The kids may be back at school, but those who can work from home are now having to face up to the fact that the dining room, spare room or kitchen table is going to be the office for a little while longer yet.
Let’s face it we’re all a bit weary of zoom meetings where colleagues are out of focus, in the dark, silhouetted, or the web camera is pointing up their nose. It’s time we raised our game.
So, what can you do to improve your working from home experience?
Here’s the DigiBox answer to surviving remote working, with tips and techniques for maximising your productivity and setting up a designated workspace.
Invest in your workspace
It’s not rocket science. You spend more time in your working environment than any other place, so it’s important to get it right, for your own health as well as from a professional perspective.
Lifting your laptop up to eye level not only means that your neck isn’t bent over all day, but also raises your eye line for video calls. It’s a win win move - this small change will have a huge effect on your posture and people on the other end of your video calls will thank you for it too.
If you’re working on a mac try the LMP ProStand, a beautifully crafted aluminium stand that raises your laptop to the optimum position and seamlessly blends in with your mac style; available in space grey silver or black. The ProStand is perfect for users with multiple screens, lifting the laptop into alignment with other monitors.
The ProStand has a secret weapon too – it has integral slots that allow it to be transformed into a versatile docking station.
The LMP USB-C Attach Dock Prostand 4K hooks into the ProStand, it tucks underneath and clicks into a Mac Book Pro’s two USB C ports. Mounted in seconds the Attach Dock delivers a total of 7 ports and gives you back the connectivity you miss from previous Mac Books, 4 in front and 3 on the rear side. 3 USB 3.0 ports with 1.5A power output (x1) and 2.0A (shared over 2 ports) for data transfer and power output; USB-C for pass-through power (power delivery up to 85W), HDMI & Mini-DisplayPort, Gigabit Ethernet, dual USB-C connectivity for maximum power and highest resolution (bus-powered). A wireless mouse and keyboard in silver complete the picture – with the added bonus of giving you back your desk tucking cables well away out of sight.
‘Because of Covid, I am now working 100% from home on a laptop. I was really struggling with the limitations of being hunched over a small desk, and as a designer I use a lot of external hardware so there are wires all over. The LMP Prostand, attach dock and keyboard makes a cramped space much more useable and comfortable and keeps everything in one place and tidy. I love that I can just disconnect and go if I need to go to a meeting in London.’ George - Designer
Illumination
The nights are closing in and those of us who enjoyed a view out of a window during the summer lockdown now face a black hole from 4 o’clock. It’s a long time until the days start to get longer so now is a great time to invest in an LED desk lamp. Choose a posable dimmable light to make sure you can find the right brightness for your workspace and position it so that it lights your keyboard and your face for the best impression on video calls.
Give yourself a break
Just think how many ideas haven’t materialised this year because we’re not chatting to friends and colleagues over a coffee, or a beer after work. Down time is often the most creative time of the day, and even though spontaneous chats might hard to achieve now, we all need a break. With a little planning as little as 15 minutes catching up with a friend over a coffee, or popping out to get some fresh air on a walk could make the world of difference.
Organise your world
There are a huge number of online platforms around now to help teams organise, manage and develop projects together remotely. The DigiBox team use Basecamp, a project management tool that takes the strain out of being organised and really does mean that you can be more efficient and needless meetings to keep track of remote teams progress. https://basecamp.com/
It looks unlikely that we will return to work in the same way, due to the social changes the pandemic has generated and these are just a few of the little things we can do to improve our remote experience and help us enjoy the positive aspects of working from home.
With remote working here to stay, now’s the perfect time to add some working from home technology onto your Christmas list!