Getting a stipend soon for my home office. I have a great desk but could probably use a decent office chair (although mine is cute, it's not particularly ergonomic) Any recommendations?

What has helped you be more effective from home?

Budget is $1500

Will rep for helpful advice

Post your pc specs. Not sure you're working with

edit: Maybe get a fish tank that you can look at between doing office work

My #1 thing has been making sure other people understand that just because you are at home and/or have flexible hours does not mean you are not doing a real job. I've been at this 15 years and it took a long time to get everyone to understand that while I'm at work...*I'm at work.* Sometimes I don't have a choice about when to be here - the work might run out for that day, etc. - so I can't just drop things and put off to the last minute b/c someone wants me to go here and there or be on the phone with them for hours, etc

Out of home Childcare

I get 1/10th done at home when kids are here.

Didnt need to buy any items to be more efficient

I simply dont have to pretend to like someones lame pupper/cat/boring vacation conversations anymore and can spend more time with family and friends

Also i wake up 1 minute before my first meeting and do „lunch break“ blockers in outlook - i sleep for that hour hehe

Might be the most sage advice you receive ^^^

Would highly recommend if at all possible having a dedicated work area/office space. Avoid setting up in the master bedroom/living room etc where interruptions and/or distractions are prevalent

I mean I did not read beyond the thread title so my suggestion may be off but one thing that has made my life far better has been to move my entire work setup to a location well away from the ladies bathroom thus avoiding hearing the gaggle of rotund HTC sea creatures returning from their chipotle lunch and stampeding into the stalls and proceeding to loudly beef out a horrendous smelling chocolate flotilla for which there is no remedy nor modern plumbing that can effectively handle successful flushing thus resulting in awkward eye contact and loud suggestions that “someone” should investigate why the toilets are not flushing in the ladies room and ending with me having to pull my borderline too casual polo shirt over my nose in an attempt to maintain concentration whilst being bombarded by nearly visible fudge cobra fumes

I got high-key rustled as fuk last night when I was trying to book a California-Bangalore meeting and an engineer pushed back on me. "I have 2 young children and 6PM-9PM is prime family time. I will not attend any meetings then."

Look brah... the only 2 windows we can hit for a Bangalore meeting are 8PM and 8AM. EVERYONE here does about 5x of those a week and EVERYONE hates them, but that's how we keep the cheap labor flowing. Why do your kids give you the right to unilaterally back out on the most annoying part of the job? BRB 6AM-9AM is prime golfing time, you will have to schedule around my tee times now.

1.) Fresh air and sunshine
2.) Two monitors
3.) Two desks if you have the room, one for paperwork.

Having a segregated work space from my personal PC but not so far away I can't do both. Primary purpose being I'm OCD and hate having keyboards and mice all over my desk (I have 2 work laptops so two additional keyboards, mice, + monitors for each). It's also nice not having to swap cameras, headsets, etc around. I just roll over to the required PC and do my work as needed.

And as another brah said WFH opens many doors for time management and personal freedom, it's important to establish clear hours and boundaries on the work you're doing. While I may peruse email afterhours or before work sipping my coffee, I do not produce anything during that time.

Ah, I'm provided a laptop. It's fine for what I do. I like the idea of a fish tank!This is excellent advice, thank you! I typically don't struggle with this.Sexy. A housekeeping service is a part of the benefits package hnnnnnngggggggOkay! Thanks.I agree. I have a duo home office / gym, and I don't take my laptop out of my officeHow did you read the thread title and still manage to come up with this?Hnnnnnnnggggggg this is the type of thing I was talking about. And of course I'm on spread, will get you soon!I would seethe.

I am 100% unavailable for anything except emergencies after 530 PM. Same with weekends. I don't live to work. I am also self employed. I could definitely double my income by working more/harder, but I've decided that I am happier this way.


Sounds like you guys either need to fire the bengal tiger or accept he won't be on those meeting at those hours. He's made his choice.

My company purchased this big and tall Husky boi for me srs

https://www.officechairsusa.com/gala...0aAsfEEALw_wcB


I have it in brown with the 'P' arms. I feel so pampered

What do you guys do at these meetings that's so critical?

I could honestly skip most of my meetings, unless I'm assigned to run one or it's related directly to what I'm working on. Tbh I don't care at all if people show up to the ones I'm forced to do, if anything fewer people means I can end them early.

Plants?Son, I'm a millenial. House plants are built into my monthly budgetBut I could always buy more!Good idea. I really should look into a second monitor.I completely agree. I've been WFH for the last 6-7 years or so, I have a dedicated home office.I can understand this.

But then don't work for a global org. I can't imagine telling an APAC customer or colleague that I don't meet at certain hours.Alright, we're gonna need details. Is it worth it? Rate the value from like, a $600 chair to a $2000 chair?

I have customers that include coca cola and UOP Honeywell. I tell them anything that doesn't come with 48 hr notice is billed as an emergency call. Saturdays are OT and Sundays are double time.

While not technically employed by them, they are my customers and we all work for our customers. However if my availability doesn't work for them, they are free to look elsewhere, just as I'm free to fire then if they are asking for hours I'm not interested in working.


Work life balance, especially with family, is more essential than total compensation.

That is very cool and I wish I could do that.This is basically what I have going on right now. My laptop, a pen, a Kawaii notebook because HAPPY!Definitely going to look into the USB hub, though!

