Last updated: June 10th, 2025
Working from home is now a widespread practice in Australia. Recent ABS surveys revealed that nearly half (46%) of Australian employees now work from home in some capacity.
But a work-from-home job is not without downsides. Proponents of WFH rarely mention loneliness (especially for extroverts) and the struggle to set boundaries while ignoring distractions.
A lot of WFH employees feel that they’re at work 24/7 with no escape – to the point where they resent their lovely homes.
(Related Article: 7 Stylish Home Office Ideas).
1. Eliminate Distractions.
You still keep getting sucked into mind-numbing viral content and doomscrolling, don’t you?
Social media platforms are the devil. If you don’t have the willpower to resist, consider these limiters:
- Lock certain apps in Android using a third-party app like “AppBlock – Stay Focused”.
- Set daily time limits on your iPhone in the settings.
- Use a time lock box to physically lock away your phone for a predetermined amount of hours, preventing you from reaching for it every time you get a WhatsApp message or email.
Aside from tech, what else is making you procrastinate? Remember that one distraction often leads to another.
For example, you convince yourself that you need another coffee boost.
(Related: 7 Career Ideas For WFH Australians).
Next, you decide to go for a quick toilet break. While you’re there, you might as well give the mirror a quick wipe.
You hear a noise from outside, so you open the window – and, ooh, a butterfly!
Expert Tip.
Resist the slippery slope of distractions by catching them early.
2. Set Boundaries With Family Members.
“Can you just take the dog for a walk… change the baby… mow the lawn… return this parcel… do the dishes… vacuum clean the living room?”
Sound familiar?
If you live with someone who doesn’t work from home, they might expect you to muck in with the household chores while you’re working from home.
Important!
Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you’re available to start tackling mountains of laundry – for the same reason you wouldn’t sit and binge-watch Breaking Bad.
Work is work.
Okay, life sometimes gets in the way, and we need to take advantage of working flexible hours, but any deviation from your daily routine should be an exception rather than the rule.
(Related: Best Accounting Software For Freelancers).
Some reasonable exceptions are:
- Medical appointments.
- Childcare obligations.
- Family emergencies.
- Personal illness.
- Commute issues.
Expert Tip.
If you have young children, consider locking your office from the inside of your home office. They have a habit of interrupting online meetings. Barricade yourself in as though you’re preparing for the apocalypse.
3. Create A Separate Office Space.
Above: working from your kitchen table for extended periods of time is not a great idea.
You must separate your work and personal lives. If you have the luxury of a spare room, convert it into your home office.
Expert Tip.
As a last resort, set up your office for the day on the dining table, but be sure to remove all work-related gear as soon as you finish work.
4. Buy A Top-Notch Standing Desk & Office Chair.
Your productivity and posture will suffer if you keep using a kitchen stool, sofa, bed, or even a beaten-up old office chair that belonged to your Aunt Susan before she retired.
(Related: Dora Pro Standing Desk Review: Best WFH Desk?)
While expensive, some of the best office chairs will save you money in the long run because you won’t need to replace them every 2-3 years.
Expert Tip.
If you suffer from lower back problems, some office chairs with strong, pronounced lumbar support may help (e.g., the Ergotune Supreme or the Sihoo M57).
As for the best standing desks, I love those in the UpDown and Desky ranges.
At one time, I contemplated buying a cheap standing desk from Ikea until I tested it and realised why the Ikea standing desk wasn’t worth it.
Expert Tip.
If your budget permits, go for an electric standing desk with a max load capacity greater than 130kg (aim for 150kg).
5. Get The Government To Pay For Your Standing Desk.
If you have an ABN, work from home and live in New South Wales, you may be eligible for a $1,000 government rebate on your standing desk.
You’ll find the full eligibility criteria here.
Expert Tip.
Your boss may be open to paying for your standing desk (how to ask your employer for a standing desk).
6. Improve Your Home Office Lighting.
Just because you can get away with your WFH “set” looking daggy – complete with children’s toys, your dog, and your kettle in the background – doesn’t mean you should.
What’s the #1 secret to looking good on camera? Lighting.
(Related: Tips For Better Home Office Lighting).
Don’t use overhead lighting – unless you want to look like a prisoner.
The easiest thing to do is to place your desk against the window, so you face towards the light.
Consider investing in a simple and relatively inexpensive artificial lighting solution like this one from LumeCube.
