According to Gallup, nearly half of U.S. workers—43 percent—spend at least some time working remotely; at Fletcher Group, that number is 100 percent. Our team loves the flexibility, work/life balance, stress-less commutes and ability to control our working environments that home offices provide.
Offering a flexible, enjoyable place to work is one of our core values as a lifestyle business (read more about that here), and we have mastered the art of designing personal spaces that maximize productivity, boost creativity, express our personalities and keep us close to loved ones. To learn a little more about our team—and to keep in mind if you’re creating your own work-from-home space—here’s a peek into our team’s “must haves.”
At the basic level, we consider the following to be mandatory components of a home office:
• Laptop or desktop
• Phone
• Comfy chair
• Headphones
• Good speaker (doubles for calls and tunes)
• At-a-glance wall calendar
• “Old school” pencil, pen and paper
• Post-it notes
• A room with a door
To tailor our spaces to our personalities, we each incorporate some of the following into our offices—listed in order of popularity:
• Water bottles, coffee, healthy snacks and a bit of junk food (chips, specifically)
• Pets (although you may need to use your door to avoid meowing or barking while you’re on client calls)
• Sunshine and windows
• Pictures of family
• Plants
• ChapStick
• Essential oils
To fully enjoy our work-at-home spaces, our team members also:
• Move around: In a traditional office setting, walking around while on calls can come across as rude or disruptive. But in the comfort of our own homes, we can move around at will throughout the day to get our steps in.
• Make themselves comfortable: Who doesn’t love yoga pants? Hoodies? Slippers? We love having complete control of what we wear (or don’t wear—e.g., makeup, heels) and can enjoy the luxury of fashion flexibility.
• Prepare homemade meals: Without coworkers on hand to tempt us with lunch invitations, we have daily opportunities to make healthy lunches, skip unappetizing frozen microwave meals and even take time to eat with our kids and families if they’re around. Plus, eating at home is a great way to save money.
Fletcher Group team members enjoy and appreciate making the most of our home offices, and we highly recommend doing the same for yours—give our ideas above a try if you’re needing some inspiration!
