10 Home Office Lessons Learned The Hard Way

Val D. Steed, CPA, MA, CITP - Director Accountants – Zoho Corporation

www.Zoho.com/CPA

I’ve been working from a home office for over twenty-five years.

In that time, I’ve learned many lessons along the way that helped me create a safe, comfortable, and productive work environment for myself at home. I’d like to share an executive summary of my recommendations for working from a home office.

1- Remember Common Sense Rules

The most important tool in protecting you and your home office is common sense. Here are a few rules:

●      Lock your system when you walk away. Home offices are full of distractions. I came back to my desk one day to find a granddaughter happily surfing Disney.com. This was a good wake up call.

●      Be extremely careful with printed files laying on your desk. If the file is sensitive in nature, put it in a locked drawer or file cabinet. When handed this type of file, I prefer to scan them into electronic format and store them encrypted and then shred the paper.

●      Don’t click on links.

●      Don’t insert USB drives from unsecured sources.

●      Everything inbound is suspect, EVERYTHING!

●      Reach out to the source if something seems odd. Yes, actually call someone if you suspect something. Voice communication is a great way to authenticate.

2- Control Your Lighting

Do not ignore light in your workspace. Proper lighting can help your mood and overall productivity. Finding a spot with a lot of natural light is best. But even at a kitchen counter, you can add a dimmer switch to your workspace to allow you to adjust the light.

Also, both Windows and Apple’s OS allow you to set the desktop light level to adjust for nighttime work. Getting the right lighting setup can help you avoid putting too much strain on your eyes and is a very important element of your workspace.

3- Upgrade Your Connection

In my opinion, fiber optic is better than cable. You share a cable connection with neighbors. During peak internet hours, cable tends to slow down significantly. Fiber, on the other hand, is a dedicated connection with guaranteed speeds. Since I finally got off DSL a number of years ago, I’ve been very pleased with fiber optic. Cable is okay but fiber is best.

4- Don’t Rely on Mobile Hot Spots

Most everyone has the ability to activate a hot spot with their smartphone plan. This is a good idea for a backup but not for the main connection for a home office. Don’t rely on cell service for that big meeting. Cell signals can come and go and will be seriously degraded when more of your neighbors get on the phone. I highly suggest using hot spots or Mi-Fis as a backup only.

5- Know the Nearest Public Wi-Fi Access Point

I have often had to drive to public places with Wi-Fi to save the day, even McDonald’s. Scout these places in advance so you know where to go. Just remember when using public Wi-Fi, be extremely careful not to log in to anything significant unless you have a VPN.

Also, you might want to prepare yourself for a pack of teenagers to walk in for lunch right as you start a meeting. It’ll happen.

6- Choose Your Office Spot Wisely

The physical location of your home workspace matters.

Now, I understand that many people don’t have much of a choice and are working from kitchen counters, bedside desks, or even straight from the couch. We make do with what we have. If possible, have a dedicated space that you can close off from the rest of the home.

When we built our current home, I knew I needed a good space. I’m admittedly a little spoiled to have a small separate room with good doors I can close. If possible, I also recommend situating your home office in a spot where you can look out the front of your house.

I like my office in the front part of my house because I can see who and what is coming and going.

This can be especially useful when you are on a business call and you see the in-laws pull up or packages get delivered. I don’t like surprises. Is your postal mailbox clearly marked? Do the delivery companies have a good spot to land boxes for you?

I’ve also had to make a few mad dashes out to the road to rescue a child from a bike crash or help push a neighbor out of a snowdrift. For me, the command view of the front of my house is very important from my office.

7- Set Boundaries and Communicate

Taking an important business call can be challenging. No matter what, make sure to have some discussions with the other occupants of your home about your focus time needs and when to respect boundaries and stay quiet.

In today’s business environment most people will understand some disruptions but if it becomes excessive no one is happy. When I first started working from home getting “outed” was a very bad but not quite so anymore.

My family still makes fun of me about one gesture I used for years to let them know they needed to turnaround go right back out of my office and stay quiet.

8- Optimize Your Space for Comfort

You can work from an uncomfortable spot for a while. You might even get away with it for a few days but if you don’t optimize your space to be as comfortable as possible in the long-term, you will end up with some kind of pain or problem. Try your best to get a spot where you can adjust your chair, stand up, sit low, etc. A few years back we renovated my home office and I purchase a nice desk that has electronic raisers. I can work standing up, sitting high, sitting low and many other levels in between. If you can afford a nice desk that moves up and down you will never regret it.

9- Check and Double-check Firewalls, Switches, & Routers

Your home connection is just as vulnerable as any internet connection. I found that out many years ago when a Windows NT server in my basement was hacked. For most, a current operating system with good anti-virus software will be adequate. For dedicated space like mine I also prefer to have a hardware firewall between me and the Internet.

Again, this can be pricy for a home office. I also prefer business-grade wireless routers and a switch. I have a quality business-grade switch in my basement connected to a well-done wired system that I still use for most of my gear today. Wireless is good but wires are still better.

Please do not name your Wi-Fi network after your family or business or leave the default password on the router. I learned that one the hard way. My SSID of “The Steeds” became “The Stupids” when hacked by someone I will never know. I’m much more careful with the SSID and login now.

10- Upgrade Your Hardware

Many people use a laptop in a home office. Working long-term on a small laptop screen without a full set up gets the job done in a pinch, but it’s the bare minimum. Here’s a look at what I use to give you an idea of things to consider when upgrading your hardware:

●      Surge suppressor with UPS support

●      Simple USB dock station for multiple devices

●      External full-sized Bluetooth keyboard and mouse

●      Good USB camera/mic. I try to stay away from product-specific recommendations but the Marantz Professional Turret | USB Broadcast Video System is simply terrific and the best product I’ve ever seen for a home office. Make sure to order the correct USB connector for your computer.

●      Multiple monitors or one large external monitor. I use a wide 34” external monitor. I gave up on multiple monitors a few years ago. Multiple monitors or a large wide monitor allows you to view and reference multiple windows while video-conferencing and can help improve your productivity.

●      Quality speakers and mic. The condenser mic and speakers in your laptop aren’t well-suited for long-term telecommunication. A good dedicated headset and quality speakers can help you avoid infusing business webinars and meetings with a bunch of background noise and static. As noted above, I rely on the Marantz Turret combined with some nice Bose speakers. The turret takes care of noise-canceling so it works very well with a pair of external Bose speakers.

●      A good paper shredder. One that can shred a credit card offer mailer all at once. YES, you need to shred important documents when discarding them in your home office.

Finally, don’t forget to appreciate what you have now. Our current Internet connections, hardware, and smartphones are light-years beyond the dial-up I started with many years ago. Back in the day, you would be very happy if you heard “go-boing, go-boing” from your modem. That was a happy sound. Now we just take high-speed internet for granted.