The famous work-life balance is on everyone’s lips. In fact, working from home is considered one of the best instruments for balancing your job with your private life. Parents in particular often find that pick-up times or sick children can be better coordinated if the long commute to work is no longer necessary. Companies are also open to working from home. In the competition for rare skilled workers, all stops are being pulled out. However, I want tothe move to the home officenot be carried out hastily. Rather, careful planning is the be-all and end-all. The home office can only be a success if work equipment and the digital telephone system are available.
Laptop, VoIP & Co: Working digitally from home
Only digitalization has made it possible for home office to be an option in many office jobs. Laptops, smartphones and tablets make your office mobile. We can take documents, emails and software with us everywhere. Thanks toInternet telephonyWe can also be reached decentrally, which means we can also answer business calls outside of the office.
So-called Voice-over-IP telephony, or VoIP for short, plays a major role when moving to the home office. This is internet telephony. Instead of using analog signals, telephone conversations are transmitted as file packages over the Internet line. The old ISDN modems are being replaced by DSL routers. VoIP telephony ensures a completely new connection quality.
These are particularly cleverthe cloud telephone systems from Berlin. Instead of a local system, the companies use a server on which the telephone calls are coordinated virtually. This has the decisive advantage that employees working from home can also be reached on their work extension. For employees who work particularly mobile, VoIP providers provide so-called softphones: This is software that is installed on the mobile device and completely replaces the analog telephone. With the help of a headset, employees make phone calls via their laptop or tablet. Employees take their company direct number with them everywhere.
VoIP services in the home office are essential not only for external but also for internal communication. Many services combine various tools in one software. Teams can keep in touch via shared messengers, use virtual meeting rooms for telephone or video conferences and also share documents with each other via virtual storage. In this way, teams from all over the world can be brought together.
What does the right home office workplace look like?
For the success of the home officeBut it's not just the technical requirements that are essential. The working environment also has to be right. Employees shouldn't just work at the kitchen table. Instead, they should set up their own workspace, i.e. set up a desk and an office chair that can be used during working hours. On the one hand, this makes sense from a health perspective, as it can prevent back pain. On the other hand, this also makes it easier to switch between private life and work rhythms.
It would be ideal if there was an external screen and a second keyboard next to the laptop keyboard in addition to the laptop. Working solely on a laptop for long periods of time quickly leads to neck and back pain because the working posture does not meet the ergonomic requirements. With an external screen and a second keyboard, the workplace can be designed in such a way that the neck and back are relieved.
Sufficient daylight is just as important. The desk should ideally be parallel to the window. In winter or on particularly rainy days, pleasant, artificial lighting helps to relax the eyes. Especially in the evening, the screen light should not be the only source of light in the room. Lighting is not only crucial for your own eye health, but also for video conferences. If the lighting conditions are poor, the image quality will be severely affected.
Last but not least, the ambient noise also plays a major role. Employees working from home should set up their workplace in a quiet place. This means concentration can be maintained over a long period of time. In addition, telephone calls and virtual conferences can be carried out without disruption in a quiet place. Loud background noises are disruptive and can cause technical disruption during conversations.
How does data security work in the home office?
Anyone who works with sensitive company data at home should, above all, exercise caution and order. The biggest risk to important data is falling water glasses or coffee cups. Falling work equipment is also a common cause of lost data. If a mishap actually occurs, data recovery can help: specialists for restoring hard drives or other storage media back up the lost data. Under the highest data protection conditions, the documents, contacts and media are transferred to an external storage space if the hardware is irreparable.
In addition, you should of course take your own data protection measures. This includes a firewall-protected internet connection. In addition, work devices and programs should be provided with passwords. This needs to be changed at regular intervals.
