Optimizing the Home Office: When a Temporary Transition Becomes Permanent

At the start of the Coronavirus outbreak here in the U.S., I, like many others, didn’t think much of it. Then, there was a weekend in mid-March when suddenly, it became real. The following Monday, I started working from home. I talked about this on a post I wrote at the time, Tips for Staying Productive While Working from Home with Children. After all, many other people were in the same boat, doing their best to figure out how to work and parent at the same time. One of my frustrations was switching back and forth between “mom brain” and “work brain.” Writing a simple email felt impossible!

For the first several weeks at home, my husband and I took turns using our home office. We have one large desk in there with an external monitor. Generally, I let him use it, because my work had slowed down a bit and his continued, including a lot of phone and video calls that necessitated his use of that quiet space. Eventually, though, I grew tired of our dining room table, which is bar height and not comfortable for several hours of work each day. So, we finally organized our office to handle this new normal.

Why Optimize?

Like many, I thought this situation was temporary. It’s been months, and we’re all doing our best to keep going. What many of us have since begun to realize is that this “temporary” situation may be a bit longer than expected. For some, working from home is the new normal. Some companies are changing their policies to make working from home permanent. Others are waiting to call people back to the office until at least July. Even when that occurs, I’m guessing people will work from home more often and we may end up back at home later in the year if another outbreak occurs. Although I am finally back at my work office now, in June, my husband remains at home.

Organizing the office in a new way would give us the space to both sit at desks with our laptops and monitors. So, one weekend, we looked at it together and made it happen. Here are some of the things we did:

• Luckily, we have two desks. The second desk is far smaller. Although it’s not meant for long-term computer use, we could make it work. So we removed extra stuff from the surface.
• We moved the smaller desk to another spot within the room to better accommodate two of us with desk chairs.
• My husband took our external monitor and set up with the smaller desk, using a portion of the large desk to hold other items.
• I brought my external monitor home from my work and set it up on the big desk.
• We moved the trash can and the lamp to better suit the new arrangement.

If you’re optimizing your office to better work from home, you probably have an idea or two about what will work for you. Consider:

• The light. Do you want your desk against the wall or near a window? If you do a lot of video calls, it’s best to avoid having a window behind you because the back lighting makes it hard to see your face on video.
• Temperature. Even with the air conditioning on, our office gets fairly warm when we’re both in there with our computers humming. Thank goodness for our ceiling fan.
• Location of trash or shredder. If you use these often, you may want them near your feet. We found them to be in our way, so we moved them to another corner. (It’s a small room anyway.)
• Your chair. You are sitting in it for eight hours a day so make it a good one. 🙂
• Printer/scanner. If applicable. Where are they located? Does it work for you?
• Kids. Do your kids need a place to do their homework or play while you work?

Handling “Temporary” Transitions

Now, I’m wondering why we didn’t do it sooner. But that’s the thing about transitions: you think it’s temporary and sometimes, that situation turns out to be permanent or at least semi-permanent. How do you define temporary? If your situation is lasting longer than expected, maybe it’s time to adjust your space or time to help you get through the situation — no matter how long it lasts.

Related: Working from Home: Four Tips to Improve Productivity