7. Get Lunches Delivered.
You’ve worked for a few hours. Time to make lunch, right?
Wrong.
If you’re not careful, you’ll spend half of your workday mucking about the kitchen. Time hemorrhages twice as quickly when working from your home, and food prep is one of the biggest timesucks.
Don’t get me wrong.
But lunches – and possibly breakfasts – can be treated as functional meals that you outsource.
Expert Tip.
You’re spoilt for choice if you live in Sydney, Brisbane, or Melbourne. Companies like HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, and many other alternatives can deliver tasty, nutritious meals to your door for as low as $8 per meal.
8. Prepare Meals The Night Before.
If you have a bit more time in the evenings, batch-cook some meals for the week.
Not all recipes are great for batch cooking (avoid reheating seafood!), but here are some dishes that are work very well:
- Mushroom risotto in white wine sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan.
- Chilli con carne served with rice, guacamole, and sour cream.
- Sri Lankan chicken curry with pol roti.
- Pasta amatriciana with cured pork and tangy Pecorino Romano.
- Beef stir-fry with lo mein noodles.
Just make sure to stock up on Tupperware – and one particular type. My kitchen cupboards are full of Tupperware lids without their respective containers!
(Related: Funkiest Coffee Machines For Your Home Office).
9. Use A VPN.
You should consider paying for a VPN, such as Express VPN. There are several reasons why, some too technical for this guide, so I’ll boil it down to the two main ones.
- You can bypass geographical restrictions by connecting to servers across the world. I find this helpful when researching local markets because search engine results, shopping results (and prices), and other web pages are localised.
- The VPN encrypts the data, making it significantly harder for malicious actors to intercept login credentials, financial data, or company files.
Not having a VPN exposes all your privacy and digital assets and can be likened to leaving your front door unlocked.
It’s not worth the risk.
(Related: 11 Best Website Hosting Providers In Australia).
10. Learn To Communicate Across Time Zones.
Are your teammates outside of Australia? You’ll need to learn protocols that help you prevent conflict:
- Ensure you overcommunicate deadlines (i.e., a deadline of “4 pm on Thursday” means very different things in Sydney and Lisbon).
- Find optimal meeting times. Arrange meetings at reasonable hours to encourage maximum attendance and participation.
Why People Struggle Working From Home.
City offices – as dreary as they can be – are not without value. They provide structure. A clear divide between work and home lives. Opportunity to mingle.
Room to vent, moan and – dare I say – flirt.
Zooming with your fellow inmate… I mean, colleagues – for 40-50 hours per week from solitary confinement in your spare bedroom doesn’t help you realise many of those.
You need to:
- Create and follow a routine (i.e., wake up and be at your desk at the same time each day).
- Set and enforce firm boundaries with family members (i.e., politely but firmly decline bids for attention from children and spouse).
- Build a dedicated workspace (i.e., ensure you don’t eat, work and play from the same space).
Final Thoughts On How To Work From Home.
Working from home is the new normal for many of us. If you’re finding it a frustrating, unhealthy, and unproductive experience, change your environment and habits.
Perhaps it’s time to consider getting a job more conducive to WFH. There are tonnes of work-from-home opportunities out there that will help you break the 9-5 mould.
I hope the above guidelines, ideas, and tips have helped improve your work-from-home environment.
If you have any hacks, let us know in the comments below, and we’ll get those added!
Steven
Cody says:
Hi,
Do you know 9am HOME standing desks?
I want to know how about their desk.
Steven McConnell says:
Hi Cody, I’ve never seen them before but I took a quick look for you and I’m 90% certain it’s another Jiecang desk. You can tell by the design of the feet and the lowest height (60cm). Desky, Omnidesk, Stand Desk are all pretty much the same.
Cody says:
Which one do you mean? Pesk or Robin series? I am interested in their Robin series, it looks unique and beautiful. I can’t find anyone like it in Desky.
Steven McConnell says:
I was talking about the Pesk Series. Robin series does look attractive and unusual, but I’m usually not a fan of tubular legs as they tend to be more prone to wobble. I can’t say whether this is the case in this instance, as I haven’t physically tested the desk myself. The 10 year warranty is reassuring, however. I wish they offered a risk-free trial to let you test out the legs!
Cody says:
Thank you very much, Steven; I will take your comments into consideration.
Erin says:
Do you know much about Kangadesks? There are Australian as well.
