04-02-2020
Work From Home: Tips & Lessons Learned
As we enter our third week of working from home, here are some tips and lessons learned about home workspaces from FXCollaborative Partner and Design Director—Interiors Angie Lee, illustrated by some of the at-home workspaces of the firm's architects and designers.
Embrace the space you have
For those in dense cities with small apartments or who are sharing your space with others, carving out a dedicated workspace can be a challenge. A range of quick fix options (like the dining table, which in the modern home is already a de facto flex space and collaboration zone) can be instantly ramped up as a productive workspace. Home offices that borrow from the corporate world can be very productive depending on your work style, but your bed or sofa is perfectly capable of supporting a laptop or tablet.
Moving from one setting to another is encouraged, as we've been finding out lately that we can actually be frozen in place for too long without the reminder from our colleagues to get up every so often. I've seen more than one ironing board being used as a standing height desk surface in people's social media feeds—proof that humans are inventive, tenacious creatures who adapt and innovate in the smallest of spaces. As we enter our grand "work from home" experiment in the middle to later stages, adaptation and resilience will be key.
Consider your overall environment
For the long haul, working from home will require slightly more rigorous physical and environmental support. Good lighting, acoustic privacy, a way to protect yourself from visual distraction, and adequate table space for work that requires more than a laptop or tablet is vital to ensure a long-term relationship between work and life mindsets in the same physical space. This applies to your workspace not just at home, but also in the office. If you are able to find a space at home to allow your work tools to remain unbothered throughout the day or overnight, you have found a way to lock out interlopers in both the human and animal categories or have fled to a remote location. Either way, congratulations.
Maintain a balanced level of comfort
All the comforts of home, in the home, are usually too comfortable. A level of minimalism in your work area could be helpful in maintaining focus—decluttering will help people who have trouble distancing themselves mentally from the hum of the refrigerator or the pile of laundry in the hall. Some people thrive on creative chaos and love the mess. It varies wildly from person to person, and the divergence of sensitivities will likely coexist between residents of the same household.
Carving out a timeshare program for the dining room table, or being able to lock the door or hang a sign outside your bedroom so you can take the Zoom meeting or write a proposal without being interrupted are programmatic mechanisms that can accommodate multiple people. We've spent years honing and refining homey work environments at the actual office, and the blend between the 'business' and 'social' aspects of a workplace is a sliding scale that can be also be adjusted to slightly 'de-homify' the home.
Work with your distractions
It's reassuring to hear tales of colleagues who hide in the closet from their very small children so they can sneak in a conference call, or disappear into the common room of their apartment building or sit in their cars to have a moment. First hand experience aside, it simply helps to commiserate if you are working with children, pets, or other distractions at home, because your new co-workers will be at times inconsiderate, loud, and needy. Having kids or partners in the Zoom meeting in the background has been a refreshing and humanizing trend because all of us are working from home all at once.
Our tolerance level has been ratcheted up, and will ultimately contribute to a better understanding of the reality or myth of the ever-elusive work/life balance. Parents showcasing their holistic and messy existence to their professional colleagues now will certainly elevate the discussion about the world of work. I do think we are diminishing the stigma many parents have, especially working mothers, in trying to overcome the perception that they aren't contributing unless they're fully focused on their work for eight straight hours.
As we continue to work from home, the blur between professional and personal personas will continue to erode the traditional models we used to think were immovable. We are going to be better at inclusivity for having gone through this, and learning to be kind to ourselves and our colleagues as we move through a wild new reality will be an essential skill to hold onto after we emerge on the other side.
Embrace the space you have
For those in dense cities with small apartments or who are sharing your space with others, carving out a dedicated workspace can be a challenge. A range of quick fix options (like the dining table, which in the modern home is already a de facto flex space and collaboration zone) can be instantly ramped up as a productive workspace. Home offices that borrow from the corporate world can be very productive depending on your work style, but your bed or sofa is perfectly capable of supporting a laptop or tablet.
Moving from one setting to another is encouraged, as we've been finding out lately that we can actually be frozen in place for too long without the reminder from our colleagues to get up every so often. I've seen more than one ironing board being used as a standing height desk surface in people's social media feeds—proof that humans are inventive, tenacious creatures who adapt and innovate in the smallest of spaces. As we enter our grand "work from home" experiment in the middle to later stages, adaptation and resilience will be key.
Consider your overall environment
For the long haul, working from home will require slightly more rigorous physical and environmental support. Good lighting, acoustic privacy, a way to protect yourself from visual distraction, and adequate table space for work that requires more than a laptop or tablet is vital to ensure a long-term relationship between work and life mindsets in the same physical space. This applies to your workspace not just at home, but also in the office. If you are able to find a space at home to allow your work tools to remain unbothered throughout the day or overnight, you have found a way to lock out interlopers in both the human and animal categories or have fled to a remote location. Either way, congratulations.
Maintain a balanced level of comfort
All the comforts of home, in the home, are usually too comfortable. A level of minimalism in your work area could be helpful in maintaining focus—decluttering will help people who have trouble distancing themselves mentally from the hum of the refrigerator or the pile of laundry in the hall. Some people thrive on creative chaos and love the mess. It varies wildly from person to person, and the divergence of sensitivities will likely coexist between residents of the same household.
Carving out a timeshare program for the dining room table, or being able to lock the door or hang a sign outside your bedroom so you can take the Zoom meeting or write a proposal without being interrupted are programmatic mechanisms that can accommodate multiple people. We've spent years honing and refining homey work environments at the actual office, and the blend between the 'business' and 'social' aspects of a workplace is a sliding scale that can be also be adjusted to slightly 'de-homify' the home.
Work with your distractions
It's reassuring to hear tales of colleagues who hide in the closet from their very small children so they can sneak in a conference call, or disappear into the common room of their apartment building or sit in their cars to have a moment. First hand experience aside, it simply helps to commiserate if you are working with children, pets, or other distractions at home, because your new co-workers will be at times inconsiderate, loud, and needy. Having kids or partners in the Zoom meeting in the background has been a refreshing and humanizing trend because all of us are working from home all at once.
Our tolerance level has been ratcheted up, and will ultimately contribute to a better understanding of the reality or myth of the ever-elusive work/life balance. Parents showcasing their holistic and messy existence to their professional colleagues now will certainly elevate the discussion about the world of work. I do think we are diminishing the stigma many parents have, especially working mothers, in trying to overcome the perception that they aren't contributing unless they're fully focused on their work for eight straight hours.
As we continue to work from home, the blur between professional and personal personas will continue to erode the traditional models we used to think were immovable. We are going to be better at inclusivity for having gone through this, and learning to be kind to ourselves and our colleagues as we move through a wild new reality will be an essential skill to hold onto after we emerge on the other side.