Productivity in the home office
Opinions vary widely when it comes to the question of how to achieve more productivity in the home office. People who have not yet worked from home (but a rarity in 2021 🙃 ) would probably give many reasons why working from home is more productive. Above all, the elimination of the commute and generally better control would suggest that productivity would go through the roof as if by itself. However, after the first few weeks in the home office, disillusionment often follows. Our motivation for this chapter was to identify tips for higher productivity in the home office that worked particularly well for us.
Create the right environment
In the past, working from home was seen as a great privilege. In particular, people who worked for companies with generous home office regulations enjoyed a regular day in the home office. Due to the change in this area accelerated by Corona, the home office found its way into all industries in which it was even remotely possible. From an individual perspective, however, many of us were very unprepared and many employers also failed to adequately support their employees.
- Above all, of course, a desk or a dedicated physical space for working from home plays a major role. Even if you primarily work with your laptop, it is not ideal to do your work from the kitchen table or sofa for many reasons. On the one hand, because you create a suboptimal situation in terms of ergonomic work and, on the other hand, because it completely blurs the boundaries between work and leisure time.
- In addition to the desk, also note that you use many other things in the office that have a significant impact on your well-being for 8 hours a day - a good armchair, 1-2 large screens, a USB keyboard, a mouse, etc. We don't mean that all of that is absolutely necessary, but you should be aware that all of these points affect your productivity and well-being.
Avoid distractions
Many conversations with friends who are currently working from home or have been doing so for a long time are due to the fact that there are an unusually large number of distractions when working from home. Distractions can be due to many things. Here we would primarily differentiate between external and internal factors. External factors such as background noise (e.g. loud neighbors) or the never-ending renovation work in your home. However, internal factors are no less challenging. We are primarily thinking about concentration problems caused by your private environment. You may know that when you suddenly enjoy tidying up your apartment too much 😉 Try implementing the following tips and tricks...
- To combat external factors, especially increased background noise, we recommend investing in a good pair of noise-canceling headphones. These don't have to be the most expensive headphones, but make sure that they are headphones that surround your auricle and ideally have a noise cancellation function.
- A life hack to maintain your concentration throughout the day is also the good old timetable - yes, right, like at school. The routine that is set, including the timed breaks, not only helps children to work productively, but also adults. Try to structure your day better this way.
- If you are one of those people who like to focus on other tasks such as cleaning or watering the flowers when they should actually be working, we recommend a to-do list for these tasks. You can then tackle this with confidence at the end of your workday or at the weekend. This not only increases your productivity but also makes this work more relaxing. So the next time you feel like cleaning or watering flowers, write it on the to-do list for later 🙂
You can get the complete home office guide Download it here for free or read it individually here: