Week 8 of working at home

I am one of the lucky ones in that I have a job and that I can work at home via VPN.  There are a number of things that makes it work for me.

• A bedroom was redone some time ago as an office when our youngest moved out on her own.  This gives me a room that is dedicated as an office when I am working at home and the wife knows when I am in there to treat it as my work office.  The cat still doesn't get it when the door is closed and it will swat the door and call out to be let in.
• A good cordless phone.  It has a number of options like speaker phone so I can go hands free.  Two cordless phones are up here so that when one does run out of battery I can continue on the conference call.  The only downside to these phones as it does not support plugging in the hands free set so I have to put it on speaker phone.  I have an older phone hooked in that isn't cordless in case both phones run out of power.
• Cell phone.  I controlled who got my number and it is only members of the team and my bosses.  It does get used as there are days I am in conference calls and the team needs to contact me.  It also has WhatsApp for quick messaging for the team.
• A great chair.  If I have to work all day (with breaks to get up and move) a comfortable chair is a must.  The only downside of this one is that it is leather and it gets very hot after twenty to thirty minutes.  Upside of that is that it forces me to get up and move.
• A good table for the work laptop.  It is a must for me to have a dedicated table with the work machine so that it is physically separate from my personal machines.  Tables are not that expensive, I think I paid maybe $100 (Canadian) for the table.  It has a lower shelf where I can also store the work briefcase.
• Shelving to store materials needed for work.  You don't need to go overboard here.  I picked up an inexpensive wire shelving unit from Canadian Tire.  Pens, pencils, notepads, paper supplies and reference materials right beside the work desk.
• Lock for the laptop.  Just because it is at home doesn't mean you leave the machine unlocked.  Thieves can still take the machine if they want, but why make it easy for them.
• Good inexpensive printers.  I am lucky that I have both a laser and inkjet.  I use the laser for anything that is black and white as it is cheaper per page and it also supports duplex printing.  The Inkjet also has a scan option so I can scan documents for work.  I picked the Brother printer as the cartridges have a decent life (several hundred pages) and are inexpensive ($7 to $13 per cartridge).
• If I have a lot of scanning I have a document scanner hooked to my home machine.  It will handle a dozen or so pages at a time and is quick.  Epson makes a nice wireless model, runs fast and wasn't that expensive (around $300).
• Coffee machine.  With working at home I am drinking a lot more coffee and tea.  The brand depends on your personal preference.  For me as long as it works is good enough for me.
• Good task light.  The one I am using was a gift and is excellent.  It can swivel around to illuminate whatever I need to see.  The second lamp is beside my personal machine and throws off enough light so I can see and doesn't glare on the monitor.  Placement helped on the personal lamp as I moved the monitor and light so that the light is to the side and behind the monitor.
• Outside illumination.  I face south so the sun during the day can be an issue.  Blinds and drapes help with that and minimize glare and eye strain.
• Good monitors.  I have a 32 inch monitor hooked up to the personal laptop, unfortunately work does not allow us to look up anything that wasn't from DND so I am forced to use the laptop screen.  If work allows you to add an external monitor it really helps.

Every workday I follow the same routine as if I was traveling to the office for work. 

• Alarm clock is set to the same time before having to work at home.  
• I eat, shower, shave and dress as if I am going to work.  
• I start an hour earlier as I don't have to commute via public transit.
• The only difference is when I log in I check the network status and send an update that I am online, network is good, I have access to the mainframe, collaboration tools, office suite, email and everyone at home is healthy.  
• When it is lunch hour I lock the work machine and have lunch away from the work machine.  
• At the end of the workday I make sure that the daily tasks scheduled have been completed, email any updates to the team and then log out of the VPN and shut down the mail and any office applications that are open.  It is tempting to keep on working, but, I need time away from 'work' to rest and recover.