Work From Home Office Space Checklist

Run this checklist to set up and sustain an office space at home.

Introduction to the Work From Home Office Space Checklist:

Getting started:

Confirm home office space progress

Preparing the home office space:

Consider the location of the office space

Identify items for the office space

Assessing the home office space location:

Ensure the office space is well-situated

Test the internet speed at the office space

Buy necessary items for the office space

Setting up the home office space:

Move necessary items into the office space

Assemble office space items

Arrange your office space

Personalize your office space

Ensure tech is in working order

Sustaining the home office space:

Tidy the office space

Try rearranging the office space

Think about updating the office space

Sources:

Related checklists:

Introduction to the Work From Home Office Space Checklist:

From 2005 to 2017, there was a massive 159% increase in remote working.

However, the WFH transition isn't always easy — and especially when it needs to be done urgently.

Luckily, this Work From Home Office Space Checklist will help you set up and sustain an office space at home efficiently and effectively, so you can be just as — if not more — productive at home!

Here's how the checklist, made by Process Street, works.

Firstly, you'll confirm how much progress you've made with your home office space. By confirming your progress, the checklist will dynamically adapt thanks to the nifty workflow automation feature conditional logic.

If you haven't yet set up the home office space, the tasks will guide you through preparing the space, assessing it to ensure it meets all your needs, and then setting it up to your liking.

If you have already set up the home office space, there are steps that will keep your home office space tidy, clean, and as fully-optimized as possible. Don't worry, these tasks are a breeze. So much so, it's recommended you launch a new checklist for these secondary steps every 3 months.

Ready to thrive in an energizing, practical home office space?

Jump straight into the checklist and try Process Street's BPM software!

Getting started:

The actions you take in the first and next task — "Confirm home office progress" — will change how the rest of this checklist appears, thanks to conditional logic.

Learn more about conditional logic by watching the video below.

Confirm home office space progress

Confirm the progress you've made with your home office space.

The option you choose from the dropdown will change how the checklist appears.

Select option #1 if you haven't yet set up your home office space, choose option #2 if you have already set your home office space up.

Home office progress

Preparing the home office space:

Now the checklist has adapted to your needs, it's time to start the preparations for your work from home office space.

Consider the location of the office space

Consider the location of the home office space.

Where you establish your home office space depends on the size of your home. For larger homes, you may be able to dedicate an entire room as a home office. For smaller homes, you may have to get creative.

Think which location in your home the office space is best suited to, then write down the name of that location below.

Home office space location

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Identify items for the office space

Identify items for the home office space.

A home office space is made up of various items — usually a desk, a comfortable chair, a laptop, a pot for pens, etc.

Here, you'll identify the items you need for the home office space in two parts.

Use the first text box to write down the items for the home office space you already have — items in other rooms that you'd like to bring into your office.

Then, use the second text box to write down the list of items you need for your home office space but don't yet have.

Owned home office items

Needed home office items

Assessing the home office space location:

With an idea of where you want your work from home office space to be and the items it'll include, it's time to start assessing the space you have in mind.

Ensure the office space is well-situated

Ensure the office space is well-situated.

Although the location of your home office space may be ideal in your mind, that doesn't mean it's ideal in practicality.

A well-situated home office space will be near a plug socket (or multiple sockets), has access to natural light, is spacious enough for you to be comfortable while working, and (hopefully) creates a division from the personal spaces you relax in.

Use the subchecklist below to ensure your proposed home office location is well-situated. If it isn't, see if there's a different location that's better situated.

1

Near a plug socket
2

Has access to natural light
3

Is spacious enough for work to be done comfortably
4

Keeps the professional separated from the personal (if possible)

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Test the internet speed at the office space

Test the internet speed at the home office space.

When working from home, having a solid, robust internet connection is essential. However, you'll get different internet speeds depending on how far away your home office space is from your router.

