Is WFH here to stay?

Create the perfect home office with office furniture online

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there was a dramatic rise in the numbers of people working from home – WFH – in the UK. Numbers rose from 5.7% of workers in January/February 2020 to 43.1% in April 2020.

However, one of the many long term effects of the pandemic is that more people still work from home than before 2020. In June 2024, around 14% of UK workers are working exclusively from home, and 26% are hybrid workers i.e. they split their time between travelling to work and working from home.

If you are a home worker or a hybrid worker, it’s important to have a suitable and safe working environment. Around 11% of home workers and hybrid workers in the UK have their own office or study to work in. However, the majority have to use another room to work in. Around 25% work from their living room or bedroom and 52% work in the kitchen.

Wherever you work from, it is just as important to have a safe and comfortable work area at home as it is when in the office. If you are employed by a company, particularly if you work solely from home, they are responsible for your wellbeing whilst at work and should ideally conduct a home risk assessment to ensure that you have all the equipment you need to do your job properly. And, if your employer requires you to work from home, the burden of cost is on them to either provide the necessary equipment or reimburse you for the cost of this.

But, over and above this, there are also several things that you can do to ensure that you make the best of whatever work space you have at home. Let’s take a look at five ways to do this.

Get office furniture that is comfortable

One of the key things about creating your working space is having furniture that is comfortable to work from. An essential feature is an ergonomically designed chair that will ensure correct positioning for both computer and desk work. 

As for the desk itself, it’s a good idea to get the biggest desk that you can fit into your space. This will maximise your working space, and also enable you to tailor the storage that comes with the desk – for example, cupboards, drawers and filing cabinets, so you can create the perfect combination for your needs rather than having to cram all your work stuff into an area that is too small for it.

This is where DIY Homefit can help because not only can we supply home office furniture online, we can also tailor it to your specific requirements. For example we can supply made to measure desks with the storage combination that works best for you.

All our office furniture online is available in a wide range of finishes, similar to those available for our wardrobe doors and kitchen cabinets. You can see the full range of door finish options here.

Maximise your storage space

We’ve already referred to storage space, but it’s essential to make the most of every inch of space available to, whatever room in the home you are working from. Our office furniture online includes many different combinations of cupboards, drawers, shelves, bookcases and filing cabinets.

As well as storage items, also be clever about creating additional space. For example how about extending your storage cupboards from floor to ceiling for maximum effect. Open shelving works well, including single floating shelves to use up a spare bit of wall space. And if you can also fit in extra hidden cupboards or pull out drawers anywhere, so much the better.

No matter how small your work space, consider all these additional options to expand your storage space

Ensure the lighting is right

Good quality lighting is essential for an effective home office, and can really boost your mood and your energy for working. Ideally, try to set up your home office in a room that already has lots of natural daylight, and position your desk in the best place to make the most of this. 

But if your natural lighting is limited, do all that you can to boost the lighting in your work area. Examples of how to do this include carefully positioned wall lights, free standing floor lamps, and desk lamps. Make sure that you emulate natural daylight tones as much as possible.

If you do lots of video calls you might also want to invest in additional LED lighting specifically designed to provide clear, crisp lighting for video calls.

Show your personality

Even if you only have a very small home office space, it’s important to personalise it as much as possible. If it is completely functional you will not enjoy working there as much as if you tailor it to your personality and taste. 

So even if you are a bit stuck for space, find ways to bring a touch of personality to your office. For example wall art, photos, special items – such as books, glassware, collectables – on shelves etc.

Not only will this help you to feel right at home, but it also conveys a sense of who you are to others. So if you are video calls, other participants will get a better understanding of you as a person, which can be useful for colleagues and refreshing for clients.

Make it easy to share

Depending on what kind of home office space you have, there will be times when you need to share it with others. Even if it is your own study, it’s likely that other family members will want or need to use it sometimes as well. And if you are working from another room in the house, you will need to ensure that the space can multitask. 

So the first thing to bear in mind is that your work area needs to be safe. For example, arrange equipment and furniture to avoid trailing leads and cables, and make sure that all your plugs, leads, wires and cables etc are in good condition.

And then of course there is the need to keep your work area tidy. Not only does this make it less frustrating for others to use, but it also minimises the risk of your stuff getting moved or lost. 

This is particularly important if your office space is in a room such as the kitchen, living room or bedroom. Ideally you want to be able to shut everything away when you have finished working, so that the space can be used effectively by others. So as well as your desk space, you may also need a designated holding space such as a kitchen cabinet to be able to quickly put away all the “work in progress” items at the end of the day. Or if you are working in the bedroom, perhaps just a box or plastic crate that you can quickly put behind your wardrobe doors.

Whatever solution you come up with, it’s important to hand your workspace back over to the rest of the family when needed, knowing that they can use it safely and comfortably, and that your work stuff will be undisturbed and ready for you to resume the next day.

We hope that this article has given you a few good ideas about setting up an effective home office that works for both you and your family. For more inspiration, why not take a browse through our gallery of home office ideas to find out more about our office furniture online that could transform your home.

Remember to check back here soon for more home and lifestyle tips from DIY Homefit.