According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about one in four working Americans works from home, either all of the time or some of the time. More and more employers are allowing their employees to telecommute, and more are likely to begin offering this as an option in the future. Some of the benefits of working from home include having more flexibility, being able to avoid a long commute, and being able to balance work and family life. If you are working from home, even if it’s only one day per week or even more occasionally than that, you might consider putting together a custom home office in your home. Here are some of the benefits that you will enjoy:
A custom home office is comfortable
Particularly if you are spending many hours per week working from home, you will want to be sure that you’re avoiding wrist problems, back pain, eyestrain and other pitfalls of making do with an ergonomically incorrect workspace. Working from a chair that is too low, a table that is too high, or the living room sofa can actually lead to injury, which helps no one. When you have a workspace that is the proper size and at the proper height, as well as a comfortable chair with enough lumbar support, you’ll be able to work better and more efficiently.
You’ll have plenty of space for storage
You will need to store files, tax records, utility bills and various materials for whatever projects that you are working on when you work at home. If you do not have a proper space to keep these records, you will certainly be scrambling at tax time, if not before! A custom home office will give you the storage space you need for all of your work- and paperwork-related storage, so you won’t be hunting down receipts or trying to remember where you jotted down notes from a meeting with a new client.
You will be able to completely focus on work
When you are working from one of the main living areas of your home, it’s very easy to become distracted. You’ll be tempted to fold a load of laundry, answer the house phone, clean the bathroom, take the dog for a walk, split up squabbling children and do all sorts of things that will take your mind off of your work. When you have a home office that is separate from everything else, you’ll be mentally “at work” and will be able to concentrate on the task at hand.
You’ll be able to leave work at work
At the same time, one of the problems with working from home is that it’s all too easy to work even when you’re not actually meaning to work. It’s simple to open your laptop at the kitchen table, for example, or to half-heartedly help your daughter with her homework while you are working on reports in the living room. If you have a home office, all of your working can take place in that one room. When you leave the room and shut the door, you will no longer be at work and can focus on your family, which is probably one of the reasons you wanted to work from home in the first place.
Having a custom home office might be a dream of yours that you haven’t pursued because you were afraid that it would be too expensive. If you can carve out a niche in your home that can function as a home office, preferably one with a door or other way of separating it from the rest of the home, though, you can probably outfit it relatively inexpensively. Your increased efficiency will likely pay for itself! If you are among the growing number of Americans working from home, looking into having a dedicated home office should be on your to-do list.