The Most Important Elements for a Home Office Design

Business

Whether you’re a full-time work from home expert or you just work from home every so often, there’s no denying that one of the most important parts of working from home is having a good home office. However, not a lot of people really know how to craft a home office that looks great and works even more effectively. Here are a few elements to keep in mind for your home office design.

1. Natural and Artificial Light

Enhancing both natural and artificial light in a home office can be immensely helpful. Positioning your desk facing a window can help introduce more natural light into the room, especially when it comes to video conferencing calls. However, task lighting, like table lamps, LED lights, and ring lights, can help as well.

2. Desk Options

There are many options out there for a desk. Of course, a traditional desk will probably be what you initially think about, but in recent years, standing desks have gained popularity, and for some people, a treadmill desk could even be useful. This is largely a question of personal taste, so discover the type of desk you enjoy and go from there.

3. Your Office Chair

Next, you need to think about your office chair. A good office chair should help you move into a neutral posture – feet flat on the floor, knees slightly higher than your hips, and your hips, shoulders, and ears in alignment with each other. Ideally, you’ll want to be able to try out your office chair before you buy it for your work.

4. General Office Decorations

Now you want to think about how you’ll decorate your home office. The good news is that there are a number of opportunities for home office decorations:

  • Art
  • Plants
  • Religious Symbols
  • Family Photos
  • Travel Souvenirs
  • Stress Relief Toys

This isn’t a comprehensive list, and if there are any other things that you feel might be beneficial for your home office, feel free to add them. After all, it’s all about what you enjoy.

5. Software and Hardware

Lastly, it’s a good idea to think about what software and hardware you’re going to need. Computers and laptops are two of the things that most people will put in their home office, but the exact specs of your computer, as well as things like how many monitors you have and what type of keyboard and mouse you have, may vary. These are all things you’ll need to consider for your specific needs.

Conclusion

A home office can be a great place to sit down and get some work done. It can be difficult to decide how you want to decorate it, but at the end of the day, it’s most important to remember that your home office should reflect your own style. Even if you end up with a slightly uncommon home office style, the benefits of enjoying your home office can bolster your work and make it easier for you to enjoy your office.

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Office Technology That Leads to Increased Productivity for Companies

Business

In order for companies to be successful today, they must utilize the latest new technologies. Implementing them effectively into a company requires constantly training employees and creating a culture of adoption within their organization. The payoff is an ability to keep ahead of the competition and always able to be most effective for customers.

There are a range of tech tools companies are using and here are some of the most effective.

Office Printers

Modern day office printers have come a long way. Today’s office printers like the Konica Minolta A3 and A4 Series can do a range of things that companies could previously only dream of:

Wireless bluetooth printing – Today’s top printers like the Konica Minolta A3 series offer wireless printing from a mobile phone using their mobile app. You can also print and save from and to a USB connection.

Power Savings – Today’s top office printers analyze power usage can make things more efficient on the fly. They power down when not in use and power up when someone approaches the unit.

High Productivity – Some Minolta printers will print up to 180 ppm double sided allowing for fast turn-around of important documents.

PBX Phone Systems

PBX Phone systems have eliminated the gap in available phone functions between small and large sized businesses. Hosted PBX allows companies to have a range of services previously unavailable. Some of the top services include:

Call Forwarding – You can forward any extension to a cell phone, regular telephone or another employee.

Call Monitoring – You can listen in on any call made through the system.

Digital Receptionist – An automatic receptionist directs callers to different departments or people within your company.

Mobile Integration – Employees can be contacted anywhere whether they are in the office or not. Allows for mobile workers to stay connected.

Mobile Technology

Companies today are always on the move and their workers need more and more to be out of the office and with customers and vendors to make sure that business is being done efficiently and effectively.

This leaves companies with a dilemma of always needing to be in touch with their key sales, and marketing employees, yet not physically seeing them often. The answer is mobile tech. Today companies can utilize tablet computers and mobile phones to constantly stay in touch and to keep everyone in the loop on important decisions and projects.

For smart companies that utilize these new technologies they can count on increased productivity and an ability to thrive in today’s highly competitive business market.

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Are you spending too much on office supplies?

Business

Running your own business provides the type of freedom that many people spend years dreaming of. And if it is a home-based enterprise, you have the added bonus that costs and overheads are kept to a minimum. It all sounds great, until you look at the bank statement at the end of the month and ask yourself just where all that money is going.

The problem is that whether it is in a traditional corporate environment or a room at the back of your home, an office soaks up money in consumables. Generally, it is more in the form of small drips than major floods. However, that is only the more dangerous, as those expenditures are harder to spot, yet they can still add up to a significant dent in your bottom line. 

If you’re scratching your head as to how you’re managing to spend so much on office supplies, here are some areas to look at that might just alleviate the problem. 

Paper

An office gets through lots of paper. That might come as a surprise in this largely online world, but it is true, and it goes to show that we are not quite as paper-free as you might think. In part, however, our use of paper is down to habit rather than necessity. Some people still prefer to read a hard copy of a document, as opposed to simply viewing it on a screen. 

If that’s because they want to make ink annotations, fair enough, but if it really is simply to print it, read it then throw it in the recycling, it is a habit that you should encourage them to break. Also, adopt a policy of printing double sided, or of placing waste sheets face down in the printer feed so that they can be reused. 

