Homeworking - astudio's experience and tips we've learnt along the way...

With the way of modern working having changed drastically over the last year and the need to be in an office Monday to Friday dwindling, astudio talk about their homeworking experiences, share their work spaces alongside tips for how to remain productive and motivated in your ‘home office’.

When working from home your physical environment is crucial to maintaining a good mental wellbeing, especially as we are in the midst of lockdown three, and the yearning for a change of scene is growing. This, coupled with the need for a space for homeschooling for some, means a new ‘home working’ environment may have become a necessity. With this in mind we asked our astudio team whether they had made any changes to their physical space to make home working better.

Our responses ranged from converting unused areas of their house into a ‘home office’ in order to distinguish between work and home, packing away all laptops and screens at the end of the day, dedicating a section of their desk to standing and using their laptop alongside a section to sketching, designing and thinking, and using a longer desk to allow their child to work alongside them whilst homeschooling.

A popular problem some were having was the construction noise of their surrounding area, to help with this a member of the team suggested Krisp, a noise cancelling app allowing people to work from home in the peace and quiet!

Homeworking has removed the commute and structure from people’s day meaning time away from your desk and in your own headspace has been limited, so we asked our team if they had made any changes to the structure of their day to ensure their work and home life are clearly defined?

Many people said they now wake up earlier and start their day as though they were going to work ensuring they go on a walk as though they were commuting, be that alone, with their dog or a family member to get out the house and have some time to think away from the desk. Others went out at lunch for a walk whilst some went out after work to clear their head after the day at their desk. However, finding a time to break in the day can be difficult, so some found writing down their schedule of when to break and when to work to ensure they stuck to their plan whilst others found that filling their break with a constructive activity (such as mindfulness) helped encourage them to step away from their desk and therefore improved their mental wellbeing.

One of the most difficult parts of lockdown is undoubtedly the lack of face to face connections, so finally we asked if our team felt connected enough to their friends, family and co-workers and if anyone had any tips or ways they try and stay connected with loved ones.

This question triggered a lot of diverse and interesting answers and really illustrated the beauty of technology in times of separation. One of our team plays chess over the internet with their best friend, each player has 24 hours to make their move meaning consistent communication between friends.

Lockdown has really shown that technology has no boundaries, as it has the ability to bring families together, despite living in different countries. Whether that be for a quick conversation, another zoom quiz or table tennis! The oculus quest enables families to each use the VR headset to play virtual table tennis with each other, showing that even though it is lockdown, families can still enjoy a game together.

One of our team also shared that throughout lockdown that have enjoyed using ‘discord’ a website that allows, clubs, friends, colleagues to all join a large group chat to enjoy music together, share their screen to ask for advice, and chat together, meaning interaction is not just limited to outside work hours as this can be open in the background streaming music, sharing expertise on group project so even when working at home, you do not feel alone.

What became apparent in the meeting is that although ways of life had adapted, nothing was truly lost, everything had just changed. People still enjoyed nature, still spent time with their family and friends (all be it virtually), people found a new way of working allowing developments in the way our studio uses technology and although we all look forward to working together in the studio again, it is clear there are many valuable lessons we have learnt as a practice to take with us into the future.