Little bump for this thread, I liked seeing the pics. Any changes?
I've spent about a year in my old house and nearly a year in my current house working mostly from home. New arrangement is much better but no pics yet
Only change to my previous post is new Dynaudio lyd 48 speakers and Dynaudio 18s sub.
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Well, I've moved since I posted mine. Office is now over twice the size. Same desk/monitors etc, got my big map on the wall but haven't yet filled it with pins...
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One side of the office room (complete with zwift set up which just needs the sofa moving back and the bike moving into place):
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And the other side, for play (55" Sony OLED, PS5):
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I've been working from home solidly (with a couple of days in the office for a few months) for nearly 2 years now. 😮
Wow some very nice home office!
Also a few plants make such a difference to the working environment:
Giant white bird of paradise
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Golden pothos (devils ivy)
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Cast Iron plant (Aspidistra)
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ZZ plant
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Nice space. What are the tiles on the wall? Looks like some form of sound absorption?
I think they're dust collectors
Q: does anyone use an air purifier in their home office?
We've got a new-ish house with low air flow due to high energy efficiency etc. We do get a lot of dust and condensation due to lack of airflow and I was thinking an air purifier would help with this.
Bloody hell, that speaker on the left of the telly is massive! Where'd you hide the other one?
Nice space. What are the tiles on the wall? Looks like some form of sound absorption?
yes, im interested too - what's the practical effect?
I really like your setup , Tallpaul, I'm a fan of a dual monitor set up but with a larger, wider main and then a junior monitor to the side.
I want to get a digital USB desktop clock too.
Nice
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This is my current set up. Drop ENTR keyboard is pretty sweet.
Im expecting to move houses in the next 6 months so i feel its only provisional. My monitors are balanced on a pair of James Ellroy books. I'm going to mount them on some slightly higher wooden crates that aren't as obtrusive as a full riser.
I also want to get a logitech MX mouse when I get sorted and a s****y desk mat
the amazon echo speakers are good enough for stereo for LBC radio all day
Nice space. What are the tiles on the wall? Looks like some form of sound absorption?
Yeah cheap acoustic foam panels from Amazon, they cut down a fair bit of the echo - the room has a wooden floor, big window, wooden blind - so it echoed a lot, especially in the corner my desk is. The plants help with that too.
Bloody hell, that speaker on the left of the telly is massive! Where’d you hide the other one?
Lol I wish! IKEA besta units.
There is a couple of IKEA Sonos bookshelf speakers hidden away in the room. And the lights/clock/TV/speakers are all Google home connected.
I really like your setup , Tallpaul, I’m a fan of a dual monitor set up but with a larger, wider main and then a junior monitor to the side.
Ultra wide monitors are just brilliant, I can split stuff into 2 'screens' and still have my 2nd monitor for other stuff (I tend to have the big monitor for work stuff and the 2nd for personal.
Mine, just now.
Only change to my previous post is new Dynaudio lyd 48 speakers and Dynaudio 18s sub.
Have got the same monitors and sub! Just been packing everything away for a house move right when I get everything plumbed in nicely, gah....
Have got the same monitors and sub! Just been packing everything away for a house move right when I get everything plumbed in nicely, gah….
Hah!, be patient, time will come when they are unpacked and set up again.
Originally wanted the Hedd type 20 mk2 and Hedd 08 sub as a mate loaned me the Hedds to try out in my room but they are £1.5k extra over the LYD setup, perfectly happy and content with my Dynaudios but if I was given a pair of Kii 3’s or Dutch & Dutch 8c’s it’d be a different matter.
Had a few upgrades after moving house.
Cheap desk off gumtree, decent thickness ply/construction as opposed to something MDF
Proper office chair pinched from work
Anglepoise liberated from an old employer
Macbook M1 - first Mac and I rather like it
Logitech MX Mouse (1st version which are cheap as they're on v3 or v4 or something now) - quite surprised how useful/nice it as as expected it to be a bit ****
SSL2 recording interface, Yamaha HS8 monitor speakers (another gumtree bargain), cheap monitor stands
And a wireless charging pad for my phone which is also pretty easy/handy.
@ashat where did you get the print from on your wall please? 🙂
@santacruzsi Didn’t see this before as my username was tagged wrongly, but it was from iamfy.co and called ‘Alpine Art Print’ by Longview.
No real changes for me (house plants and holiday photos on the wall) except my old 26” Cotic Soul Frame now sits on the cupboard behind my desk. Have looked at putting some sound deadening in behind my desk as at the moment whenever I do recordings I end up with the spare bed pillows and duvet stuffed around my set up.
Mine, just now.
4:3 monitors for that “vintage” touch? 😉
Changes from my post on page 1 a year ago include;
- 1x plant swapped for 2x guinea pigs
- Chair upgrade to Aeron
- Blind finally up
- Audio upgraded to 2x OG Homepods
- Stack of unread Singletrack mags a bit taller
- A couple more man-baby toys on the shelf (Lego in this case)
A tad cluttered but it's served me well since March 18th 2020!
4:3 monitors for that “vintage” touch? 😉
Can't beat the classics.
In truth, I quite like the desktop monitor the way it is. It can be spun 90' into portrait mode (so I can pretend I'm running a SparcStation) and it gives me access to the space behind. I've considered replacing it but that would involve spending actual money and most of that kit is Wombled.
The other monitor far left is well suited for what's sat under it...
@timmys is that a bed for a quick relax. 😀
The room is still in theory a spare bedroom which is why it is there. I'm actually surprised how little of my time I spend on it to be honest, it's only been a few minutes here and there over the course of two years.
