TMA Working From Home

[photon]

Originally Posted by boogerz

My next upgrade will be a chair. Cheap office chairs, like the basic ones at Staples, just do not have the same-level of comfort and durability as the ones at the office.

There was one chair Staples had that I've been really impressed with. Mesh back and mesh fabric over foam for the seat, very comfy and good support. Seems like it should be not as good as the office (which has expensive chairs) but it's been shockingly good for the price. I think I paid about $300 with it on a good sale both times.

Yeah both times.. I got the chair once, had it for a looong time and it finally wore out, then got the same one. This one is worn out too now, arm padding falling off, plastic is cracking.. Unfortunately I can't see that they sell it anymore

There's some good YouTube channels on chairs, I've been looking at what I want to buy. Used office furniture places often get a bunch of stuff from corporations and sometimes you can find great deals.

Used Aerons are pretty common to get these days, great chair but I don't like the frame around the mesh seat, makes it uncomfortable to sit cross legged.

I am leaning towards a Herman Miller Embody this time.

[Nyah]

Probably not for everyone, but I absolutely need a heated blanket when I'm working at home. Definitely make sure you get up and move around but I find when I'm working through a task I can sometimes spend hours at my desk until it's done. The heated blanket keeps me warm and comfortable

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Pro tip: one of the wonderful things about working from home is doing laundry during your workday instead of on your weekends.

And a nooner while the kids are at school and the house is empty.

[InglewoodFan]

Lots of good suggestions here, I've done most of them and am now pretty happy with my set up. Only additional thing I have is nice speakers for background music/podcasts. I'm on hours of calls a day, it's nice to take the headphones off for a while.

Sent from my IN2025 using Tapatalk

[calumniate]

I bought a logitech webcam and the mic is surprisingly good. I don't use headphones anymore.. Just webcam as the mic and a nice set of speakers

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by calumniate

I bought a logitech webcam and the mic is surprisingly good. I don't use headphones anymore.. Just webcam as the mic and a nice set of speakers

I probably have the same (or similar) webcam, and it’s great, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to set up Google Meet to function properly with it. Whenever someone is talking it triggers the mic so they get an echo while I hear their voice cutting in and out as the speakers get muted.

For that reason alone I’m really into having a separate headset/mic for video calls in general.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Pro tip: one of the wonderful things about working from home is doing laundry during your workday instead of on your weekends.

Yup. This and grocery shopping. Do both during the work week now

Kids sports dominates the weekends so not having to do those two things on weekends makes life a little easier

I love WFH. I can pick up and drop off my 6 year old at school without having to pay for before and after care

And I'm home when my 11 and 14 year old comes home for lunch too

I can never go back to working in an office

[marsplasticeraser]

I’ve been remote for 5+ years.

1.get dressed everyday. You can slip into bad habits and a shower and clothes just makes me feel better.

2. Take breaks. It’s easy to power for 9 hrs straight and then feel destroyed.

3. Good reliable internet. Get an extender if your office is far away.

4. If possible a private room with door you can shut.

5. For tech I never use my ‘lighting’ and it was a waste of space and money. For headset I actually have a call centre headset (only covers one ear and soft foamy cover) and I love it vs the dual ear high quality headsets as the dual ear gaming headsets make my neck hurt and ears sweat. I have a yeti microphone that is fractionally better than my call centre mic.

6. Dual widescreen monitors.

7. Make lunch exercise happen.

8. Ideally no group zoom calls with lots of people.

My experience and your results may vary.

[gallione11]

Originally Posted by marsplasticeraser

I’ve been remote for 5+ years.

1.get dressed everyday. You can slip into bad habits and a shower and clothes just makes me feel better.

2. Take breaks. It’s easy to power for 9 hrs straight and then feel destroyed.

3. Good reliable internet. Get an extender if your office is far away.

4. If possible a private room with door you can shut.

5. For tech I never use my ‘lighting’ and it was a waste of space and money. For headset I actually have a call centre headset (only covers one ear and soft foamy cover) and I love it vs the dual ear high quality headsets as the dual ear gaming headsets make my neck hurt and ears sweat. I have a yeti microphone that is fractionally better than my call centre mic.

6. Dual widescreen monitors.

7. Make lunch exercise happen.

8. Ideally no group zoom calls with lots of people.

My experience and your results may vary.

Lots of good items in this thread but wanted to reiterate this one. Doesn't have to be lunch, just whenever you can squeeze it in, but it's been so important for me to do this. Gives you a reason to step away from the computer for 30-40 minutes and makes you feel better afterwards.

I don't do mine on lunch, just whenever I don't have meetings and the weather is the best for the day (I run outside) so it generally ends up around 8am in the warmer months and 10ish is in the winter (I start at 6 usually). Even better if you can pause your slack/teams notifications to make it be a true break.

