It looks like remote work, virtual meetings, and dress shirts with sweat pants are here to stay. Even after the pandemic has faded from memory, the practicality of working from home is going to remain part of our lives.
While many of you have long since set up a home office, it’s time to start thinking about making remote work sustainable. Taking advantage of the benefits of working from home depends on having the right equipment and amenities to make it comfortable and productive.
This holiday season you can make life easier, more comfortable, and all-around more pleasant for your loved ones who work from home.
1. Acacia Wood Easel Lap Desk with Storage
This handy lap desk lets you have your cake and eat it, too. The sustainable acacia wood construction and neutral fabric cushion look great and go with any décor. The easel top allows you to adjust your work surface to the most comfortable angle. And there’s storage!
Inside this easel lap desk, you’ll find three storage compartments to effectively work in a comfortable chair or even sitting on the couch.
This is a great gift for anyone who wants their remote workspace to be both stylish and functional.
2. Cozy Slippers
One of the downsides of working at home is that you’re paying to heat your space. If you’d like to save some money and some energy and turn the thermostat down a degree or two, you need some good slippers.
Nice slippers are a luxury that not everyone appreciated before they stopped wearing shoes all day. Being able to curl up in your favorite chair with your computer is great unless your cold feet are distracting you from getting anything done.
The great thing about working at home is that you can wear whatever you want on your feet. Slipper gifts can be practical moccasins or fun, fuzzy characters. Just make sure they’re warm!
3. Noise Canceling Headphones or Earbuds
We don’t think our homes are noisy until we try to work in them all day. Whether it’s the sound of kids playing, or partners working, or that grandfather clock that seems so soothing in the evening, remote work can get loud.
Treat a remote worker to a comfortable pair of noise-canceling headphones or earbuds to soothe their tired ears. Try to find a wireless set so they can move around easily. If you’re buying for someone who enjoys listening to music while they work, you can skip the noise-canceling feature.
Come to think of it, this is a gift that could come in very handy as people head back to an office as well.
Urban Outfitters: Silicone Camera Cover
4. Webcam Privacy Cover
We’ve all seen the viral videos of people who thought their webcams were off and were dreadfully wrong. None of us want to be, or know, the subject of one of those videos. Anyone who attends virtual meetings will appreciate the security of a physical covering over that all-seeing eye.
So treat your remote working loved ones to a webcam cover. You can find these little stocking stuffers for most laptops for under $10. Make sure to get one that is compatible with their computer.
Find one that’s compatible with your computer while you’re shopping. Now that you know about them you should get yourself one, too.
5. Storage Lap Desk with Sliding Lid
We all know someone who wants to work in a comfortable chair but just needs too much stuff. Pencils and pens, notepads and flash drives, all the things you can easily put into a desk drawer.
Rossie Home has a solution. The Storage Lap Desk with Sliding Lid is a portable, personal desk with enough space for someone who needs everything.
Underneath its smooth, solid surface sit multiple storage compartments. Perfectly sized for the bits and bobs that dwell in a desk drawer, you can take sit in your favorite spot and have access to your paperclips and a snack.
The media slot holds a tablet while you slide open the top and retrieve what you need. Convenient, comfortable, and practical, this storage desk is a gift that keeps on giving.
6. A Laptop Cleaner
Remember that snack box subscription you ordered? You might want to pair it with a laptop cleaner.
There are all sorts of choices, from tiny vacuum systems to brushes and screen cleaners. If you know what sorts of messes your friends and families make on their computers, you can pick the perfect gadget.
If you aren’t sure, some kits include a brush or vacuum for crumbs and computer-safe screen or keyboard cleaners that should do the trick.
7. Green Space
Holidays are a great time to spruce up a workstation, maybe literally. Succulents, evergreens, and other houseplants make great remote work gifts. It feels good to nurture a plant and watch it grow.
Unlike an office, you don’t need to worry about plants surviving in a cubicle. Home workstations can be anywhere in the house. Plants help keep indoor air clean, and they bring a nice natural touch to electronics-dominated remote workspaces.
8. Snack Box Subscription
Without a cafeteria or vending machines, home workplaces are free of the temptations of the office. And that’s…okay. But really, it’s not great. Everyone deserves snack breaks.
You can find snack box subscriptions with fun, international themes, or do something as simple as a fruit of the month basket to keep home working friends and family stocked with their favorites.
9. Keep in Touch
One of the best gifts you can give your loved ones who work at home doesn’t cost a dime. Remote work can be isolating, so resolve to keep in touch with co-workers, friends, and family outside of work hours.
If you can’t get together, a phone call or a video chat still helps everyone maintain their connections as we navigate remote work as a permanent lifestyle. You can even curl up with your computers and lap desks and watch a movie together long distance.
Just make sure everyone flips their webcam covers on when you’re done chatting.