Tag Archives: smart working

Home office: how to create it and other useful tips

Home office: the biggest innovation in the world of work introduced by the Covid-19 emergency.

The pandemic has turned our lives upside down, changing our habits, our way of interacting with people and even our way of working. Some upsets, however, have proved to be so useful that they apply even now that the emergency seems to have partially subsided.

Smart working, or remote work, for example, is one of them. For many people, working from home is comfortable and equally productive, so much so that they are now left with the free choice.

After an initial adaptation phase in which they worked in spaces that were not designed for that specific function, many people organized themselves to recreate a small office inside their own home, looking for optimal and space-saving solutions.

Now, thanks to some advice, let’s try to understand how to create a functional home office in a simple and optimal way, even in those houses where space is scarce.

1) Take advantage of natural light and study the points of artificial light

Just like for classic offices, the golden rule is to take advantage of natural light, preferring it as much as possible to artificial light.

The best thing would be to ensure that natural light arrives from the side, so that it is not too direct and bothers us, but not too little either because it is covered.

When natural light is scarce, however, you need to have another adequate light source. Whether it’s a desk lamp or a ceiling light, we need to make sure that it doesn’t reflect on the computer screen or on the desk top, causing us discomfort.

It is recommended to use lights that are not too white, but not too saturated in color, otherwise there is the risk of tiring your eyes too much and ruining your vision.

2) Work surface

The work surface, in most cases, is assumed to be a desk.

The measurements of the desk for a home office must be contained but, at the same time, must guarantee the right space for all the objects that are needed. Be careful, though, not to find yourself too narrow.

The desk top should not be reflective and should be aesthetically pleasing.

3) A comfortable seat

As we always say, to optimally work and to prevent pain to arise, due to incorrect posture, it is essential to choose a comfortable but above all ergonomic seat, designed and built to support 8 hours of work.

In this case, too, it is better to avoid large or too bulky chairs. Grendene offers its ergonomic chair mod. Like 700, with mesh backrest, which combines an attractive design with a multitude of simple and intuitive adjustments.

home office

4) Power sockets

Another fundamental thing not to be underestimated is the position of the electrical sockets inside the room that we are going to transform into a home office.

The ideal would be to avoid having so many cables scattered or running across the room to get to the workstation. A very common solution is to hide them from view by passing them through a grid fixed under the table top.

Another solution, much more practical and aesthetically pleasing, would be to purchase a desk with cable ducts and a socket compartment. This would allow you to have comfortable sockets and not have the unpleasant view of the power cables.

5) Bookcases and storage compartments

When working, clutter is easily created; and working in disorder, most of the time, leads to slowdowns and wasted time. For this reason, it is important to have storage solutions for all those documents and binders, typical of offices.

In this sense, one can think of inserting some shelves or a bookcase. For those environments where space is particularly limited, on the other hand, concealed solutions such as storage built-in compartments can be adopted.

It must also be said that, fortunately, the interior design trends of recent years are directed towards the logic of “less is more”, a minimalist trend according to which all superfluous things must be eliminated in order to be able to concentrate better on what is really important.

In this case the reduction of working materials plays to our advantage.

6) Insertion of natural elements

A trick to create a more personal, stimulating and productive work environment is the inclusion of natural elements such as plants and flowers.

Other useful tips

Working from home allows you to change all those timings and dynamics that were created in the office. It is therefore important to create a new work routine that can also benefit your body.

We thought we’d leave you a list of useful tips for smart working:

  • Change your posture (even slightly) every 30 minutes. You will keep your body moving.
  • Informal phone calls should be made while standing or walking around the house
  • When staring at a screen for extended periods, occasionally look away and look outside. It will help your eyes
  • If you use a tablet for content creation, use a keyboard; if instead you use it for content consumption, use it as if it were a book.

Hoping to have been of help with the creation of your home office, we remain at your complete disposal for the choice of your chair. Visit our website and choose the one you like best.

