What should be on my Work From Home shopping list?
November 10, 2018 5:19 AM Subscribe
Upcoming changes mean I will likely be able to work from home 1-2 days per week. I need to set up an office space here, and have basically nothing. I know I will need a desk, chair at least 2 monitors, a laptop dock (for my work computer), and keyboard/mouse etc. What am I forgetting?
Best answer: A variety of lighting so you can mitigate eye strain and utilize your work space differently for different tasks (think an adjustable floor lamp, some task lighting for non-computer desk work, maybe some softer ambient lighting behind your monitor and up on the ceiling.)
A dedicated work stuff cabinet or drawer to keep papers in so everything work-related goes in there and things don't get scattered around the house and subsequently lost. Even if your work is mostly paper free I'm betting there's at least a folder's worth of things you'll end up bringing home.
A comfortable armchair that you can work on your laptop in, this gives you more options for posture and work style and all that - potentially irrelevant depending on your work - and also gives a place for clients/coworkers to sit if they're ever in your work space.
posted by Mizu at 5:35 AM on November 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
A dedicated work stuff cabinet or drawer to keep papers in so everything work-related goes in there and things don't get scattered around the house and subsequently lost. Even if your work is mostly paper free I'm betting there's at least a folder's worth of things you'll end up bringing home.
A comfortable armchair that you can work on your laptop in, this gives you more options for posture and work style and all that - potentially irrelevant depending on your work - and also gives a place for clients/coworkers to sit if they're ever in your work space.
posted by Mizu at 5:35 AM on November 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Upgrading your wireless router or (better) running Ethernet to the dock. If you have a low-end DSL connection, consider upgrading, especially if you will be the person presenting on conference calls, or if yours is a workplace where everyone uses the camera. Upload spees can be incredibly slow on DSL.
posted by rockindata at 5:53 AM on November 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by rockindata at 5:53 AM on November 10, 2018 [5 favorites]
It depends on your work, but I need a printer/scanner for my work from home office.
posted by amro at 6:27 AM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by amro at 6:27 AM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I've worked from home for, eep, about 18 years off and on. You don't say what you do, so some of this is on spec...
Seconding @kimberrussell - get a good headset or whatever kind of setup required to provide good audio if you're on conference calls. (And @kimberrussell, good on you for being a considerate co-worker!)
Likewise - if at all humanly possible, get a wired connection to your computer if you're going to be on many video calls. And the fastest possible Internet connection available to your home.
Do you live alone or with other people and/or pets? And are those people going to be home during the day when you work? If the answers to those questions are yes, and if it's possible, make sure you put your office space in a room with a door that closes and close it. At least long enough to reinforce the idea that these are work hours and that you're not to be interrupted.
A hefty supply of pens, post-its, and so forth comes in handy for me. Those are usually abundant in office environments, but maybe you don't have a supply at home yet?
Maybe a pomodoro timer or something to help focus, if you haven't worked at home before? It took me a while to build up discipline working at home. You may be different.
Consider, instead of two monitors, an ultra-wide monitor? I've used dual & triple-monitor setups and finally picked up a ultra-wide monitor that can display 3 windows side-by-side comfortably. Well worth the investment.
posted by jzb at 6:29 AM on November 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
Seconding @kimberrussell - get a good headset or whatever kind of setup required to provide good audio if you're on conference calls. (And @kimberrussell, good on you for being a considerate co-worker!)
Likewise - if at all humanly possible, get a wired connection to your computer if you're going to be on many video calls. And the fastest possible Internet connection available to your home.
Do you live alone or with other people and/or pets? And are those people going to be home during the day when you work? If the answers to those questions are yes, and if it's possible, make sure you put your office space in a room with a door that closes and close it. At least long enough to reinforce the idea that these are work hours and that you're not to be interrupted.
A hefty supply of pens, post-its, and so forth comes in handy for me. Those are usually abundant in office environments, but maybe you don't have a supply at home yet?
Maybe a pomodoro timer or something to help focus, if you haven't worked at home before? It took me a while to build up discipline working at home. You may be different.
