ADVICE
WORKING FROM HOME
Whether your home office is in a bedroom, garage, garden room, corner of the house or a purpose-built extension for multiple personnel, it’s important to compartmentalise work from your domestic life.
Our editor, has “worked from home” for over 30 years having built offices for 16 at her family home and then moved to France where the pigeonnier was converted to a professional workplace environment. She has also experienced working from home, alone. If you are not used to it, it can take some adjustment. We hope these tips help you to maximise the enjoyment, and success, that home working can bring. IT’S ALL IN THE MIND “It could be a walk through the garden, a staircase or a doorway”, Lesley highlights “but I still travel the “M25 motorway” when I go to work. This mental journey helps to keep my two worlds apart and enables me to retain my focus whilst at work. A tall screen or even a curtain would work just as well if your workspace is in your living room for instance.
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TECHNOLOGY “It depends on your type of work”, she adds, “but if you are used to an all-singing, all-dancing PC with a full keyboard in the workplace, you may find it difficult to manage with an iPad, notebook or laptop on a full-time basis at home. I certainly can’t write at the same speed on my iPad and laptop and, for this reason, I have an additional full size keyboard and mouse which are both wireless to avoid an IT spaghetti junction!
“Whilst you may have been able to split screens easily at work, it may not be quite so easy at home. So, if you have space, an additional monitor is a major bonus. They aren’t expensive and really do stop you going dizzy and losing work as you flip from one view to another, or try to read tiny text on a split screen. “Working from home may mean that you are less protected against power outages, especially if you live in rural France. A small UPS (uninterruptible power supply) can give you those all-important
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