Last year, many companies implemented a work-at-home policy to protect their employees without sacrificing business operations. Back then, it was considered a desperate move and won’t last as long. However, today, many businesses benefit from these policies, and experts believe that remote work will be the norm soon. But it does have its own set of drawbacks, one of which is that it affects employee productivity.
It has been reported that companies that implemented a work-at-home policy have experienced a decrease in productivity from employees. This is attributed to two things, the lack of accountability and vulnerability to distractions. But there are many ways employees have circumvented these problems through remodelling and renovations of their homes. Here are some interesting remodelling projects you can do to help you increase your productivity while working at home.
Segment Your Home
It’s time to accept that working in your bedroom affects your overall productivity because of the comfort it brings. Additionally, the living room is a space open to distractions. You can’t work in these places despite you wanting to do it. It’s time for you to choose a place in your home with low foot traffic and low distractibility.
The main key to this remodelling is to keep you away from being distracted while giving you the necessary advantages to keep you concentrated on your work. The very first thing you should do to achieve your goal is to segment your home. Draw a floor plan and label each room. Right after that, consider the foot traffic between rooms and how often other people in the house utilize those rooms.
Afterwards, write the possible distractions that each room might have. Once you’ve figured this out, it’s as simple as choosing a room with low foot traffic that people in your household don’t utilize. Move all distractions from that room to other places in your home, and by doing this, you’ve given yourself your private office space.
It might be tough to choose a particular room in some situations because of the high number of people in your household. This is fairly common in homes nowadays, especially because of the virus. During these situations, it’s better to remodel the entire house according to your chosen room. Don’t worry if you don’t have time in your hands. Many companies such as Crouch Design offer whole-house designs that can fit your work-at-home fantasy. They can help you remodel your rooms from the ground up so that you can create a better traffic flow in your home with low noise pollution coming from other rooms.
Open Your Office Space to Natural Light
Once you’ve set up your desk, computer, and chair, don’t go straight to work. You might have to rearrange your room to bring more natural light in. Studies have found that natural light has helped employees avoid various physical problems at work, such as eye strain. It’s also known to keep them more active and concentrated at work. When choosing a room, don’t choose a room without windows. If there are no other rooms you can choose from, you can consider renovating the room to contain an open window to let natural light in. It will make a difference when it comes to your productivity.
Change the Colour of Your Office Space
If you’re feeling less motivated to do your work or a shift of mood when entering your office space, consider changing the room’s colour with a much brighter tone. Grey-coloured rooms tend to affect motivation and mood alongside other mundane colours negatively. White or brightly-toned colours such as yellow and blue are known to work well with natural light, hence, making people more active when they are inside them. Additionally, if you want to go formal, you can never go wrong with black and white. Just ensure that you have more white than black in your room.
Declutter
Clutter is one of the main reasons why you feel more stressed than usual. If you want to remove that extra stress, consider decluttering your workspace. Decluttering can be an enjoyable and satisfying activity that will help decrease the stress you receive at work. Additionally, if you want to avoid clutter, you can always place a small trash bin next to your office desk. You can also remove unnecessary furniture from your office space as they are one of the main reasons it builds up clutter.
Working at home shouldn’t be so hard on you’ve done all of these things. After this remodel, you should concentrate more on your work and eventually increase your productivity over time.
