Home Office Setup Guide 2024: Webcams, Desks, Chairs, and More

We have a ton of recommendations in our Best Wireless Headphones, Best Noise-Canceling Headphones, and Best Wirefree Earbuds what you need to work from home guides. It’s fairly priced for the amount of storage you get, and while it’s not the fastest we tested, it’s still speedy. It’s also lightweight, but it’s also a bit plasticky and might not survive many tumbles. I’ve used this wireless mouse for more than three years, and it has been problem-free.

1. This is especially great if you’re frequently working around a lot of people.
2. If you work from home, these tools are your only connection to the company — the tools you choose matter.
3. The company partners with creators to come up with fresh and fun designs for its lights, all of which are dimmable, and they’re 3D-printed from plant-based plastics too.
4. Despite the increasing debates surrounding workplace models, the benefits of working from home are indisputable.
5. Make sure you set clear boundaries for when you start and stop working.

If your bandwidth is low and you’re on a video call, try shutting down other programs to lighten the load on your connection. Here are some pro-tips for working remotely, possibly for an extended period of time. Whether it’s a run before work or a walk during your lunch break, exercise gets your endorphins flowing and keeps your brain sharp throughout the day. Try starting your day with a workout or doing some midday yoga. While working from home allows you to spend more time on the couch, it’s important to implement regular exercise into your schedule. As work hours become more flexible, it can be tempting to stay up later to watch Netflix or sleep in until noon.

Practice disciplined email management

It’s easy for remote teams to create spaces for people to share personal stories and get to know each other. At Toggl Track, we have Slack channels based around certain interests (like cooking, exercise, music, books, gaming, and others). But just having those spaces isn’t enough–we and other remote companies need to encourage employees to engage and participate in those spaces. It’s extremely important to set a precedent early that you will ask for what you need to get your job done comfortably. These items might include the right monitor, keyboard, mouse, chair, desk, printer, software, and so forth.

Bamboo desk organizer

If you’ve fully transitioned to that USB-C life, then it might be worth looking into a docking station like this one. It sports four USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, meaning you can use them to connect to external screens, and there’s one USB-A in case you still need it. If you have a few monitors at your workstation, this dock supports two up to 4K resolution, and you can connect them via HDMI. You get three USB-A ports, one on the front and two on the back, plus an Ethernet jack, as well as a USB-C port on the front and back. Along with an HDMI, you get three USB-A ports to plug in peripherals, and then you can plug in your laptop’s USB-C charger into the hub for up to 100-watt pass-through charging.

Many people with disabilities, such as chronic back pain or mental illness, can also benefit from WFH gear and settings personalized to meet their needs. An employee with chronic joint pain, for example, may feel more comfortable in their ergonomic home desk chair. A worker with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), can position their desk near a window to get more sunlight. Someone who moves or fidgets often through the day can do so without worrying about distracting others.

1. You can cut busy work and save time by integrating every application you use into the same dashboard, taking notes on Almanac, or tracking your time with Toggl.
2. Working from home, you can decorate your workspace however you’d like, boosting your productivity and joy on the job.
3. Research has shown that clutter can make us feel more stressed and anxious.
4. In 2021, the percentage of workers permanently working remotely is expected to double, according a survey from U.S.-based Enterprise Technology Research.
5. FlexJobs researches, vets, and posts remote, hybrid, and flexible jobs.

Look for Training and Learning Opportunities

It’ll raise your laptop about 5 inches at an angle, but you can’t change the height. Instead of warming up your lap with your hot laptop, use this rollable table. The stand is situated on one side, so you can easily slot it next to your bed or couch without any annoying legs in the way. Its height is adjustable via the gas spring up to 40.5 inches. Alternatively, if you’d rather supply your own display and peripherals, you could get the Mac Mini instead (8/10, WIRED Recommends).

Just make sure you snag Secretlab’s Desk Mat so you don’t scuff up the desk or your gear. The controls are easy to use, there are three height presets, and a nifty switch to turn off the standing mechanism. There’s a standard Magnus you can snag for cheaper, though it’s currently out of stock right now. A workstation starts with a good desk, and sometimes that means one that can convert into a standing desk so you can change things up.

They’re angled to fire sound up at you, get surprisingly loud, and offer decent audio quality. You also get lots of connectivity options, from USB-C and 3.5-mm to Bluetooth. I bought three of these for my apartment at the start of the pandemic. Tripp Lite offers up to $25,000 of lifetime insurance for any damage to your equipment from a surge. If the LED goes out, it’s time to replace it, and Tripp Lite will give you a new one for free. Everything is relatively spaced out, allowing me to fit big adapters and even a smart plug on this thing.

Loneliness and collaboration challenges were the biggest struggles for remote employees, according to a 2020 report by social media company Buffer. But while isolation from your coworkers may persist if you work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re not nearly as restricted as you were in the early days of lockdown. At an office, you can add some pizzazz to your cubicle with plants and family pictures and knick knacks—to a point.

Will every team member you are asking to use the tool feel like it benefits them to do so? Does using the tool fit naturally into the team’s workflow, or is it an extra thing they have to remember to do at the end of the day? Advice about keeping work “in its place” while working from home is all well and good, but the truth is that we live in a work-centric, always-on digital culture. Sometimes a bit more structure is needed in order to truly disengage mentally at the end of the day. By tracking your work time throughout the day with a tool like Toggl Track, you can see when you’ve been spending too much time in front of the computer or if you’re consistently pulling 10-hour workdays.