Steven McConnell says:
Hi Erin, its another Jiecang standing desk. Same as Desky, Omni, Stand Desk etc. The design of the feet and 60-125cm height range gives it away. The desk appears to currently be currently on sale for $299, which is an absolute steal and I’m wondering why they’re selling their stock at 1/3 of RRP. Regardless, even if they’re about to go bust, I’d still buy one at that price.
EDIT: Be careful. Fakespot showed these warnings while browsing their website: “Multiple eCommerce scam experiences detected, Poor customer service”
Suzy says:
Hi – given all the desks are so similar, is it possible to mix a desk from one brand with a drawer accessory from another? I don’t like the UpDown desk metal drawer (hangs very low so likely to impede leg space) but don’t mind the Desky one – can these be mixed and matched?
Thank you for the reviews! Super helpful.
Steven McConnell says:
Yes, it’s possible to play switcheroo. But you may want to consider that UpDown design is curved, so it will hurt less if you do jam your thighs into it. Desky’s meanwhile, is quite angular. Pro tip: you can also find a bunch of inexpensive slimline desk drawers on Amazon.
jason says:
I’ve spent far, far too much time agonising over which desk to get haha, definitely more than a week. Very happy that you’ve added the omni-desk to your catalogue. That was the one I was considering the most untill you came you with a review saying that it was more wobbly!
Anyways, do you have an opinion on the new updown desk KLIK Series? Its advertises to be significanlty ligher while having better (on paper) specs
Thanks!
Evelyn says:
Hi Steven, great blog post – thank you! I’m also wondering whether you have any opinion or insights on the new UpDown Desk KLIK series…they come at $100 more expensive (for the same size/table top) but seem to be ‘better’ according to the UpDown website.
Cheers!
Steven McConnell says:
Hi Evelyn, thanks! I will have a full review of the KLIK up around February 2025. It’s not necessarily a better standing desk – but it is lighter, less bulky and promises easier assembly.
Ben Clements says:
Hi. I’m interested to know more about whether I actually could fit the Desky cable management system in the Omnidesk? I’ve had a look at the omnidesks in person at the showroom and it looks like their cable management trays screw on (vs the clip in at the edges of the desk with the Desky tray). The desky system also has the power plugs that snap into place in the tray.
So I’m curious to know if you have you tried it, and if so how did you do it please? Or is your thinking that you’d just buy the power boards and plugs from Desky and rest them in the Omnidesk tray?
I’m stuck, because I prefer the Omnidesks but I really love the idea of a single power lead!
Thanks
Steven McConnell says:
I just had a new Omnidesk delivered to my house. Give me about two weeks to assemble it, test it out and report back.
Sunni says:
Thanks for your very helpful (and funny) review. I used the information to to buy a Desky standing desk in record time – no consumer agonising for weeks, as is my usual practice. It has a pneumatic up/down mechanism, so lets see how that goes.
Steven McConnell says:
Ha! You’re welcome, Sunni. Glad I helped you cut down on the agonising. The pneumatic mechanism is an interest choice – let me know what you think of it?
Amber says:
Hi Steven,
Really great and insightful review. It was refreshing to see something that wasn’t filled with ChatGPT affiliate link garbage!
I’m curious about your opinion on L-shaped standing desks? I know that Desky, UpDown and a few other retailers offer these types of desks and I would assume they are more strong and stable, but I’m not an expert and I can also imagine the opposite being true due to the irregular shape. I’ve been looking at these types of desks because I think their shape suits my space the best. Do you have any knowledge on this or do you only have experience with regular rectangular shaped desks?
Steven McConnell says:
Thanks, Amber. Did you know that I have a L-shaped standing desk review? Search for “arielle best corner standing desks” and you’ll find it.
Melissa says:
Hi Steven great article thank you!
I’ve spent way to much time on this, and I’m now leaning towards the Artiss thanks to your review.
I’m wondering if you have any insight into ergonomic chairs for the home office also?
Steven McConnell says:
Hi Melissa, thanks! The Artiss is a great budget pick. I’ve written numerous ergonomic chair reviews – Google “arielle best ergonomic office chairs” to find them 🙂
tania says:
hey are there any other manual desks apart from the ikea ones you don’t recommend, that you would recommend? I prefer the idea of not needing electricity to move between stand up and sit down but maybe that doesn’t really exist?
