As many restrictions in the UK come to an end, most companies are intending to adopt a hybrid working model in the coming months, with staff splitting their time between their home and the office. Throughout the pandemic so far, many of us have benefitted from working at home, spending less time stuck in traffic and spending less money on escalating fuel costs. We’ve also embraced a more flexible approach and a healthier family life – whilst still being able to work in-person with colleagues some of the time.
If you’re one of the people who is splitting your work time between home and the office, you’ll need to make sure that you have everything you need to work effectively wherever you happen to be. For most people, this is still quite a new way of working, and the transition needs to be thought through.
We’re going to go through a selection of tech tips – after all, you’ll need to have the right equipment whatever your location. For example, when you’re at the office you might want to avoid sharing computer peripherals, so a new keyboard or wireless mouse, or set of headphones could be a useful buy. For moving data to and fro, a USB flash drive will always come in handy. Of course, when it comes to the transferring of data, make sure it’s OK with your boss. If you ARE the boss, good for you!
Security matters
Whenever you’re checking your emails, it always pays to be a little suspicious and re-read things before opening any attachments, as it only needs one rogue email to infect your computer with all manner of horrible viruses which can have a devastating impact. When ransomware strikes, the malware can attack anything the infected system has access to, so it’s important to have an offline backup just in case. Speak to the person responsible for your IT for guidance. So, when it comes to tech and the hybrid working model, making that tech (and all sensitive data) is safe, is paramount.
Be prepared
When the lockdowns began, businesses with the right technology in place were well-positioned for what was to come. Others who were unprepared spent much of 2020 playing catch up, and desperately searching for the right tech to enable its workforce to work from home. Basically, the pandemic accelerated the shift to a digital world, so employers should plan ahead for what tech they will need in the future. For example, some small businesses which have traditionally bought desktop computers for their offices might now need to think about buying laptops with multiple monitors. This offers more flexibility and means that they are more portable – which is ideal for hybrid working.
Get your tech – twice!
Experts suggest mirroring your desk set-up in both places. This basically means replicate your desk set-up at work, in your home workspace. This could even mean having the same make of monitor, keyboard – and even furniture – at home. Apparently if you have the same layout, you’ll feel more comfortable, more relaxed, and more able to carry out your tasks effectively and efficiently.
Laptops with webcams
If you’re working from home a couple of days each week, then it’s pretty much a certainty that you’ll need to join a meeting at some point. And to do that, you’ll need to have a good quality webcam, either already integrated into your laptop, or added as an extra.
No-one would deny that face-to-face meetings have obvious benefits, it’s not always practical, and there may be members of staff located all over the country. Or even overseas. Slack, Google Drive, Skype, Zoom and Freeconferencecall are just a few of the popular tools used for virtual meetings.
Portable monitors are the future
Spending time working at home, in the office, and even in hotel rooms if you are working around the country means that you need tech which is portable. There’s a wide choice of portable monitors which are extremely slim, lightweight and fit snugly into a laptop case or backpack sleeve. They have up to 16-inch full HD displays which are easy on the eye and means that long sessions won’t put undue strains on the eye! Portable monitors link up easily to laptops, forming a perfect and adaptable computer set-up wherever you happen to be.
Mobile accessories
Something like, and as simple as, having a second laptop charger can actually change your life! OK, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it can certainly remove any little niggly annoyances you might have at work. Leave a spare in your laptop bag at all times and it could save you crawling under your desk at work to continually plug in or unplug your charger when you’re in the office.
It’s not a bad idea to keep duplicates of items such as an external keyboard, a laptop charger, wireless mouse etc as it will mean you don’t have to carry items back and forth all the time. Depending on the company you work for, they might provide the equipment for you – otherwise, it will mean forking out for it yourself. At least having these duplicate items ready in your bag will save you time in the morning, as you get ready to go into the office.
Ergonomics!
For some reason, it seems that the question of ergonomics is often overlooked – as if it isn’t really important. However, as soon as you get into a routine of working with equipment and furniture that is not really suitable for the job, then its importance hits home! If you’re spending two or three days per week working from home, then you’ll soon slip into bad habits if you don’t have a suitable chair with lumbar support, a monitor at the right height or a comfortable keyboard and mouse. Don’t ignore ergonomics!
Go paperless with USB flash drives
Some businesses still depend on paper files, and if yours is one of them then now is the time to make a change. You can end the hassle and inconvenience of lugging files back and forth between home and the office. Embrace USB sticks and extra storage! There are some great USB flash drives available with up to 128GB of storage space, which is a huge amount to carry around in your pocket. Just don’t lose it!
But before we move on, let’s mention what you can actually store on a USB stick with 128GB. As a rough guide, you can carry around 6000 songs, 35,000 photos or 15 full HD movies (or around 50 standard movies). Or around 26,000 word documents. That should give you an idea of what you’re looking at!
Stay connected
When you’re working from home it is easy to feel isolated at times – especially when you know that your colleagues are in the office. It’s important to be sociable and make an effort to connect with them over the usual team chat tool you use. Some companies hold virtual coffee breaks which give staff a chance to have a chat, coffee and a biscuit to catch up on the news and gossip. This is an important aspect of remote/hybrid working and has been shown to be good for the well-being of people’s mental health.
On the days you go into the office, make an effort to communicate with people in person rather than sending an email to someone in the same room for example.
Backpack for your laptop
Use a specially designed backpack to transport your laptop and other tech around. They are ideal for withstanding those daily bumps and grinds, have special padding to keep your tech safe, and their special straps will give you maximum comfort no matter how long you have to carry your stuff around.
So, that’s our ten tech tips for hybrid working. If you can just put two or three of these into practice, then you’re well on the way to making the experience more positive.
Ebuyer can help you with all your tech for hybrid-working here.