Consider, instead of two monitors, an ultra-wide monitor? I've used dual & triple-monitor setups and finally picked up a ultra-wide monitor that can display 3 windows side-by-side comfortably. Well worth the investment.
posted by jzb at 6:29 AM on November 10, 2018 [8 favorites]
If you wind up doing lots of videoconferencing, you might want to look at a USB camera. Even a relatively inexpensive one will probably be better than anything built-in to your laptop. And n'thing a hardwired connection if it's feasible. Our whole house is amply covered with wifi, but my office workstation has its own dedicated ethernet run straight back to the router. Stock enough coffee - the good stuff, with real creamer and so on. :)
posted by jquinby at 7:02 AM on November 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by jquinby at 7:02 AM on November 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
Sounds odd, but my electric tea kettle is my favorite home office equipment. My office is upstairs and kitchen is down and turning on the stove then going back up and then getting interrupted with a call or distracted by something else and the kettle boiling merrily away was initially a real problem for me.
Now I have a little tea setup nearby and if something comes up - the kettle just shuts off when it comes to a boil.
posted by hilaryjade at 7:10 AM on November 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
Now I have a little tea setup nearby and if something comes up - the kettle just shuts off when it comes to a boil.
posted by hilaryjade at 7:10 AM on November 10, 2018 [6 favorites]
You may be better than me about the amount of food you keep in the house, but I always have to remember to have lunch food when I’m working from home more.
posted by ellieBOA at 7:35 AM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 7:35 AM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
A Dropbox account to sync work files between your two computers.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:03 AM on November 10, 2018
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:03 AM on November 10, 2018
I second the suggestion which jzb made about having a Pomodoro timer - that is really important.
When working from home, my most important investment was a tiny $15 Seiko countdown timer bought on Amazon. This acts as my Pomodoro timer. I set it for 50 minute intervals and when that button get pressed, nothing but work on my task-list gets done. Best productivity tool I've ever bought!
posted by jacobean at 8:13 AM on November 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
When working from home, my most important investment was a tiny $15 Seiko countdown timer bought on Amazon. This acts as my Pomodoro timer. I set it for 50 minute intervals and when that button get pressed, nothing but work on my task-list gets done. Best productivity tool I've ever bought!
posted by jacobean at 8:13 AM on November 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I just got this standing desk, it's electric and convertible and I like it so far. Also got this mat.
Seeing a routine it's important as well.
posted by pyro979 at 8:38 AM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Seeing a routine it's important as well.
posted by pyro979 at 8:38 AM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
A couple of power bars. One for plugging in your computer and monitor, the other for plugging in whatever.
posted by JamesBay at 9:35 AM on November 10, 2018
posted by JamesBay at 9:35 AM on November 10, 2018
Battery backup? Especially if your area is prone to power outages. On a laptop you can get by with just enough to power the modem/router and maybe a switch. Alternatively a tetherable phone, also good for cable/dsl going down for some reason, or sitting in the park for a few hours some days.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:05 AM on November 10, 2018
posted by zengargoyle at 10:05 AM on November 10, 2018
I've managed distributed teams for more than a decade. Here's what I think of as must have:
* an area that you only use for work, so you can mentally go-to and _leave_ work. ideally with a door. without this, people tend to end up burning out.
* good communication tools. a good camera location, and quality headphones (or a good speaker/mic) will help you be seen and heard clearly.
* good lighting. not just for tasks, but also to be sure that you show up well during videoconferences. if you sit with a window behind you you'll look like you're in witness protection.
* all of the normal office consumables that you happen to use in your job, whether it's notebooks, pens, post-its, snacks, drinks, or anything else.
* the ability to quickly escalate emails/chats to videoconferences / screen sharing / etc to foster the sort of one-off conversations that happen naturally in office environments. I currently use Zoom/ScreenHero, but there are lots of things that work.
Beyond that, just experiment and pay attention to what your work-from-home colleagues do, and snag their best ideas.
posted by whisk(e)y neat at 10:55 AM on November 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
* an area that you only use for work, so you can mentally go-to and _leave_ work. ideally with a door. without this, people tend to end up burning out.
* good communication tools. a good camera location, and quality headphones (or a good speaker/mic) will help you be seen and heard clearly.
* good lighting. not just for tasks, but also to be sure that you show up well during videoconferences. if you sit with a window behind you you'll look like you're in witness protection.