Ink

Reduce the amount of printing, and you won’t just save paper, you’ll also use less ink. It is one of life’s ironies that while today’s printers are incredibly cheap, their consumables can still cost a fortune, especially if you buy direct from the manufacturer. It is both cheaper and easier to buy Canon ink from third parties, and they typically stock cartridges for other major manufacturers such as HP, Epson and Xerox, too. 

Desktop stationery

A basic fact of life is that you can never find a pen when you need one, and this is particularly the case when you operate a business. You can order pens, staplers and so on in bulk, but the problem is that if you employ staff, they can start to assume there is a magical and inexhaustible supply. The result? A few weeks later, you are having to order more. 

You don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill and start rationing out paperclips, but if you choose wisely and give one person the responsibility for stocking, distributing and reordering stationery, there is a 100 percent guarantee that people will take better care of it, and what was lasting only six weeks will suddenly keep you going for six months! 

When you are trying to spend as little as possible, when purchasing a range of leased lines, make sure it is from trusted, affordable provider, like leased line quotes.

 

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4 ideas to make this summer’s office party a roaring success

Business

Office parties have always had something of a reputation – we certainly don’t need to go into the in’s and out’s of why.

Some companies limit them to Christmas, but if you’re one of the lucky few who are able to party during the summer months then it’s fair to say that there are a wealth of different events that can make it a roaring success.

We’re not talking about all-day drinking sessions in the beer garden (although this might sound appealing to some offices) but rather some creative ideas that can really appeal to everyone from Barbara on accounts, to Tim in marketing.

Let’s now take a look at some of the best events for your summer office party that can really make a mark.

Crystal Maze

If you have a particularly young office, this first suggestion might not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, even if not everyone was old enough to remember Crystal Maze, there’s no doubt that the concept is still modern and will be enjoyed by most.

In simple terms, it’s a team-building event. The Crystal Maze element throws a much more advanced element to it though, with each different zone testing participants’ skills.

The best part of all? The winning team get to collect the famous gold tickets swirling around in the crystal dome.

It’s A Knockout

Let’s stay on the topic of television shows, by this time switching to It’s A Knockout. Again, this is something that might not be overly familiar to the entire office, particularly as the peak of It’s A Knockout occurred in the 80s. For anyone unaware – this was a BBC classic, and involved a whole range of activities that made use of the likes of inflatables, water and various costumes.

In other words, it’s something that’s going to prompt barrels of laughter. Combine it with drinks and a BBQ so you can reminisce about the day’s hilarities.

Boat racing

This time, we’re swaying away from the television theme. Most events companies who offer boat racing tend to do so in the Dragon Boat form – which just adds even more spice to the equation. For anyone unaware, Dragon Boat Racing includes a helmsman for steering and a drummer, who provides plenty of rhythm to really get the team in the mood.

One of the best parts of this idea is that it really can cater for offices of any size. Whether you have an office of hundreds of people, or just a few, you can either have the entire water to yourself or race against others.

Raft building

Following on from boat racing, let’s now move onto raft building. Little else needs to be explained here – your office will be split into teams who are given the task of building a raft. Particularly with the sun beating down through these months, a lot of offices find that this is one of the best ways to link together.

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Health Problems That Occur From Office Work

Business

You may never have thought that working in an office could pose a risk to your health. After all, you’re sitting down for the most part in front of your computer, not working on the shop floor where you could injure yourself with heavy lifting, for example.

However, office work does have its health hazards, and it’s as well to be aware of what these are and what to do to try to head them off at the pass.

Work_in_the_office

Look after your eyes

Perhaps you don’t think that staring at a screen for hours will give you any problems, but the longer you are at your computer, the more chance there is of you developing eye problems that could lead to more serious effects.

The most common form of eye problem through excessive computer work is dry eye. If you think of how you read a book, with your eyes down, compare that to how you look at your screen. The likelihood is that you’ll look straight ahead, and that exposes a lot of surface area on your eyes. This significantly contributes to the eyes rapidly drying.

You may also experience eye strain, called asthenopia. This is caused by you staring for a long time at the screen, using minute muscles in the eyes focusing on an object that’s extremely close. If you don’t take breaks, your eyes will get tired and painful.

These two problems can lead on to you experiencing nausea and headaches, making you less productive and possibly to you needing time off. If these problems do happen to your eyes, you should aim to get professional treatment from an eye specialist as soon as you can.

The name given to these problems is Computer Vision Syndrome, so it’s well known enough for a specialist to know what you’re talking about when contacted.

What can help prevent this?

Regular breaks away from the screen can make a major difference as to whether or not you develop dry eye or other visual problems, so you need to be disciplined and ensure that your office manager understands why.

Get up and move about every so often. Sedentary working can lead to high blood pressure and increase the possibility of obesity – both of these are very bad for the eyes.

If you work near a heating or cooling system, a larger amount of air will pass across your eyes and dry them out more quickly. If you have the option, move your desk.

Good office lighting, designed to be less bright than lighting that was originally designed for people working with paper documents rather than on screen, can help reduce screen glare and consequently be more beneficial to the eyes.

Check the position of your screen. Too close and you’ll raise the chance of you getting asthenopia. Move it back and don’t put it too high up. If you do, you’re asking for neck and back strain problems.

If you use common sense when you’re doing screen work, you can avoid the worst problems, but take advice on treatment if something does go wrong.

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