How to set up home office desks for productivity

Shifting office workers to homeworking brings on quite a drastic change in working processes, one being productivity. When we’re no longer confined to an office - in that purely work-focused space - and in our home environments, procrastination unfortunately can rear its destructive head. Improving working from home can start with small things, but for now let’s look at how to set up home office desks for productivity.  

Have you got the right home office desk?

Firstly, you need to make sure you’ve got the right home office set-up with good morning habits for a productive day. Choosing the wrong place will only set you up for decreased productivity. For instance, is the living room the right place when you’ve got a TV in there? Setting your home desk up in a spare room may actually be better for you. It may be a good idea to set up near a window too, so you can get better natural lighting. It’s all about making your home office comfortable and motivating, to put you in a good place to be as productive as can be. With that in mind, it’s time to look at different home office desks to see what would be right for you. 

Contemporary home office desks

Box desks for home office

There are quite a few modern home office desks you can choose from to make your home office right for you. Take this box home office desk design, for example. You can fold it up once you’ve done your work for the day, so it really is great for optimising space. They’re perfect for laptops and lighter set-ups. 

Drop desks for working at home

An ingenious design that works brilliantly for home offices is the drop desk. Not only are they extremely versatile in their set-up, but they’re also portable, so you can easily transport them to different areas of the room or house - whatever works for you that day. The main feature is its ability to drop and be compacted to give more room when the working day is done.

Corner office desks

Corner office desks are ideal for homeworking environments, for their smart designs fit nicely into rooms, further optimising your available space. Giving you good desk space, both on the surface and underneath, this crate corner desk even comes with more space thanks to its added shelves. 

The drop desk can also work great as a corner desk, so you have the flexibility at home in how you set up for the day. With the drop desk, you can set it up in a variety of ways, from a corner desk to a desk that gives room for two. 

Health and safety at home

When in the office, we’re reminded of health and safety policies, and we will have our workstations set up with them in mind - at least we hope you have. But, when working from home, we may let these standards slip. As expected, proper working set-ups can go out the window when the couch or bed is tempting, or if the kitchen table becomes your new desk but isn’t at the right level. Don’t forget about your monitor and eye-level positions. 

Your monitor should be arm’s length away from you, and your eye level should be looking slightly down to the centre of the monitor. Laptop risers will help with this. Slouching on the couch, or laying in bed all day with a laptop will not do you any good. Not only does it invite procrastination and affect productivity, it’s also no good for your posture and eye levels. A proper home office desk is what you need for optimal productivity.

Home desk layout and stationery

Now that you’re in the comfort of your own home working at the desk, you can take advantage and truly put your unique stamp on it. Not only is this good for your own satisfaction, but it’s great for motivation. Be productive in how you arrange your stationery, and always have what you need at hand so you can work more efficiently. Your work may involve you having to go through piles and piles of documents, so never be low on paperclips, binder clips and index flags. Each colour could represent a category, so you know straight away which pile is what.

Being at home, you may want to jazz up your stationery or get some fun office supplies. Another good idea is to have a weekly planner on your desk so you can always see your schedule. It doesn’t have to be just work related either. Here, you can have notes on your home life, to-do lists and reminders. 

A motivating home office

And finally, when you are surrounded by your own four walls when getting on with work, you can truly take advantage of this. Why not surround yourself with motivational quotes, pictures and art; they are your walls, and it’s your desk, after all. You could even have little, motivating quotes on your desk. Motivation is directly linked to productivity, so having art, quotes or items that are just for you, that make you happy and are around you, can set you up for success. 

Home and desk plants are good for productivity

We all know about the benefits of plants in the office, with their positive effects on stress, air cleansing and wellbeing, but they’re also good for productivity. 2014 research by the University of Exeter reported that the productivity of employees jumped by 15% from having the work environment filled with just a handful of houseplants. Researcher, Dr Chris Knight, stressed the importance of having workers be able to see a plant from their desk and he noted: “If you are working in an environment where there’s something to get you psychologically engaged, you are happier and you work better.” Plants form part of a more eco-friendly workspace, and there's a full list of green office ideas to inspire a greener working day in our blog.

Set up your home office right and make it your own with productive work-from-home desking. Contact our friendly team for any more info to help you improve your home office.