Creating a High Performing Home Office

bile technology and ubiquitous broadband, it’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t checked email or taken an off-hours call from home. What’s important about creating a high-performing home office is simultaneously maximizing its significant benefits and minimizing the real risks, both to the team member and the employer.

Working at home is nothing new, but it must be done right

Once an individual is approved for working in a home office – whether full-time or part time – they have an opportunity to create a space specific to their requirements, preferences and work style some find that using companies like office monster could help them achieve this. They also have the potential for setting up a distracting, unsafe, inappropriate work environment resulting in undesirable outcomes, which is why most most companies a private space that is a more appropriate work envirnoment to work.

The e-work.com “Creating a High-Performing Home Office” e-Learning module provides learners with knowledge, tips, tools and resources to work as effectively and efficiently as possible in their home office, including:

1. Establishing home office needs:

The team member is provided guidance on designing, creating and maintaining an efficient, professional work environment by considering:

  • Physical needs
  • Work efficiency needs
  • Personal comfort needs

This section provides a fully customizable Home Office Needs Assessment Check List as a guide.

2. Tips for an effective home office layout:

The team member is guided through the many considerations for laying out and equipping the workspace, including:

  • Electronics and technology
  • Furniture and other office items

This section provides guidelines for selecting technology and furniture placement to maximize comfort, efficiency and ergonomics. The section features an optional animated Home Office Layout planning tool.

3. Practicing information security best practices:

Information becomes more vulnerable as portability increases. Learners are reminded that protecting security of information is a key responsibility for every individual. In this section, team members are provided guidelines for:

  • Software updates
  • System Access
  • Network access
  • Protecting information assets

These details are easily customized by your IT resources to ensure that protocols are followed and vulnerability is reduced.

4. Managing physical security:

Managing physical home office security is often overlooked, leaving essential property and data vulnerable to theft or damage. This section provides practical steps, tips and precautions that can be taken:

  • In the home, garage and outside the home
  • When having visitors
  • When going out and returning to an empty home
  • If you think your home had been burglarized

Emphasis on taking steps to minimize the risk of equipment theft helps ensure the integrity of the data stored on these devices.

5. Maintaining a safe work environment:

Team members are reminded of their responsibility for maintaining their own healthy and safe work environment. Customizable details and guidelines are provided for in a three-step process that includes:

  • Prevention
  • Detection
  • Reaction

The section concludes with a link to a detailed guide on Planning for Emergencies.

In the Creating a High-Performing Home Office eLearning module, the learner is provided with knowledge, tips, tools and resources to work as effectively and efficiently as possible in their home office. The course concludes by providing downloadable resources from the course including access to a personal home office action plan.

Customizing Your Module: This e-Learning module is easily customized with your content, messaging and images using our exclusive Rapid Course Development Engine. We start you off with our fully detailed best practices content on MS Word documents. You simply edit these documents with your content and images and return them to your e-work.com production team. We then map your changes into our automated e-Learning system, and you’ll typically see your changes in the online module within 24 hours.

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See the Evolving Workplace e-Learning Series: Technology-enabled workplace change can only be successful if the people change too. The e-work.com Evolving Workplace e-Learning Series modules accelerate workplace change through a deliberate mindshift in individuals, teams and the enterprise to work together in new ways.

Click here to learn about the Work Practice Change e-Learning Series modules.