Never have home offices been as relevant as they are right now.

Home offices offer countless advantages for employees and employers alike.

What you need to consider when setting up a home office…

When planning your home office, think about what you need and anything you feel is currently missing from your office:

• Would you like a large desk?
• Do you need to store lots of documents?
• Do you want to be cosy and fill your space with pictures and plants, or do you need a clean, minimalist working environment in order to concentrate?
• Which colours and materials boost your well-being?
• How much space do you have?

These pointers will help you determine your ideal home office set-up and design a space that allows you to fulfil your potential.

We all need to feel good at work. To remain motivated in the long term, we need a pleasant atmosphere that meets our particular requirements. People who work in their employer’s office full-time have little say over the furniture. Not so in a home office.

Again and again, surveys show that increased productivity is the key advantage of home offices. Less noise and fewer distractions from colleagues and phones in neighbouring offices mean that employees can concentrate on their work for longer.

In Germany, the latest surveys indicate that around 35% of employees would leave their current job for more flexibility and home working options. So it’s no wonder that almost 45% of companies surveyed are gearing up to have more home workers in the coming years. If companies want good results and long-term working relationships, they need to make sure their employees are happy.

Think about the future too

You may move house, change jobs or return to working at your employer’s premises full-time. So it makes sense to use flexible, long-lasting furniture that you can repurpose if no longer working from home. A modular system is a good choice here. It can be extended if you decide to increase the work you do from home or become self-employed and want to bring new employees into your office.

A modular furniture system with individual modules can also be easily dismantled or modified if you no longer need it for its original purpose. Thanks to customisable fronts in 14 USM colours, a filing cabinet can be quickly transformed into a colourful children’s toy cupboard.

Of course, setting up a home office isn’t just a matter of large furniture, but also practical accessories. For example, the elegant USM Haller desks can be fitted with clever accessories such as an unobtrusive cable guide for connecting your PC and smartphone or a flat screen support arm.

If you find that you no longer need these elements, simply remove them and use the desk as a dining table, for instance. The more modular – and therefore adaptable – a piece of furniture, the more sustainable it becomes.