For many years, women had been the dominant force within the home. In recent times, women have burst onto the business scene and made great strides for gender equality in the workplace. However, how do we tackle the newest hurdle that Covid-19 has brought: the conflation of home and workspace? With many opting to work remotely, and starting a business from home (in which case, you should read Game-changing financial tips for small business owners), there’s a need to navigate – and separate – the two.

How can this be done? Below are some ideas for optimizing your setup, and ensuring peace of mind when working remotely! 

A Dedicated Workspace

First of all, you should assign space (or if you can, a room!) within your home to become the office. This area should, for the foreseeable future of remote work, be considered ‘The Office’. It’s no longer a part of your home, and you need to think of it this way for your mental health. By separating the two, both physically and mentally, you’ll find it easier to switch off and decompress after work than if you use the same space for both business and pleasure. 

Set Up For Remote Communication 

Technology has given us some incredibly useful products, including our beloved mobile phones. You may be tempted to use your personal phone to take work or business calls, but this can be a bad idea. You might inadvertently allow work to slip into your free time if you’re using your mobile for business, and that won’t be good for your mental health. Instead, why not get set up with a reliable VoIP phone system company, and have a workplace/business phone set up for office hours. Many companies offer cloud support too, so this is a great solution if you’re working remotely as part of a larger company. Furthermore, having a dedicated business phone is imperative to growing your new business venture.

Reliable Internet 

This should be a given, but you would be surprised how your home internet may not cut it for remote work. To save yourself the frustration of slow loading times and constant lag, it might be worthwhile to invest in a cable internet package for your office space. However, these can be expensive, so you should use a free internet speed checker to see if your current internet can carry you and your work through before you start spending money. Alternatively, check around with other service providers like windstream internet to see whether they can offer a more reliable service. Then you can compare various plans and prices to select which best fits your needs. 

Comfortable and Practical

Perhaps everyone’s favorite thing about remote work – decorating your dream office space! Whilst we all love a glamorous and empowering office, you should aim to maximize comfort by investing in a quality chair. For those who are health-conscious (and we all should be!), it might be worthwhile buying an adjustable sit/stand desk to ensure you aren’t constantly sitting, and potentially damaging your back. Furthermore, why not personalize the space with some independent female empowerment posters to make you feel like the Boss that you are and support fellow businesswomen?

Remote work is tough, but you’ve got this ladies!