With more people working from home, the home office has taken on a life of its own. Before 2020, we barely paid any attention to it. We might have had the odd space here and there for blasting out a few emails, but none of us seriously believed we’d spend years of our careers in our pyjamas from the waist down.
But thanks to the pandemic, that’s now the reality, and it’s leading to some interesting developments. Here are some home office trends for 2022.
Dedicated Spaces In Shared Rooms
Not everyone has the budget to build a new home office at the side of their home, or the space to convert an existing room. That’s leading to the introduction of dedicated spaces in shared rooms. Instead of just working on the dining table and hoping for the best, people are now installing offices in their living rooms.
To create a dedicated space, workers are using a combination of dividers and headphones. Dividers reduce distractions from other householders, and headphones block out the noise that they make.
Standing Desks
Standing desks are also becoming increasingly popular in the home environment. Workers don’t want to spend all day sitting on their backsides. Instead, they want to be able to move around and slash the risks associated with sitting for too long.
If you plan on implementing a standing desk in your home office, make sure that you carefully tie away wires and cables to avoid tripping.
Hired Help
Companies regularly hire office cleaning services to make sure that their workspaces are pristine in the mornings. Now home-based workers are doing the same. Having a helping hand allows them to focus less on tidying up and more on their work.
Cleaners are also being asked to take care of general household cleanliness as many workers are stuck working longer hours than they would be in the office.
Zoom Rooms
While Zoom was well-known before COVID-19, it’s now a household name. Everyone knows what it is and what it does. And most people now use it too.
Early on in the pandemic, people worried about “Zoom face.” They saw how the lighting and stress of world events was ageing them, and they didn’t like it.
Now workers are hitting back with so-called Zoom rooms. These are well-lit, quiet areas of the house where children or pets are unlikely to suddenly enter.
Storage Racks
We’re seeing a shift away from big, bulky furniture, such as filing cabinets, towards more attractive and minimalist storage solutions. A lot of workers are ditching conventional office furniture at home for options that are primarily aesthetic. For instance, they’re investing in wall racks for storing vases, pictures, and perhaps the odd piece of equipment, like a printer.
Hybrid Furniture
Lastly, we’re seeing home office workers invest in hybrid furniture. The idea here is to buy desks that can be set up in multiple locations around the home, not necessarily the office itself. They’re ideal for the lounge, bedroom and garden too.