[Northendzone]

when i am at home i do not use a headset/earbuds etc for my TEAMS calls. People seem to have no issues hearing me during meetings using my computer audio

we go into the office once per week, so i have set up my work and home ffocie stations in a similar manner. i ust plug my laptop into my docking station in either place and get after it. i set my monitors up so excel/google etc open on the monitor to the right, word and PPT on the left one and my email on my laptop display

i also was surprised how easy it is to say be bored one night - maybe the wife is out and there is nothing but crap on TV, and just go do a "little bit" of work

i also like to find balance by working a few extra hours on a thursday evening, and shutting down early on friday

at this point, it is hard to imagine going back into the office 5 days per week like the good old days

[Nammer403]

If weather permits go outside get some fresh air/sunshine

[photon]

I try to get out and go somewhere 3 times a week even in the cold.

In the winter I just intentionally leave groceries to get and lunch time involves a short trip to the grocery store to pick up whatever I can fit through the express line.

Some of my coworkers intentionally book away time in their calendars to make sure they're taking those breaks during the day.

Our company was pretty good in stressing that people shouldn't work extra hours just because they're at home and supported things people did to try and make sure the expectations didn't creep. I'll decline any meetings that come too early or too late, but some people will actually block off the start and end of their day in their calendars to try and dissuade people from adding them to meetings like that.

Sometimes people still do (no I'm not coming to your 7:30am meeting), but it's mostly pretty respectful of people's time. The worst is still people who try and book meetings over lunch but I don't think it's any more or less than before WFH.

[DoubleF]

If you have the ability to have a dedicated room, treat it like you're going to a corporate office, but shorter commute. It'll help to keep the mental boundaries clear for, "I'm on the clock" or "I'm off the clock".

+1 for doing laundry.

Headphones/headset wise, what about a bone conduction headset?

https://ca.shokz.com/products/openco...gaAkHbEALw_wcB

Allows you to focus on your call, noise cancelling gets rid of a ton of side noise, you can still hear sounds from outside, lightweight unlike other bigger headsets.

[Ashasx]

I recommend a lightweight headset (not a gaming headset) with a good mic. I use the Plantronics BT600.

[The Fisher Account]

Rocking the following for my WFH setup:

Headset - Logitech Vibe 125
Webcam - Logitech Brio

Both are excellent.

Also, WFH you definitely want a webcam that has a screen/cover LOL

[Cycling76er]

If you're doing more than just basic Teams/Zoom and will be answering an actual softphone, you'll want a proper headset with call control integration. Mute is pretty standard on headsets but the ability to pick up a call from your headset could be important. We use Poly/Plantronics headsets with our traditional PBX customers and hosted PBX services. Having something that is DECT wireless will give you good range if you're a 'walk and talk' person like me. My phenomenal Plantronics bluetooth headset is great if I'm sitting at my desk but I tend to get up and walk around so the connection will dropout. I've switched to my DECT wireless headset and it's significantly better. I'm currently using this headset:

https://www.poly.com/ca/en/products/...i/savi-8200-uc

We've also just started deploying Yealink headsets which are a bit more affordable. They seem to be working really well with our softphones.


I would also recommend investing in a proper chair. If you're going to be sitting all day then you'll want proper support. We used my partner's wellness spending and some cash kicked in from the boss the get me a nice Steelcase chair. $1100 very well-spent.


This one is personal preference but for dual monitor setups, I prefer stacked instead of side-by side. If you do side-by-side, I would recommend having one monitor front and center with one off to the side for less important information. Constantly craning your neck side to side can cause strain. Having a primary, centered monitor is also really helpful.

[topfiverecords]

Lots of daylight, direct sunlight and the ability to rest the eyes with a long distance view out the window when looking up from the computer screen. I have friends who work in tiny rooms in the basement with no light and they wonder why they’re miserable. It’s not the work, it’s the prison cell you’ve created for yourself. And then they complain about the days they have to go in the office.

[tvp2003]

What are you rocking in the background? I just use the "blur" setting on Teams (which hides the fact that I'm in essentially a back corner storage room) but perhaps I'll step things up in the new year.

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

What are you rocking in the background? I just use the "blur" setting on Teams (which hides the fact that I'm in essentially a back corner storage room) but perhaps I'll step things up in the new year.

I'm in my undeveloped basement and finally broke down and bought one of these for behind me because the blurred feature wasn't doing me any favours.

Nice grey background that the outline of my body no longer pixelates.

[Paulie Walnuts]

I have recently moved to 95% remote best thing ever.

I just need to upgrade my chair and get a L shaped desk any cheap options? For a laptop and two monitors and storing some paper work.

I have a jabra headset it works great foam on both ears.

Getting your cardio done during the lunch hour is the best eat at my desk, and go outside for a nice long walk when the weather is nice is the best.