* all of the normal office consumables that you happen to use in your job, whether it's notebooks, pens, post-its, snacks, drinks, or anything else.
* the ability to quickly escalate emails/chats to videoconferences / screen sharing / etc to foster the sort of one-off conversations that happen naturally in office environments. I currently use Zoom/ScreenHero, but there are lots of things that work.
Beyond that, just experiment and pay attention to what your work-from-home colleagues do, and snag their best ideas.
posted by whisk(e)y neat at 10:55 AM on November 10, 2018 [4 favorites]
You'll probably need some computer accessories--a backup drive, a USB hub, some decent speakers for listening to music (work permitting). For my work, I used to find a copyholder invaluable, but more and more of my copy is on-screen these days.
I've got a crappy little Ikea desktop storage accessory for pens, papers, stamps, etc. Something like that is a necessity.
Spend some time organizing all your various cables and bits so that your workspace isn't a mess and is easy to keep clean. Ikea sells snake trays for their desks, but they can be screwed into anything. I built a little under-desk shelf for the various backup drives and secondary drives that my wife and I use.
posted by adamrice at 11:10 AM on November 10, 2018
I've got a crappy little Ikea desktop storage accessory for pens, papers, stamps, etc. Something like that is a necessity.
Spend some time organizing all your various cables and bits so that your workspace isn't a mess and is easy to keep clean. Ikea sells snake trays for their desks, but they can be screwed into anything. I built a little under-desk shelf for the various backup drives and secondary drives that my wife and I use.
posted by adamrice at 11:10 AM on November 10, 2018
In all honesty, consider what you use during your workday and how you use it. What would change if you worked from home?
For example, I spend a lot of time in skype meetings but they are never video conferences, somebody might share a screen but that’s it. So I definitely need good internet and good headphone/speaker set-up but no camera.
At this point I use very limited paper including manual notebooks - virtually everything is on my laptop - so I need minimal pens and post-its etc. If you still use a lot of paper you may also need to think about a printer. I rarely print anything so I don’t have one at home at this point, I just do whatever printing or scanning may be required when I am in the office.
I have back problems so a back friendly set-up is essential. If you can invest in a standing desk do it. I tend not to wear shoes in the house including slippers. Turns out my feet got cold on the uncarpeted floor under my desk so I got a rug to fix that.
I assume your employer has a way of backing up your laptop whenever you‘re online and connected to your vpn? So you may not need to worry about data back-ups and such. In fact there may well be a policy preventing you from keeping your own back-ups of company data. Perhaps something to confirm?
Between various rounds of ‚device refresh‘ at work and the fact that I spend a lot of time at my clients in their offices I found myself acquiring a lot of converters and chargers and power banks and what have you to be functional in the various settings I encounter. And i can’t be asked to carry them all around and unpack them when working from home. So I‘ve decided to throw money at the problem and invested in a docking station for at home and a hub for when I’m out and about, both feature all the connection and charging options I could conceivably encounter.
Absolutely coffee, snacks, whatever normally sustains you during your workday. There is also a danger, that you have a lie in and roll out of bed in time for making a coffee before the first call...invariably those are the days I spend in my PJs. So consider how compatible that is with your lifestyle and preferences and take steps to not get into that habit.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:51 PM on November 10, 2018
For example, I spend a lot of time in skype meetings but they are never video conferences, somebody might share a screen but that’s it. So I definitely need good internet and good headphone/speaker set-up but no camera.
At this point I use very limited paper including manual notebooks - virtually everything is on my laptop - so I need minimal pens and post-its etc. If you still use a lot of paper you may also need to think about a printer. I rarely print anything so I don’t have one at home at this point, I just do whatever printing or scanning may be required when I am in the office.
I have back problems so a back friendly set-up is essential. If you can invest in a standing desk do it. I tend not to wear shoes in the house including slippers. Turns out my feet got cold on the uncarpeted floor under my desk so I got a rug to fix that.
I assume your employer has a way of backing up your laptop whenever you‘re online and connected to your vpn? So you may not need to worry about data back-ups and such. In fact there may well be a policy preventing you from keeping your own back-ups of company data. Perhaps something to confirm?