In terms of how internet speed relates to what you can do, the team at Minim wrote this short guide:

1-5 Mbps for checking email and browsing the web.
15-25 Mbps for streaming HD video.
40-100 Mbps for streaming 4K video and playing online games.
200+ Mbps for streaming 4K video, playing online games, and downloading large files.

Use Ookla's speed test to see how your internet speed at your home office space fares. Then, write down the test results below.

Internet speed test results

Buy necessary items for the office space

Buy necessary items for the home office space.

Now that you know the home office space is well-situated and has sufficient internet speeds, it's time to buy any necessary items for your home office space (that you don't already have).

But before you buy them yourself, ask the company you work for if they're able to cover the costs.

You'll see the list of items you need to buy below and pushed through into the email (thanks to variables).

Use the email widget below to send the email across.

Most of the email has been drafted for you. All you need to do is add the correct email address(es) and to edit the content how you see fit.

Items to buy:

Setting up the home office space:

By this point, you should have everything you need to get started with setting up the work from home office space.

The next few tasks will help you with exactly that — setting it up.

Move necessary items into the office space

Move necessary items into the home office space.

No matter if the items for your home office space are in boxes in the hallway, or were being used elsewhere in your home, it's time to move all the items you need into your home office space.

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Assemble office space items

Assemble home office space items that need building.

If items for the home office space were bought, assemble them if you haven't already done so. This is because the next task asks you to arrange your home office space, therefore you'll need any furniture and the like to be assembled beforehand.

Use the text box write down which items you assembled.

If no assembly was required, go ahead and skip this task.

List of assembled items

Arrange your office space

Arrange your home office space.

With your home office space items in one place and assembled, arrange your home office space the way you want.

Once you've arranged your home office space, take a picture of the setup and upload the picture below. The picture can then be used as a reference point to see if you're happy with how the home office space looks.

Post-arranging picture

Personalize your office space

Personalize your home office space.

A home office space doesn't have to be drab and boring.

In fact, by personalizing your home office space, it can help energize you and spur you on to do stellar work!

Add some personalized touches to your home office space, then take a picture of it and upload it below. Again, the picture can be used as a reference point to ensure you're happy with how the home office space looks.

Post-personalizing picture

Ensure tech is in working order

Ensure tech is in working order.

Now you're happy with how everything looks, check that all the tech you have in your home office space is working. Seeing as objects have been moved around, a cable could've come loose, for example.

If you come across an issue, use a working device (such as a smartphone) to search the internet for solutions.

If everything's in working order, great job on setting up your home office space!

Here's to being productive and comfortable while working from home.

Don't forget to relaunch this checklist every 3 months to make sure your home office space is the best it can be.

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Sustaining the home office space:

Creating a work from home office space is only the beginning of the process. The rest is sustaining your work home office space, ensuring that it's constantly optimized for both comfort and productivity.

The following recurring tasks will help you with that.

Tidy the office space

Tidy the home office space.

Seeing as you're at your office space for a considerable amount of time each day, the home office space is more prone to untidiness than anywhere else.

Take time to tidy and clean your home office space, so it looks as good as new.

If you need a hand with tidying, use Process Street's KonMari Method Checklist which is embedded below.

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Try rearranging the office space

Try rearranging the office space.

To keep energized and productive, you don't want your surroundings to become stagnant and sad — even when you're working from home.

Rearranging your home office space can solve that problem.

Take a picture of your home office space first. Then, make the rearrangements — like turning your desk 90 degrees or adding a new selection of plants to sit on top of the desk — and take another picture of it.

Upload the two pictures below. You can use the two pictures to decide which home office space you prefer.

Before picture

After picture

Think about updating the office space

Think about updating (and/or upgrading) the home office space.

There may be upgrades or updates you could give your home office space. For instance, an external monitor for your laptop.

If there are updates and/or upgrades you'd like, use the email widget to ask your employer if there's a budget for these updates and/or upgrades to be bought for you.

Most of the email has been drafted for you. All you need to do is add the correct email address(es) as well as the list of updates and/or upgrades you want.

If there is a budget, place the order(s) through your employer and see how much a difference it makes!