Picture this: waking up, sitting at your office desk, and beginning the day’s work. What a convenience it is, getting out of bed and straight into the ‘office’! That is one of the benefits of working from home. While there are sophisticated ways of converting an ordinary home office into a corporate setting, giving it a ‘corporate look’ can also be fun and interesting.
The ‘corporate’ setting comes with a mischievous tone which breaks down the monotony of working alone. Who wants a normal, overly-planned corporate setting when a ‘corporate' one is filled with moments of awkwardness, coupled with hilarity, amusement, and enjoyment?
Here's a tongue-in-cheek way to make your home office take on a ‘corporate’ feel in twenty-three varieties. Don't say you weren't warned!
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Avoid storing cutlery in the kitchen. Relive the lunch moments in the office by eating with a spoon. This will bring back memories of your colleagues in the office. An office rarely comes with the comforts of using a knife and fork. This is an ideal way of giving the home office a ‘corporate’ touch.
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Replace that comfortable desk with a faulty one. Getting one with a shorter leg does magic. In fact, try and have a third party work it out. Trying to ascertain what the problem is a typical ‘corporate’ setting. In addition, the user will have to think more to find out a lasting solution to the problem. This is an ideal way of exercising the brain, and creating room for invention.
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Remember that security-swiping machine in the office? Why not invent one from readily available materials? To access the office an individual will need to have the card. How about leaving the card at ‘home’? Arrive at the office and give the door a loud, hopeless knock. Mind the neighbors while executing this move!
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Some office behaviors are because the office accommodates people of different character. Pick a bowl full of soup; toss it into the microwave without a lid so some of it spills out. Do not bother cleaning it. Try this every month to keep your oven in 'office conditions'.
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Organize an impromptu meeting. While at it, ensure the meeting lounge has an ongoing meeting. This will automatically lead to postponement of the meeting. Let the lounge have subsequent meetings to ensure the planned one changes three or four times. Swap a few minutes of work with prolonged hours of meetings.
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Ignore calls deliberately. Watch the phone ring, and do nothing about it.
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Collect all types of stationery, from paper clips, pencils, notebooks, staples, paper punches, rulers, pens, rubbers, and the office stamp. Draft a request every time you want to get any of those. Ensure the manager - who in this case, happens to be you - endorses it.
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Individuals working from home can be lonely. Have something totally disruptive playing in the background.
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Organize a social event complete with coffee, cookies, and top it off with a cake.
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Have an expert design a dummy, and have it programmed to cause you untold interruption. This will keep you alert, knowing the ‘boss’ can walk in any time.
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When you work from home, there is no need for commuting. Relive those office days by hurrying to catch the bus, travel to a certain destination, alight, walk around and catch another bus back. Alight from the furthest corner in order to get to the ‘office’ tired, with sweat drizzling down your face. Start work, then remember gleefully that you don't have to do that again!
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Practice fire drills from time to time. In fact, have a fire assembly point at some corner outside the ‘office’. To execute this appropriately, have friends organize the drills when you least expect it. Keep a fire extinguisher in the office.
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Prolonged days of work will definitely make you tired. Give yourself a sick off day. Better still, have a public holiday every now and then. Studies show that people, especially those in the management, need proper mental health care to enhance productivity. In Australia, for instance, there is a mental health day. You should take a day off to look after your mental health.
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Set aside some days when you do absolutely nothing constructive. Sit in front of the computer, tablet or even the phone. Browse through emails, chat endlessly with friends, play Candy Crush or your favorite game. After all, there is no one watching you.
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Construct an internal memo. Inside, attach different articles written by different staff. Start with one from the management and talk about the company's plans to launch a weekly newsletter. Incorporate other articles from senior human resources and junior staff.
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Come up with an unwritten ‘office’ dress code. Make sure no one follows it. Call a meeting with the aim of finding out why, and threaten to take undue action.
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Hold off on some work because the computer is not working. Blame it on the IT’s department’s delay in repairing the fault. While executing this, you do not want to spoil the computer such that it actually needs expert help. Unplug it, and entertain yourself as you wait patiently for help to arrive.
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Remember those old calendar portraits that appear in some workplaces? Or those black and white photos from ancient days? Replace your beautiful home office prints with those. Ensure they look old and rugged to give the home office an old government workplace look.
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Instruct the human resources manager - who in this case is you - to place an advertisement for your post. Think about the most intricate roles, and include them in the advertisement. Incorporate the required experience and do not forget to include the salary the successful candidate will earn. Remember that you cannot shortlist yourself.
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Draft mails with weird subject lines. Let them make little sense and contain every manner of disorientation. CC yourself and mark them as urgent - or even confidential. Include all manner of characters, such as question and exclamation marks.
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Draft, print, and pin warning signs threatening the ‘staff’ of dire consequences if they misuse the toilet, or leave it dirty. Incorporate tough questions without expecting an answer. At some point, ask them to use their brains, failure of adherence to which the company will give the toilet cleaner a break and have staff clean it themselves. To reiterate the seriousness this issue holds, print it in bold and capital letters.
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What’s a company without team building activities? Plan a team building event within the home office. Be creative, and come up with a fun activity for you and your staff. Make sure you can execute it in limited space. Better still, organize an outdoor activity and invite some friends over to make it livelier.
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What's an office without a newspaper? Buy one from time to time, and read it from the first to the final page. Make sure you fill in the crossword puzzle, and write meaningless words on top of the newspaper. Scribble a few signatures on top - to remember what it was like signing everything off.
Finally
If you miss more than ten of these, you might want to consider returning to the office environment and give up working for yourself!
Have you got any additional 'tips' to share with us? Post them in the comment section below and share this article with your friends - enjoy and celebrate your endeavors of working for yourself. Give yourself a clap on the back for getting this far!
