How to create a work from home space that works

The pandemic-led shift to work from home (at least some of the time) is here to stay. Over 70% of employees have indicated that they want to work remotely at least 2-3 days per week. And more than half of employees have said they will look for another job if their company doesn’t offer flexible work options.

But not everyone has a home space set up to make work easy or effective. Before you berate yourself over feeling uninspired by the white melamine desk that feels as awkward as an ironing board and has a view of a plaster wall, the effect our workspace has on us isn’t just in our imaginations. The physical environments where we work have a significant influence on everything from our thinking, our moods, our physical health, and our productivity.

Aside from not having to commute, and being able to arrange work and the rest of our lives more easily, fewer distractions and more control over our working days are among the top reasons why we like working from home. Listening to your office colleague munch their way through granola at 9 am every day, or someone in your team regaling the office with excruciating details of their weekend is not exactly fun.

But working from home can have challenges too. The neighbour who starts mowing their lawn or playing the saxophone right when you start that important Zoom meeting. Pre-pandemic, the design of our homes had largely moved away from a separate office (with actual walls and a door that could be closed). The rising cost of real estate and smaller houses has meant that a separate office was often a trade-off. A study nook (or desk built-in against the wall in a corridor) has become the norm.

Never mind a study nook, many people suddenly forced to work from home had no designated workplace to work from at all. In early 2020, social media was full of pictures of makeshift work arrangements on kitchen tables, laptops perched on upturned laundry baskets, and in one case a particularly tall guy using the top of his fridge as a stand-up desk. Some of us took to our lounges or beds and asked whether this was a viable option.

While Churchill often worked from bed (and held cabinet meetings there), for most of us it’s not a workable or particularly productive option. Don’t get me wrong, on days when my kids were homeschooling during Covid and the dog was barking at a seemingly invisible enemy, working from bed seemed very appealing. I would also find myself daydreaming of the workspaces of people like Neil Gaiman, who often books himself into a hotel to get a novel finished. Gaiman also has a gazebo at the bottom of his beautiful garden that he meanders off to each morning - coffee, fountain pens, and Leuchtturm notebooks in hand. Imagine, I would think, after what seemed like the fifteenth garbage truck of the day, of becoming one of the writers and digital nomads who work from exotic villas in the jungle or cottages by the sea.

But before you feel overly depressed by these unrelatable examples, let’s not forget that Stephen King wrote Carrie in his laundry room. And some of history’s greatest philosophers have shared our WFH struggles. In a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, Franz Kafka wrote "time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers."

So how do we create a workspace at home that actually works?

Having a proper desk does actually matter. My research has shown that it isn’t just the actual desk, or having a good ergonomic chair (although that is important), the design and aesthetic of our workspaces really do make a difference. One of the key psychological needs we have in an office is the feeling of a sense of beauty. Beauty is a fundamental human need, long ignored in the design of office settings. Acres of plain ugly desks and grey carpet never made anyone feel inspired.

While few of us may have something that resembles this incredible musical puzzle desk, we can start with a desk that is both functional, and attractive. The same goes for the chair. There are so many options now that don’t look like the generally awful ones in most of our offices. Why do they make them so ugly? And while a messy desk has helped win a Nobel prize and is actually helpful for creativity, removing clutter is recommended for a lot of the other types of tasks we undertake in an average workday. And a clutter-free desk reduces the cognitive load on our brains, making us more productive.

Your home workspace is your chance to personalise in a way that you never could in the office. Now is your chance put out the Star Wars figurines or the random collection you adore but would never dare bring to the office. Freed from the horrors of overhead fluorescent strip lighting, a nice desk lamp can completely change how your feel about sitting down to start your day. If you don’t have access to a nice view, art makes a big difference. As does fresh air and natural light. Like deep green walls? Go for it. Plants and nature literally make us feel less stressed and think more clearly.

A whole stream of research has highlighted how personalisation and artefacts not only help us express who we are, but can also anchor us into routines that support us to work at our best. I am a huge Japanophile. The philosophy of wabi-sabi, the design aesthetic and the idea of forest bathing are irresistible to me. Worried however as to whether I could keep an actual Bonsai alive, I have a Lego bonsai tree on my desk instead. It doesn’t just make me smile when I look at it, concepts like Lego Serious Play are now embedded practices to support things like communication and creativity in organisations.

If I am having a tough day, or find myself procrastinating, my bonsai comes with two foliage options that are interchangeable. Green leaves, of course. But also a delightful pink cherry blossom alternative, known as sakura, which is a national obsession in Japan. This option has not only pink flowers for leaves but also pink frogs. I love it. Taking just a few minutes to swap the verdant green for a canopy of pink flowers and frogs can make a world of difference to my mood and my thinking.

So while a large private office with a closed door and acoustic treatments that drown out the neighbours is certainly ideal, there are many things we can do to create a work-from-home space that we both love, and that support us to work effectively. Just a few small changes along with adding things that make us feel good really does help.

I’d love to see your work from home spaces and hear what works well for you. Share your photos and any questions on my Instagram or LinkedIn.