In a matter of weeks, employees across most industries made a huge shift from working in an office setting to working from home. Many businesses have given permission for employees to continue at-home work until the current pandemic resolves.
Naturally, there are costs associated with making the leap to telecommuting. In particular, employees need office supplies to work from home. Some employees are shouldering the cost of purchasing office supplies themselves, but they shouldn’t have to. Good employers are reaching out to help support employees during this unusual time.
The Role of Employers in Purchasing Work From Home Supplies
Ideally, employers should provide their teams with the supplies needed to work remotely. Google is a great example of a company that stepped up for employees in the midst of a pandemic. The world-renowned tech company recently gave each employee $1,000 to buy work from home supplies.
As an employer, it’s important to keep employee morale up and give your team members the supplies necessary to effectively work in a home environment. Here are some of the top work-from-home supplies every employee needs.
Pens
Pens aren’t hard to come by, but until everyone returns to work at the office, it’s a good idea to supply your employees with at least a couple of pens each. That way they can easily write down notes during virtual meetings and keep track of their daily “to-do” items.
Providing your employees with branded pens makes sense from a business standpoint, too. Pens are commonly borrowed and given away, which makes them a great branding tool. They can help you expand your brand recognition in a very affordable way.
Notepads
Notepads are essential office supplies to work from home. Notepads can help employees stay organized while they juggle their professional responsibilities. Ordering one or two branded notebooks for each employee to use while working remotely won’t cost you much, but it will help employees do their jobs.
Journals
It can be hard to stay organized when working from home, especially for employees who also have children in the house. To help your employees manage schedules and keep track of work projects, you may want to provide them with branded journals. Unlike notebooks with blank pages, you can customize your journals to include calendar pages, to-do lists and more.
Wireless Charging Pads
If you want your employees to be available for phone calls and video conferences, make it easy for them to keep their electronic devices charged. Wireless charging pads are great for this purpose because they eliminate the need for multiple chargers and can charge several devices at once.
Many employees find it difficult to keep their office spaces tidy when working from home because every electronic device has its own individual charging cord. You can make this annoying problem go away for them when you provide them with one or more wireless charging pads.
Stick-to-Wall Whiteboards
In office settings, whiteboards are often used to provide detailed updates on projects and sales. They are also great for keeping tasks and projects organized. If employees don’t have access to whiteboards at home, they’re more likely to feel disorganized and lose track of things that need to be done.
You can help improve employee organization by providing them with whiteboards for at-home use. Since it isn’t practical to expect your employees to permanently mount heavy whiteboards to their walls, you may want to consider giving them whiteboards that stick to the walls. These types of whiteboards are not permanent and are the perfect solution for employees who are working from home for now. The great thing about stick-to-wall whiteboards is that they are easy to install and remove without creating permanent holes in walls.
Markers
Most people don’t have dry-erase markers lying around their houses. So if you plan to give your employees stick-to-wall whiteboards, you should also consider giving them a few markers. Don’t forget a whiteboard eraser as well! They’ll appreciate the thoughtfulness.
Give Your Employees the Tools They Need
These work from home supplies are items that you would normally provide in an office setting. So it shouldn’t strain your budget to give them to your employees. When you purchase office supplies for your work-from-home employees, you boost morale and relieve the financial burden they’d have if they needed to buy the supplies themselves.
To learn more about branded office essentials you can provide your employees during this difficult time, contact Vox MG today. We look forward to helping your employees boost their productivity while working from home.