Right on queue of posting this I of course got confirmation of my return to an actual office from early April. I've been allowed to remain WFH two days a week, which I guess I should be grateful for as it would have neve been approved pre-covid.
I’ve been allowed to remain WFH two days a week, which I guess I should be grateful for as it would have neve been approved pre-covid.
This is arse-backwards, for what it's worth.
If you can WFH and want to, your employer has to justify why you can't and "because we say so" isn't good enough.
Mine has gone backwards a bit due to being split between offices and home and also the need to use the summer house for things other than work so I made a small drop leaf desk
July 2020
EDIT: balls to it I never used to have problems with postimages, sorry no pictures
If you can WFH and want to, your employer has to justify why you can’t and “because we say so” isn’t good enough.
@Cougar - do you have evidence of the legality of that? Or is it just policy where you work? Or your preferred approach?
If your contract of employment states your hours of work and place of work then your employer can insist that you return to the office full-time.
Hybrid working is discretionary.
that was how I understood it too
Legal - https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working
advice - https://www.acas.org.uk/making-a-flexible-working-request
as long as you;re been there for 26 weeks you have the right to make a request
This page deals with what to do if it's turned down
https://www.acas.org.uk/making-a-flexible-working-request/if-your-request-is-turned-down
the key section here is
Your employer can turn down your flexible working request if there’s a valid business reason for doing so.
By law, your employer can turn down your flexible working request if:
- it will cost too much
- they cannot reorganise the work among other staff
- they cannot recruit more staff
- there will be a negative effect on quality
- there will be a negative effect on the business’ ability to meet customer demand
- there will be a negative effect on performance
- there’s not enough work for you to do when you’ve requested to work
- there are planned changes to the business, for example, your employer plans to reorganise or change the business and thinks the request will not fit with these plans
Some of these reasons relate more to job sharing or reducing working hours, rather than simply working from home. Crucially though, "becasue I want to see you" is NOT a good reason. If you've ben WFH succesfully it's up to your employer to give yu a valid reason why you can't continue
EDIT - Official bit from gov uk website here
https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working/after-the-application
Reasons for rejecting
Employers can reject an application for any of the following reasons:-extra costs that will damage the business
-the work cannot be reorganised among other staff
-people cannot be recruited to do the work
-flexible working will affect quality and performance
-the business will not be able to meet customer demand
-there’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times
-the business is planning changes to the workforce
this more or less mirrors the ACAS guidance - i've bolded the key sentence. Has anyone complained that you aren;t doing your job since WFH?
This is arse-backwards, for what it’s worth.
If you can WFH and want to, your employer has to justify why you can’t and “because we say so” isn’t good enough.
I think it is justifiable (by my employer) in my situation. Everyone I line manage is on site the vast majority of the time (as they are lab based scientists). Giving the option to managers of never coming on site and everyone they manage being in all the time would be a bit of a strange dynamic. Pre-covid, anything other than sporadic WFH would not have been considered, which is why I am grateful to have been able to prove it works well most of the time.
I had requested to WFH 3 days a week and was granted 2 (though my manager is happy for me to do ad hoc WFH in addition as long as I don't take the piss). I have a sneaking suspicion I might be given the option to work more at home when they run the sums on how many employee numbers have grown over the last two years, versus the number of desks available on site!
do you have evidence of the legality of that?
As nbt said, it's Flexible Working. You have a right to request it and an employer has to justify denying it. "A bit of a strange dynamic" is not justification if you've just demonstrated that it's been perfectly workable for the last two years. Needing to do lab work in a lab probably is.
Can you effectively manage your reports from home or not? If no then fair enough, if yes then what's the point of commuting other than a time sink?
If your contract of employment states your hours of work and place of work then your employer can insist that you return to the office full-time.
Hybrid working is discretionary.
This simply isn't true. An employment contract - indeed, any contract - cannot waive statutory rights.
Statutory rights will never usurp the needs (or wants) of the business. HR would not let that happen.
Ah Human Remains !!
I was at a meeting at Manchester University Business School where a lecturer/presenter used his favourite quote ".. HR has industrialised the process of being unhelpful"
I think most people can relate to that
The business will simply quote the famous 'business needs' which covers a whole host of possibilities of nothingness and then you'll need to decide if it's worth your time fighting tooth and nail. In my previous role I applied for flexible working with the reasoning that my role, as systems based, was completely non student facing and therefore could be easily done from home as we were already evidencing, I'm at a high risk of covid as I'm double immune compromised, I have a disability which makes office place working not easy for me and actually tends to mean I suffer more than I do at home health wise, oh and our occupational health provider also agreed that it would be beneficial for me to be able to work from home. And what do you reckon they said?
I'm in a new role now which as of Monday is going to be even more systems based and I start going back into the office every Monday and Friday with a constant review as to upping that to three, I need to decide how much I want to fight that somewhere down the line and see if I can get it agreed in writing to do two and only two.
@golfchick - start the new role with a defined, documented arrangement or it will be open to interpretation x months down the line
Yeah I have it in an email that we've agreed to those two days in person with reviews down the line but that line manager was temporary, the one from Monday is also temporary so I'm sort of waiting for somebody definite so I can ask for something more official. Problem is even if OH agree again which they probably will, the workplace can just say well 'for business needs'.
The enforced WFH has manifested in what I call Little Bo Peep Syndrome with some management teams.
They've lost their sheep and they don't like it. The Living With Covid directive gives them the opportunity to get us all back in our pens under their watchful eyes. Control freakery and demonstrating a clear lack of trust. Poor form really.
The enforced WFH has manifested in what I call Little Bo Peep Syndrome with some management teams.
They’ve lost their sheep and they don’t like it.
I shall be stealing this phrase!