Between various rounds of ‚device refresh‘ at work and the fact that I spend a lot of time at my clients in their offices I found myself acquiring a lot of converters and chargers and power banks and what have you to be functional in the various settings I encounter. And i can’t be asked to carry them all around and unpack them when working from home. So I‘ve decided to throw money at the problem and invested in a docking station for at home and a hub for when I’m out and about, both feature all the connection and charging options I could conceivably encounter.
Absolutely coffee, snacks, whatever normally sustains you during your workday. There is also a danger, that you have a lie in and roll out of bed in time for making a coffee before the first call...invariably those are the days I spend in my PJs. So consider how compatible that is with your lifestyle and preferences and take steps to not get into that habit.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:51 PM on November 10, 2018
I work from home once a week, and the single most important things for me are
1.) a dedicated office space with a comfortable chair, etc.
2.) a monitor! Get two if you have the room for it (I strongly recommend this, if it's at all possible)
I mean, obviously, stuff like access to coffee is important, too. But I feel that's universal. You'd need that anyway. Same with the need to get up and take breaks every now and then.
posted by Delia at 1:27 PM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
1.) a dedicated office space with a comfortable chair, etc.
2.) a monitor! Get two if you have the room for it (I strongly recommend this, if it's at all possible)
I mean, obviously, stuff like access to coffee is important, too. But I feel that's universal. You'd need that anyway. Same with the need to get up and take breaks every now and then.
posted by Delia at 1:27 PM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Air conditioning and heating.
When it's cold, obviously it's a lot easier to turn on a space heater or wear a jacket etc. If your home doesn't have AC and you live in a place that can get pretty warm, you'll have to consider how to handle doing an entire workday safely in the summer or in a heat wave. Fans + open windows can help, but not much if it's 90-100 F outside. If a window AC unit won't work for whatever reason, maybe look into a portable AC unit. If AC is not an option for your home office, you might have to work from somewhere else if it's too hot. Of course, if you do have AC, then you're golden!
And nth-ing a hard ethernet line rather than wifi especially for things like meetings/video/screensharing.
Keep a backup headset on hand, because at some point your primary headset will fail. A 10 dollar set of earbuds + mic is better than nothing.
(Btw, work should pay for work-related expenses that are required for you to do your job at home. If possible, get a written/emailed confirmation on what they will pay for, and what they won't, and keep receipts. If they won't pay for something, you of course can decide whether it's worth it to pay out of pocket.)
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:30 PM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
When it's cold, obviously it's a lot easier to turn on a space heater or wear a jacket etc. If your home doesn't have AC and you live in a place that can get pretty warm, you'll have to consider how to handle doing an entire workday safely in the summer or in a heat wave. Fans + open windows can help, but not much if it's 90-100 F outside. If a window AC unit won't work for whatever reason, maybe look into a portable AC unit. If AC is not an option for your home office, you might have to work from somewhere else if it's too hot. Of course, if you do have AC, then you're golden!
And nth-ing a hard ethernet line rather than wifi especially for things like meetings/video/screensharing.
Keep a backup headset on hand, because at some point your primary headset will fail. A 10 dollar set of earbuds + mic is better than nothing.
(Btw, work should pay for work-related expenses that are required for you to do your job at home. If possible, get a written/emailed confirmation on what they will pay for, and what they won't, and keep receipts. If they won't pay for something, you of course can decide whether it's worth it to pay out of pocket.)
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:30 PM on November 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
My Desk Fleece (an old zip up fleece I left at the office for days the office was inexplicably cold) became my Home Office Fleece when I moved to full time WFH. And I'm not really a slippers sort of person (I'm often a barefoot at home person, even when it's cold) but spending more hours at home means you may notice things like cold feet more. And yeah, other than that: good cable management and adequate power for everything, a good network connection, good lighting, a good (and not just cheap) chair, and whatever coffee (and other beverages) and snacks will get you through the day.
posted by fedward at 3:10 PM on November 11, 2018
posted by fedward at 3:10 PM on November 11, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
I did not buy a dock, though. I have one large monitor that I use for gaming. I sit the laptop on a stack of books to elevate it and use its display as my second. Keyboard, mouse, monitor all plugs right into the laptop.
And a mug warmer. Enjoy your cozy setup!
posted by kimberussell at 5:34 AM on November 10, 2018 [10 favorites]