Whether you've got a busy job and you fancy doing a little more of it at home and a little less in the office, or whether you work from home anyway and the kids are beginning to make things a little more tricky, setting up a good home office is the perfect way to get your work/life balance spot on. However, before you head to Ryman's and start buying home office furniture, there are a few steps you should take first.

Their End

If you're looking to work from home, it's never been easier to be out of the office. Advancements in internet speed, in hand held devices, and in all things to do with the 'cloud' mean that you can pretty much be in the office, without being in the office. However, you do need to make sure that your internet is really up to scratch and can handle the demands of working from home.

You'll also need to talk to your IT department and work out how you can access the servers from home. There are many different ways of doing this, with platforms like Citrix a popular option. Alternatively, cloud software solutions like SalesForce are becoming increasingly popular and can be used from anywhere.

Then, there's things like Skype – which you may have to get very used to – and services like Google Cloud Print which mean you can print your documents on any printer with an internet connection. It's a lot to think about, but most IT departments know exactly what they're doing and should help get everything sorted in no time.


Your End

Once the technology is sorted out, the next step is to make sure that your working space is right, and this is more about establishing the correct environment and some good ground rules. Your home office should look exactly like an office, and be kept in top condition. That way, when you sit down at your desk you won't be tempted to fritter time away tidying or avoiding doing work. Self-discipline is essential for working from home.


You also need to make sure that your kids (especially if they're young) know the difference between “Mum's working” and “We can pester Mum” which can be tricky if the reason for working from home is keeping an eye on them. Get yourself into a routine, and get them into one as well, a good idea when they're very young is to have set “cuddle breaks” every half hour or so. Another strategy is to give them their own little work space so they can “work” with you, and you can keep an eye on them.

Working from home is going to become increasingly popular, but it will always be a little tricky to get everything set up. It is definitely, however, worth the effort and can make a huge difference to how you and your kids feel about you working every day, so it's definitely worth considering.