For millions of us across the UK, COVID-19 has impacted our lives in so many ways. One of the main adjustments has been the merging of work and home life. Quite literally, we have been combining childcare and video calls, having date nights on the work desk and swapping the power suits for joggers. Unsurprisingly, the shift has changed our perception of home working, which simply wasn’t the norm pre pandemic.   

At the start of 2020, only 6% of the UK worked from home. Fast forward 16 months and that number has risen, with 53% of the UK population waving goodbye to their daily commute. The ability for the majority of us to work from home means that any reservations around this structure have well and truly been forgotten. With the vast majority of businesses looking to continue flexible working after the pandemic is (thankfully) behind us. What the last year has showed us is the true importance of having a brilliant home working setup, and that starts with having a broadband connection that is incredibly fast and as resilient as your will power too to avoid the cookie jar!

Putting aside the all-important connection, what else makes the perfect working from home setup? Here are just some of our must have considerations. 

A dedicated space for you to get into the zone 

In the perfect world, it’s ideal to have a small room that can house your office space so you can shut the door after a long day to separate work and home life, after all it’s about working from home and not living at work! If a dedicated space isn’t on the cards, finding a particular area in your home that can be a no-go area for the rest of your household, or somewhere you can shut the door on the weekends is key.  

The perfect office chair to give your back some love 

You’re slumped over your desk, neck craned over and there seems to be an annoying niggle that you just can’t get rid of. Sound familiar? Investing in an ergonomic chair that supports your back might be something you thank yourself for in the long run. Opt for a height adjustable chair with full back support…you choose the colour. If you don’t have an ergonomic desk chair but need some support, a back posture support cushion will be perfect for you to keep your spine aligned in its natural curvature.  

A desk that makes you happy  

Ok, hear us out on this one. A desk goes without saying for a perfect setup, right? But it can be overlooked. You are going to be spending the majority of your day at your desk, so ensuring you invest in one that you actually like can increase productivity. Whether you like minimalistic designs or maybe you prefer a more industrial look, it’s time to make this space your own! Just remember to have your desk at least 50cm in depth, so you have plenty of room for your monitors and your forearms to rest on the desk.  

Working within your hours 

Working from home can be amazing, but when your home is also your office it can be difficult to separate the two. To avoid burnout, stick to a schedule that you are familiar with and finish as you would in the office. If you are tempted to work into the evening, remember that having a fulfilled personal life and spending time with family and friends will actually benefit your job performance in the long run. You deserve to rest! 

Bring the outside in to boost your mood 

Your working from home set up doesn’t have to be lifeless. Inject some life by picking up some indoor plants that can not only look great but do wonders for your health. Plants are proven to manage stress, increase productivity and clean the air. If you are worried about being a rubbish plant parent, there are plenty of low maintenance options like succulents and jade plants that thrive on desks and need little attention.  *Heads to the garden centre immediately*  

Connect with your team mates without the glitches 

We all know having poor connectivity is not only a jaw clenching frustration, but it can significantly impact work productivity. We often punish our devices for presenting us with the circle of doom, but the likelihood is it’s not your device, it’s your broadband service. After all, why have all your expensive smart gadgets without thinking about how they are going to perform with your Wi-FI? With nearly 200,000 households across the UK currently receiving speeds of less than 10Mbps, it’s no wonder so many homes still receive digital blackouts.  For us to experience seamless connection and incomparable speeds, our digital infrastructure needs to be future proofed. That’s why Zzoomm are building the fastest and most trusted broadband network with Full Fibre connected directly to the UK population, town by town, office by office and home by home. To get up to speed on what Full Fibre really means, check out this handy video.  

Hello work life balance  

It’s not hard to see why flexible home working is favoured by 88% of the population. Saying goodbye to the work commute and hello to making up for lost time, saving hard earned cash and spending more time with families are just a few of the reasons. But with all the time at home, the demand for data consumption has surged. For a harmonious household, big or small, there needs to be a reliable internet connection of at least 10Mbps – which would still be pretty terrible to work with. Unfortunately, even in today’s digital world, the vast majority of homes in the UK fall short and with homes featuring more connected devices than ever before, the bandwidth for your core work devices is stretched.  

With work from home life here to stay and welcomed by many, how can we trust broadband and connectivity to manage the needs for our important video calls, facetimes, gaming nights and new smart devices bought with our hard earned cash?  

Full Fibre for the win, Not Fake Fibre! 

As we continue to merge work and home life, our devices are requiring much more data, which means they are taking up more of the connection funnel. The demand for huge speeds (and huge funnels) is happening right now.  

Luckily, Zzoomm’s Full Fibre network is futureproofed and can provide up to 10000Mbps in speed, or 2000Mbps for homes. Simply put, that’s around 30x faster than the average home broadband speed.  It may sound similar, but the difference between Full Fibre and traditional Fibre is incredibly different. If you think you have Full Fibre broadband today, the chances are there’s copper in there somewhere effecting your connection, most houses have Fibre to the local cabinet but from there to your house it will old copper wires that have been around for years and years.

Currently, just 18% of UK households can access a Full Fibre connection, so there’s lots of catching up to do and Zzoomm are hitting the ground running. An abundance of smart devices in our homes, growing in number day by day, the need for higher bandwidth connection has become critical. Unreliable connection, slow speeds and sharing Wi-Fi is a thing of the past.  

Zzoomm is in my town, when can I order?  

We’ve already built our fabulous, faster new network to thousands of homes across Henley. Your home may be one of them, check the postcode checker by clicking here to see if you can order Zzoomm.  

If you‘re already Zzoomming and you’re looking to get more speed from your Full Fibre broadband service, you can upgrade to one of our faster services by giving us call on 0333 3119 909.   

To find out where our next Zzoomm town is and to register your interest, please click here.