Don’t you just love the idea of working from home? For some, this means more time to spend with a spouse while others get to work side-by-side with their best pals, girl friends, domestic partners, twins, and siblings.
While many of these professionals may still be adjusting to working efficiently from home, sharing your office space with another will just make matters worse. In most cases, either one will complain that the dining table or couch just isn’t enough in terms of sustained comfort and ergonomics, much less productivity.
When many members of the same family find themselves sharing a home office space, and their working schedules are pretty much the same, work may quickly become a nuisance. Speaking of which, some people are definitely not good candidates for shared home offices.
You Can’t Share Home Office Space If:
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One of you likes music playing while they work while the other depends on pin-drop silence.
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Both of your job descriptions require that you talk on the phone
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One feels comfortable at 65 degrees whereas the other starts shivering when the temperature is set below 70 degrees.
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Both of you have a unique definition as to what a clean office is.
If you happen to be sharing your home office with a person whose comfort requirements and work style is a lot different than yours, then you may end up disagreeing most of the time.
If both of you don’t have any of the problems listed above, then you can easily share a home office and we’re about to discuss some easy office arrangements. We have followed each category with brief descriptions as to how they can help both employees increase productivity and peacefully co-exist.
Collaborative Workspace
This type of home office space setting will have both people face each other across a desk. A collaborative workspace is typically ideal for those people who wouldn’t mind interaction with their work. Of course, it could be particularly fun if both of you actually enjoy spending time with each other without getting distracted.
This interaction-style setting usually works when both of your job descriptions don’t entail talking on the phone. If it does, the other would find it really difficult to stay focused.
Since storage space is of vital importance in all office settings, you should know that sharing a desk will only grant one of the two an adequate amount of it. Also, it may become annoying for the person closest to the storage when the other needs to use it more often.
If both of you need storage space at the same time, it will really help to position the table in a manner that both have easy access or to all-out purchases an additional fixture.
Next, what you need to ask yourselves is what amount of light are both of you comfortable with? That being said, a shared desk space should be placed in a manner that each end receives the same amount of natural light or light from ceiling fixtures. Of course, one could always use a desk lamp to work in a consistent amount of light.
Semi-Independent Workspace
Sharing home office spaces doesn’t mean that both work areas need to be identical. Each person’s individual needs will have to be taken into consideration. For instance, one may feel comfortable working on an all-in-one standing desk whereas the other may need a writing desk for the nature of their work.
A semi-independent workspace works for those home occupants who prefer to work separately and would also prefer to sit together and talk things over. In this style of workspace, both people could have a view outside their window and continue to be productive without getting distracted by the other.
Here, it is also much simpler to assign storage space to both people because each of them have their own individual desks and, therefore, can easily reach their belongings. Similarly, each person can set up their own task lighting to adjust to their preferences.
Tips on Creating a Shared Home Office Space
1. Get Comfortable
Are you and your partner working from home? You need a standing desk and an ergonomic chair. Standing desks are, perhaps, the epitome of comfort because they counter the risks of heart disease, diabetes, and early death. What’s more, research suggests that people who use standing desks experienced more energy and vigor throughout their day as opposed to those who had a more sedentary lifestyle.
2. Stick to a Schedule
If one thing was true about working from home it would be that we tend to procrastinate more as compared to our workplaces. This is especially true if you share your home office space with another person. What you need to do is establish a schedule and stick to it.
Sticking to a schedule is essential since it makes sure that your work doesn't bleed through into your private life and you can balance both at the same time. For this reason, you should consider splitting your schedule with anyone you’re sharing your office space with.
This tip is particularly effective when you are sharing your home office with children. Splitting work shifts with your spouse can ensure that one of your has the peace of mind to focus on work while the other makes sure the children do their homework and don’t disturb the other.
3. Equip Yourself With the Right Gear
One desktop PC may not be enough for an entire household, especially if multiple children and adults need access to the computer. If you have just one PC at home, you should consider investing in a couple of laptops.
Similarly, it will also play to your advantage if you upgrade your internet connection to a business-grade service so you can use all the essential applications even though other people may be streaming videos, playing games online, or surfing the web.
4. Define Your Work Space
In the perfect home office, you will have dedicated workspaces that offer some privacy to you and other people in the household. If it isn’t possible for you to shift to a separate room altogether, you can always set your desk in the corner with all of your essentials arranged nearby.
Moving ahead, make sure that your home office space is clutter free and that all storage devices, headphones, laptop chargers and phone chargers are nearby. Also, try to communicate to your children, partners, roommates, and spouse that all of your office equipment should remain untouched.
5. Be Considerate
This particular tip is a rather important one. Most people who work from home require a certain degree of focus to get through the day. If you and other household members are sharing your office space, then it is everybody’s responsibility to keep disturbances at a bare minimum. What you can do to avoid getting distracted is to wear noise cancelling headphones and, perhaps, step outside to attend or to make important phone calls.
Speaking of phone calls, while sharing your workspace with another, it would really help if you could set your mobile phone’s text message alerts on vibrate and to schedule video conferences in a manner that the other can easily manage according to their schedules.
Supercharge Your Productivity with Height Adjustable Desks
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how and where we work and many homeowners are still figuring it out. What you need to do is take a deep breath and to remind yourself that you are lucky enough to still be receiving a paycheck.
To keep the ball rolling, you need to take good care of your health and the health of others in your household. Working from home? You need a standing desk!
A good place to start would be to equip yourself with Comhar’s revolutionary height adjustable All-In-One Standing Desks.
These desks have been specifically designed for people who work from home and its cutting-edge design offers you practical and versatile standing desks. These desks not only prevent you from having a harmful sedentary lifestyle at home but also programmable height presets.
This feature on our standing desks is perfect for people sharing home offices because they can save their preferred height setting and easily transition between sitting and standing throughout the day.
Other great features of these All-In-One Standing Desks include convenient USB charging ports, spacious embedded drawers, easy assembly, and a beautiful tempered glass table top. What’s more, it even has a safe lock button so that your office desk isn’t tampered with by mischievous pets and children.
Finally, the Comhar All-In-One Standing Desks take up minimal space while also offering both home occupants the option to fit their own desk against any empty wall, corner or space in their home.
