Remote Work: The Skinny on Gear You’ll Need

The traditional worker gets up, leaves home, and travels to an office where everything from the K-cups to the reception area couches have been selected with careful thought and concern for someone’s well-being. You, as an intrepid remote worker, have shirked this curated existence for one that better suits the life you want to lead. One with a better work-life balance, one that enables you to travel and dive into projects you really care about.

The downside to this kind of freedom: now you’re personally responsible for K-cups, couches, and everything in between. Having a solid Internet connection is paramount, but let’s not forget that you still have to sit for long periods of time, that you have to store things (both digitally and physically), and occasionally, you might even want a desk of your own.

Not to worry, we’ve scoured the internet for you and culled some gear-related gems:

For When Your Work-Life Balance Throws Your Back Into Misalignment

They say that sitting is the new cigarette, but whoever wrote that article probably hasn’t spent much time with their lumbar cradled gently by a Herman Miller chair. In fact, the company has three models in the 2018 list of top 15 office chairs compiled by Republic Lab. They’re a bit pricey, but your spinal health, back comfort, and neck position are likely worth the price tag. Other top names on the list include Steelcase, Haworth, and even Serta (yes, they make chairs!). Though you can’t take your fancy chair with you when you hit up the local coffee shop or try out that new coworking space, at least you know it’ll be waiting for your back, when you get back.

For When “Carpal Tunnel” Isn’t the Answer to “How Do You Get to Work?”

Tightness in your wrist? Forearms sore? Fingers not stretching back like they used to? You might be experiencing the early signs and symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, a frequent ailment of office workers worldwide—remote and otherwise. To assuage this growing stiffness, invest in some ergonomic tools for your home office. Hoping to help alleviate the stress from constant horizontal hovering, Logitech applied some outside-the-box thinking when they designed their MX Vertical Mouse. You read that right: a vertical mouse. Its clever design allows you to operate this handy little guy and keep your wrist in a more natural position.

Another item worth upgrading is your keyboard. One of the wildest and arguably most ergonomically friendly on the market comes from Kinesis. The Freestyle2 is a two-part keyboard that splits right down the middle so that you can adjust the angle and distance on each side independently. Both are available for PC and Mac, and are also bluetooth compatible.

For When the Cloud Needs to Rain Down Data, Like Right Now

Sure, there’s a cloud storage solution for just about everyone now: OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Hightail, even Slack. But sometimes you just want your files right this second. No muss, no fuss, no Internet required. Techradar puts out a fantastic list each year, and topping 2018’s is a powerhouse from Buffalo. The MiniStation Extreme NFC (HDD) boasts 2TB of space without breaking the bank. A close second with potentially faster read/write speeds is the Western Digital My Passport 4TB drive (also HDD). If you’re seeking the lightning fast read/write speeds of solid state drives, then look no further than the Samsung T5. It comes in sizes from 250GB to 2TB and is even backwards compatible with USB 2.0!

When working remotely, you are your own office manager—as well as HR pro and IT support! Don’t feel like you need to skimp on items that may seem frivolous, especially when they’re actually great productivity boosters. Just because you can do your work virtually, from virtually anywhere, doesn’t mean your equipment should fall by the wayside. Keep your tech and tools updated so you can work comfortably, and live more of that work-life balance.

Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com

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By Kristi DePaul | Categories: Work Remotely

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