Steven McConnell says:
Hey Tania, all of the premium brands (UpDown, Desky, etc) offer a manual crank model. Definitely the way to go if you want to avoid electronics. But TBH I suggest you reconsider. Electronics are very reliable these days – and hand-cranking your standing desk is more annoying than you’d expect.
Adam says:
Hi, do you know much about the UpDown Klik vs Pro system?
Steven McConnell says:
The company has shipped their new Klik standing desk to me yesterday. Stay tuned!
Scott Long says:
You mention in your review of the Up Down Pro that you would get the cable holes and grommets done, but it looks like your (very pretty) Messmate desk doesn’t have them. Is your recommendation a hindsight reflection, or did you choose not to spoil the look of the desk with the grommets? Without the grommets can you can still run the cables behind the desk and into the cable management tray? Cheers!
Steven McConnell says:
Scott, I said in the review that grommets and holes are a great idea, not that I have them. They’re less important if your standing desk faces a wall. But if you have an open-plan style home office like mine, they’ll make your workspace look much cleaner. PS You can still run cables into the tray without the holes and grommets – the cables will simply run behind the desk.
Isaac Jenkinson says:
Hello,
Have you had a chance to try the new UpDown Lyft model? Curious about its stability vs the pro.
Steven McConnell says:
Isaac,
Not yet. On first glance, it looks like a budget alternative to the “big brothers”. It’s probably pretty good (UpDown has a reputation to maintain), but I’m of the opinion that buying cheap means you pay more in the long term. I’d save up another few hundred bucks and get the Pro. You can often get a melamine or bamboo-topped model on sale for around $900.
David says:
This is a great site and will help me decide on which desk to buy. Have you heard any good/bad reviews about the Blacklyte Atlas Lite or Ergo-Rise II from BDO furniture?
Steven McConnell says:
David, thanks for the kind words. Never heard of the Atlas Lite until you mentioned it. Looks like a decent gaming desk that borrows heavily from Secretlab Magnus – but why not just buy a real Magnus instead?
As for the Ergo-Rise – looks like a decent desk, but its height controller is outdated. The best standing desk brands have upgraded to OLED controllers.
Ben says:
Thank you for writing this review Steven; really helpful to break through the BS.
By any chance have you used or hold an opinion on Vertilift desks?
Steven McConnell says:
You’re welcome. God, I haven’t even heard of them – but thanks for the heads-up. There are too many standing desks on the Australian market. Obviously I haven’t used these in person, but I’m almost certain they’re yet another Jiecang variant (i.e., frames are identical to Desky). You can tell by the identical max and min heights, as well as the design of the foot.
Eloise says:
Hey Steven, I was recommended the Alwyn or Octavia (Living Fusion) 140cm sit and stand desks from Temple and Webster which don’t even get a mention in your review. Would you bother with any of their brands ? (I may have dodged a bullet by finding your review!)
Steven McConnell says:
Hi Louise, I haven’t had first-hand experience with the T&W standing desk (must add one to my list!).
However, I had a look through the specs for you.
It doesn’t look too bad, actually – considering the price. If you can’t stretch your budget to ~$950 for an entry-level UpDown or Desky, this could be a good option.
Jordan says:
Hi Steven, Thanks for the review! I am starting out with a home office set up and need a new chair and sit stand desk. I’m a student but I prefer to buy things I know will last, but I don’t have too much experience with sit stand desks. I initially thought to buy the Artiss but have considered buying the Acacia UpDown Pro+ so I know it lasts and I don’t have to buy another desk in a couple of years. Is it worth the price jump for me? Thanks!
Steven McConnell says:
Hi Jordan, the Artiss and the UpDown desks sell at two very different price points. If you have the budget, I suggest you stretch to the UpDown standing desk – you won’t regret it.
jason says:
I know you’ve disqualified the flexispot e7 pro so the e7 max plus would probably also be disqualified, but a quad motor 4 column desk frame at a prices competitive with UpDown desk is incredibly tempting. Plus 15 year warrenty (if the company lasts that long)
Have you had a chance to take a look? Its like half the price of the desky quad!
Steven McConnell says:
Hey Jason, great observation. I haven’t included quad standing desks here because they’ve traditionally attracted a niche consumer – someone who needs to place a tonne of gear on the desktop and doesn’t mind paying 2X the usual price. But Flexispot’s sharp pricing on their quad desk certainly changes things. I haven’t seen one in the wild yet – but the specs look promising.
Steven