Which PB cabinet did you snag?

My last chair was a $250 polyurethane Amazon gaming chair, so it was a huge upgrade. I can sit in this thing all day without even thinking about it because it's so comfortable. Which may or may not be a good thing.

This. I'm East Coast but customers are West Coast. So I know I gotta stay a little later than I would with a 9-5, but that means I have mornings to handle a lot of chit. This is also something I cover with my leadership during the hiring process. I absolutely value my work-life balance and WILL take time for vacations, appointments, etc. I'm the more active parent by a large portion because of this freedom and I place a large value on it.

Buy a nice tv to watch YouTube on all day, occasionally moving your mouse so your computer doesn't go to sleep. Been doing that for the past 2 years. Lol @ tradies srs

Ikea make decent office chairs. This is the one I got (£180) - very sturdy and supportive:



https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/markus-...grey-30261152/

Their desks etc are decent too.

People diss Ikea but most of the office chit you see online is chinese junk and pale in quality comparison.

Pretty much everything.

A lot of them are status meetings... every team here has a "shadow" team in Bangalore that performs the same function as them. No mystery that they are hanging around just waiting to Order 66 us one day, but until then, the left hand has to talk to the right hand. Those meetings are important for management but they're pretty passive for me... Caliboss knows what I'm doing and Indiaboss couldn't care less. So I'll usually just use a KVM switch to switch over to my personal rig and misc or play video games, while my headphones keep playing corporate meeting audio.

More critical are the debug meetings. Probably 50% of the company's internal labs are in Bangalore, and basically 100% of the planet's semi manufacturing and testing is on the Pacific Rim. So for half of hardware engineers, they have to check in with Bangalore labs to see that their parts work. And if there are any issues that show up with manufacturing / quality control, you have to book a late night or early morning meeting to talk to the techs.

There is probably equal headcount between California and India, so there's just too many of them to blow them all off and enjoy nice evenings at home. The entire operation is basically Indians that have H1-Bs calling and emailing Indians that don't.

show your current setup and lets work from there

I'm smol

get a desk that allows you to sit or stand srs.


your back will thank you

A quality sit-to-stand desk should hold priority over a solid task chair if budget is a concern. If you already have a nice sit-to-stand desk, I'd consider task chairs from Steelcase, Knoll, 9to5 Seating, or Keilhauer. Multiple monitors and adjustable monitor stands, wireless keyboards and mice that you can easily transition to-and-from personal devices with a USB port, and a comfy nook for your pet companion(s) if you have any are all things that have helped me.

My biggest recommendation based on my own revelations working from home the past 2 years has been setting boundaries of work-life balance and being clear about those with colleagues who are either the workaholic type, or colleagues who have zero disregards for expecting work to take precedent over daily life things since it's now so conveniently and readily-available at everyone's fingertips.

I work with people who have gone full-blown workaholic mode because they can indulge in their passion at the convenience of their home (to be fair, they're the type to be on their way to that lifestyle anyway--pandemic just pushed it for them), and people who think moving regular business hour meetings pre-9:00 AM and post-5:00 PM is acceptable because we all have laptops and thus are seemingly open to that level of flexibility. What these people don't realize is that the conveniences of working from home should maximize and minimize efforts as needed to do the job more efficiently than we've been accommodated to while being in the office Mon-Fri.

I understand there are exceptions to this (someone posted an example of the Bangalore team time zone constraints and needs) that should and would be upheld in the office as is. My gripe is with seniors or management who think their new morning walks, their daycare pickup, their dog needing to go to the backyard for seemingly five hours, etc., should sway an entire team to adapt to their subjective schedule because of their own selfish conveniences. In my first year of WFH I'd comply, but I've since gotten better at learning to say, "No." to the unnecessary and unfair requests or expectations--I think this trait is something important we all need to learn and exercise to prevent burnout, regardless of the pandemic.

TLDR: while WFH certainly has a majority of pros, the greatest con I've encountered is people who exercise it as "work all the time" and instill that upon others whether knowingly or not. Prepare and act on your barriers--do this for yourself, your loved ones, your out-of-work extracurriculars, hobbies, interests, etc.--the latter of which might grow in unexpected ways now that you have the time and management to better adapt-to or control things. Do your honest work with the appreciation of having the luxury or privilege to be able to work from home, but don't fall down the slippery slope of inadvertently making home just a new workplace. WFH has revealed to most industries how efficient we can be without needless commutes, distractions, and (for me) corporate office obligatory nonsense in general. My workplace is encouraging others to return to their studios--the glaringly obvious consensus from everyone is a no thanks, Jeff.

Edit: I know I might sound completely anti-work and come off as an unreconcilable colleague, but I work with some serious nut cases who will gladly throw anyone or anything under a bus if it benefits them for whatever reason. I enjoy what I do as it's a creative field, but my level of passion pales in comparison to many who are hellbent on climbing the corporate ladder, and I'm totally fine with that. I've got a life to enjoy how I enjoy it, and I certainly try to make a conscious effort to not make others lives' inconvenient for my own gains.

Dual monitors and a comfortable chair are the only things I really wanted.

I'm working from my home office, no commuting, no co-worker small talk, and I can stay in my shorts all day. Doesn't get much easier.