11 Office Hacks to Optimize Your Day

Whether you work in a traditional office or work from home, we’re all looking for ways to make our work setup better. At FlexJobs, our company is completely remote, and because we all work from our home offices around the country, it’s impossible to visually pick up on tricks that my colleagues are using to make their offices work better for them. But I wanted to know.

So recently I asked our team members what their personal office hacks. Everyone quickly began sharing their best tips and tricks for how we each optimize our home offices to reach our full potential as a team and a company. There were a lot of “No way, I never thought of that!” moments, and the sharing of tips ended up not only being useful but also a bit of a fun team-building experience.

While these tried-and-true ideas originated from our home office experiences, I pulled out the best top 11 office hacks that are applicable to any office situation:

1. Fix worn-out keys. For your well-used phone or keyboard, a white Sharpie marker works perfectly to rewrite letters or numbers that have worn off with good use.
2. Two words: dual monitors. Pretty much everyone on our team operates more productively with two monitors on their desk. Especially for testers, editors, and people who need to review something on one screen and write notes on another, this set-up is ideal.
3. Go wireless whenever possible. Powercords cause clutter and headaches, so try to find wireless versions of your equipment. Things like keyboards and mouses require only a small investment, and they help reduce clutter and are portable for working remotely when you need or want to.
4. Set your browser to open important tabs right away. Browsers like Chrome and Firefox will let you set multiple tabs to load when you open a new browser. Most of us have 3-4 tabs we open every morning when we start work, so having those automatically open saves time and helps focus the mind on more important tasks at the beginning of every day. It’s a really small, but seriously game-changing, way to start the workday.
5. Orient your desk for maximum effect. Two of our staffers mentioned reorienting their home office desks. One person likes to face the window so she can view the Wasatch Mountains and her dog playing in the backyard while she’s working. But the other likes to face away from the window so she’s not distracted by her busy street. Figure out whatever view makes you happy AND productive at work.
6. Find rechargeable options. A lot of wireless equipment requires batteries to operate, so find battery packs that are rechargeable and give your equipment a nightly energy boost, rather than having to change batteries every time they die. Or, use rechargeable batteries for a similar result.
7. Use break apps to avoid overwork. Several of our team members have been experimenting with different “time out” desktop apps that remind them to take regular breaks, get up and stretch, and rest their eyes. Some of our favorites are Time Out (Mac), Self Control (Mac), Workrave (PC), and the Pomodoro Timer (several web-based versions exist, like Moosti).
8. Make it easy to be mobile. A lot of our staffers are also busy parents and community members who work on the fly as they tend to other responsibilities. One of them invested in an extra laptop power cord and wireless mouse, which she keeps in her tote bag. No more digging around behind her desk, detangling cords and removing her laptop power cord, only to have to wrangle it back into place when she returns to her home office.
9. Curb your snack enthusiasm. One of the pitfalls of working from home (as well as in many hip office buildings) is the well-stocked kitchen that’s always just a few steps away. Some of our staffers keep a little supply of healthy snacks right next to their desks. That way, they don’t interrupt their work flow every time they get a hankering for something crunchy mid-afternoon.
10. Get a headset for phone calls. It’s as simple as that--if you have to take a lot of calls, being hands-free is a life (and neck) saver. Plus, quality headsets help you sound more clear and reduce background noise..
11. Hold standing meetings. You might have heard of the “walking meetings” idea, but when you’re on the phone, that might result in labored breathing as you scale the hill of your street. But standing meetings accomplish much the same thing, in a simpler way. Whenever you have a meeting or phone call, get up and walk around your office. For computer workers, it can be one of the few chances you have to be up and active during the day. Pacing never felt so good.

What are your favorite office hacks? Leave a comment and share with everyone!