How to create a perfect home office: 5 simple and practical tips

The new year has now arrived, and with it the new habits brought about by the pandemic. Among these, we remember smart-working, which has allowed most companies to be able to continue their business despite the Covid-19 emergency.

One of the positive aspects of smart-working is flexibility, thanks to it, it is possible to work remotely. We can manage our time better and transform our home into a new workplace.

In this article we want to give you 5 practical and simple tips to recreate a perfect office where you can work from home.


1. The light

First, we must decide where to place our workstation and opt for a room, a corner of our home that is as illuminated as possible; obviously the ideal would be to have natural light. As the light coming from the window gives more warmth and positivity than the artificial one. Where this is not possible, we recommend bulbs with a warm and relaxing light and avoid LEDs that have cold light and tire the eyes. After choosing the position of our workstation, let’s move on choosing the furniture that must be comfortable and functional.


2. The desk

As for the desk on the market, there are different models, materials, shapes and styles, it is up to us to choose according to our tastes and habits following 3 criteria: material, size, shape.

Regarding the materials, there are usually two options: for a simpler furniture we can choose between the different varieties of wood while if you want a refined furniture we will opt for glass which can be of two types: transparent or satin.

The size and width of the top are important as well, while the shape of the desk can usually be rectangular or sinuous. Additional drawers can also be added to the desk to ensure greater order.


3. A natural environment

It is also important to recreate a natural environment, many psychological researches in fact sustain that being in contact with nature improves our mood.

So the colors we choose also play an important role. We advise you to surround yourself with green and blue, two colors that convey harmony, well-being and therefore have a positive effect on productivity.

Our suggestion is to color the walls blue and to equip yourself with plants that, in addition to coloring the room with green, give a sense of calm and perfume. Some plants such as sanseveria have even the ability to counteract radiation from electronic equipment.

4. Order and cleanliness

Fourth suggestion: in order not to waste time it is essential to keep our workstation tidy and clean; an orderly space has the power to keep our mind focused on achieving goals. Therefore equip yourself with containers, drawers and cases to store all the work tools.

5. The chair

The choice of the chair that must be ergonomic is fundamental. It allows you to maintain correct posture and also helps those who work from home to safeguard their health.

On the market there are various models that differ in color, shape and accessories.

The essential characteristics of a chair are:

  • the castors used to move quickly in all directions.
  • the armrests which are useful for supporting the arms and avoid column fatigue.
  • the ergonomic backrest always useful to maintain a correct posture.

We recommend, especially if the chair is used by several different people, to use a breathable material that can be removable and washable.

As for the material of the chair structure and the base, it must be a resistant material with high mechanical performance, such as technical plastic or aluminum, to ensure maximum strength and durability.


Come and discover all the items that Grendene has designed for smart-working.

5 good reasons to choose “smart working”

What’s smart working ?

Today more than ever we hear about “smart working” but what does it consist in? “Smart working” is the new approach to work within an organization, it is a model of working characterized by the absence of hourly or spatial constraints that exploits the technology of digital tools that allow to break down physical barriers of space and time.

This way of working remotely is established through an agreement between employee and employer. Working in “smart” mode, however, presupposes a path of cultural change and an evolution of corporate organizational models.

In fact, many entrepreneurs believe that in order to apply this way of working it is essential to adopt a corporate culture based on trust, autonomy, responsibility and predisposition to change.

It is also very important to establish appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor the results and objectives that have to be achieved. This way it is easy to quantify not only the business results but also those of the smart working itself.

Why choose smart working?

The first advantage concerns logistics: the worker no longer has to waste precious time on the journey from home to work, therefore avoids getting stuck in traffic and, above all, minimizes the risk of making accidents due to the haste to go to the office harming one’s health and that of others.

