What Do I Need for My Office Space?

Business woman sitting down at her desk writing

Here in California, our style is all about comfort, soft neutrals, natural materials and bringing the outdoors inside. The same is true for cool office spaces.

Whether you are a public accountant in California or working remotely in another state, you might be wondering how to change up your office space. Does your work area feel a little lackluster? Are you tired of staring at the same wall color or basic file organizer?

Here are a few tips to make you feel more comfortable in the office or working remotely. They just might make your workflow smoother and your work time happier, too.

In the Office

The perfect mouse

If you’re a gamer, or even if you’ve worked from home and you’re now transitioning to the office, you probably have a favorite mouse. After all, hands are different sizes. Some people prefer to have a back-button on their mouse, too. Bring this favorite tool to work, and cut down any frustration you may feel over a subpar mouse.

A family gallery

There are at least a couple of reasons to include family photos in your work space décor:

  • Show your coworkers and clients that you’re personable.

Whether clients come into the office or you’re on a video call, showing them a photo of you rock climbing with your partner or hugging your kids can provide an ice breaker to an otherwise serious meeting.

This also gives you more of a sense of having a fun work environment when you can see your coworkers’ photos and show off your own.

  • Remind yourself why you work.

When you’re busy and working on a difficult project, it helps to take a second and look at a family photo to remind yourself why you do what you do.

A spare phone charger

This is a must. Besides taking calls on a cell phone from family or close business contacts, you may have your schedule on your phone or you may listen to music on your phone during your daily walk around the building over lunch. The bottom line: bringing a dedicated charger to work will help relieve stress and ensure you’re receiving any emergency texts or calls.

Working Remotely

The cleanest background

Make sure your background is not distracting. When you’re on a client call or even meeting with coworkers, you could be unknowingly distracting them if you have flashy or distracting visuals behind you.

Due to the rise of videoconferencing, many people now take extra time to create a pleasing background and add brighter lighting. But a nice environment is good for your wellbeing, too. Think about artwork, green plants (fake ones are ok!), shelves with carefully arranged books or decorative items with sentimental meaning.

If you need a quick fix, you can also blur out your background or choose another background (if you have the bandwidth). Adding a live background, such as a superimposed office, could suck up some bandwidth, so make sure you have a fast internet connection if you’re adding even more tech to your meeting.

A comfortable chair

This is so important. If you’re focused on a proposal or financial statements and you’re proofing your work, it can be quite distracting – and painful – when you twist and squirm and try to find a comfortable position in an uncomfortable chair.

When you’re comfortable (and if you can swivel the chair a bit while you’re puzzling out a process), this also adds to your overall fun work environment when working from home.

The wall divider

Wall dividers provide many benefits to the remote or hybrid worker. These help to break up space when you don’t always have a dedicated office to use for your work at home. They can also provide a clean background for video calls or for pinning up inspiring artwork or photos.

A cool set of headphones

 Most headphones include a mic these days, but be sure to find a set with a mic so you can both hear your coworkers and clients during video calls and speak to them in a clear manner.

A lot of laptops or desktop monitors have microphones included in the hardware as well, but test your mics and make sure they work before your next meeting!

Wearing headphones during meetings can also help cut down on distractions from construction noise or other sounds in your home office.

Again, whether you are a public accountant in California, or working anywhere in the US, we hope this article helps you decide how to add a little extra comfort and style to your office space.

If you’re interested in interview prep, see our article on what to wear to the big interview. If you’re looking for leadership opportunities, here are a couple of links you may be interested in:

How Public Speaking Can Advance Your Accounting Career


 

Recent Posts

Archives

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Talk to CPA Today