a firewall router; which not only helps to secure your information and work related projects, within your home but can also help you to work faster without the hassle of having to fix technological issues. 

To make working from home as stress free and productive as possible, try to follow as many of these simple steps as you can, or view or working from home survival guide. 

With Banner you can...

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Sources:

• https://employeebenefits.co.uk/30-uk-work-home-2019/