Second advantage, smart working allows a better balance between private and working life. This model in fact guarantees greater flexibility, as it facilitates all those workers with family and children to be more present, allowing them to pay more attention to their children, matching work duties with parenthood duties. Young people can also benefit from it as they can spend more time doing other activities, feeling more fulfilled, happy and consequently working more efficiently.

The third benefit, is related to the increase in productivity. In fact, thanks to the transition to work “for objectives” and no longer to work at “hours worked” and from the “control” to “trust” between boss and employee, workers feel more responsible and this favors an improvement in performance and objectives to be achieved, influencing positively employees’ motivation and satisfaction. 

Fourth, the smart working model inevitably creates a distance between agile worker and office dynamics.

This, wrongly, is perceived as a negative side as it does not favor the exchange of ideas with colleagues. Fortunately, however, with the technology we are all equipped with, it is very simple to overcome this obstacle. Indeed, this new way of working allows us not to be distracted or unnecessarily disturbed by our colleagues.

The last positive aspect, but not least, is that “agile” workers are guaranteed equal treatment compared to colleagues who operate in the traditional way. Therefore, protection is provided in the event of accidents and occupational diseases.

In conclusion, choosing smart working means creating value for both the worker and the company itself, as this way of working chooses to put the person at the center of the organization with the aim of converging his personal and professional objectives with those of the company, making it grow and increasing its productivity. All of this must obviously not go to the detriment of ergonomics and one’s own health. As it often happens, in fact, few people recreate, in their home, a real smart work station, preferring instead improvised workstations perhaps in the living room  or in the kitchen table using the classic four-legged chairs.

Nothing worse could be done for ergonomics, posture and for the back, which in the long run could give rise to annoying pains and aches, due to having assumed an incorrect working position over time.

What are you waiting for? Protect your spine, discover our perfect office chairs to work where, how and when you want.

 

 

 

 

 

Tips for the home office design

How many times do we hear complaints such as “this house is not an office” by a family member?

Even more often, nowadays, we are overwhelmed by mountains of work, responsibility and things to do with deadlines that cannot be put off for work and that we need to take home and finish.

This is the reason why nowadays in our houses we usually have a room which is totally dedicated to the office, where some of us work during  the week or in other cases after their working time or on weekends.

Often, if necessary, the room of the house dedicated to the office also becomes a study for the children who have a lot of homework to do, tasks to carry out and a lot to study.

That’s how the home office concept was born. Therefore, following this trend we wanted to offer models of multi-function chairs with a revised design, conceived not only to be useful and functional for adults but also to furnish children’s rooms and the rest of the house.

LikeThe swivel chairs that we offer are characterized by practical adjustment mechanisms, soft shapes and lines and original colors, so the work area becomes elegant and refined, always in harmony with the rooms of the house.

Then, as office armchairs, they easily adapt to every style and design, to desks with metal, wooden or glass tops. Finally, as ergonomic chairs, they  are harmonious products that blend in a balanced way in every context and contribute to make the room dedicated to the office a dynamic, versatile and creative space.

The chair has always been considered a furnishing accessory, in effect our home-office chairs are designed for domestic environments and studios with a contemporary design but they also adapt perfectly to bedrooms with desks.

Furthermore, for the younger ones, who are growing up, and spend most of their time sitting at their desks they should necessarily have an ergonomic armchair to support their back; this is our proposal:

Like is the customizable operative chair, perfect for the home office as it guarantees comfort and an ergonomic design at an advantageous price. It is equipped with an ergonomic backrest, available in technical mesh, it follows the natural inclination of the back, supporting it during work and study activities, while the comfortable adjustable armrests and the synchronized adjustment mechanism guarantee excellent posture, allowing anyone to find their optimal position with extreme simplicity.

Like also fits perfectly in bedrooms, desks and study areas.

Thanks to these design products such as the office chair Like, we can work comfortably from home decorating and completing our furnishing with style.

Do you need more information?

For more information or to receive a quote on a particular product, contact us!