Even as businesses rush to embrace a Work From Home (WFH) culture due to the pandemic, the benefits of having employees working virtually from their homes are significant enough to see this trend continuing in the post-COVID-19 world. While it may be simple enough to have a notebook pc with a webcam set up for remote working, you’ll find that employees without a printing solution available are very likely to face a huge productivity void.
When bigger is not necessarily better
In the past, business printers were huge, floor-standing copiers that would take up a massive footprint. Although they delivered superior prints and connectivity features, they were simply too big, cumbersome, and costly to effectively deploy across your employees’ homes. On the other hand, traditional desktop printers just couldn’t match the performance, print quality, and cost-effectiveness of their larger counterparts – until now.
Small and mighty is the new normal
Today, that’s all set to change with a new breed of print solutions that are compact and feature-rich – ideal for deploying across home environments. What’s more, the best laser printers and multifunction centres from Brother are capable of delivering razor sharp text and exceptional graphics printouts at a lower cost-per-page compared to floor-standing copiers.
Best of all, these compact print solutions are capable of fast print and scan speeds, as well as cost-saving and productivity features such as automatic 2-sided printing, comprehensive paper handling, automatic document feeding, and much more – all packed into a tiny footprint that fits comfortably on a home office desk.
Staying connected means staying relevant
In today’s fast-paced world, time is the greatest commodity, and businesses that are able to connect, print, and share important information will enjoy a distinct business advantage. This is especially true in a home-based work environment, where the ability to collaborate with co-workers, clients and partners in a timely fashion can prove to be challenging.
That’s where a quality home-based printer comes in, and Brother’s latest range of compact laser printers feature mobile printing support for iPrint&Scan, Apple’s AirPrint™ and Mopria™ to ensure optimal productivity whenever you need, wherever you are. Furthermore, the free suite of Brother Cloud Apps on these devices means users can readily access the cloud to upload scanned documents or to print documents directly from an online storage site without a computer, making it easier than ever to share and collaborate.
A new norm without compromises
Brother has been trusted by enterprises and organisations around the world for over a century, and while the trend of remote working and working from home has only recently started to gain traction, Brother has always been a leading innovator for compact, decentralised print solutions that are highly flexible without compromising on features, reliability and cost effectiveness. Take on the new norm with a trusted partner by your side. Discover Brother’s extensive range of work from home-ready solutions here
With many of us now settling in to our new work from home lifestyles, we’re still looking for ways to make our new-found workspaces more functional, easy to use and ultimately a space that encourages productivity. An essential way to encourage productivity in your new workspace is to get organised! When everything has its place and is easy to find, completing your work tasks at home becomes less stressful and time consuming. With our range of labels and label printers, organising your workspace and around the home has never been so easy.
Your work from home setup
Did you know that labelling your supplies and belongings can prevent them from being misplaced or accidentally disappearing off your desk? Although you may not have to ward off your colleagues from stealing your favourite pen at home (maybe instead it’s a family member, house mate, partner, curious cat…), labelling your office space or your desk can give you that sense of fulfilment from being organised, and in turn enhance and support your productivity. A Brother P-Touch machine will make itself right at home – with its durable, laminated tapes you can easily label your folders, books, pens and computer cables – the possibilities are endless!
Your kitchen/pantry
It only takes a few quick scrolls through Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest to see how creative people are getting with organising their pantries and kitchens into organisational masterpieces. Why waste time trying to figure out if it’s plain or self-raising flour in that container? How many times have you heard your partner/children/house mate exclaim “I don’t know where that goes” in a bid to get out of washing up or unstacking the dishwasher? Although aesthetically pleasing, having a well organised kitchen and pantry is hugely beneficial to help keep your kitchen clean, tidy and save you time doing chores when you’d rather be doing something else.
Kids’ stuff
With isolation restrictions beginning to ease in most areas, children are beginning to return to school – which means that you’ve likely spent a small fortune on a long list of things to get them ready for the new school term…90% of which is probably going to go missing before the term is over. Although by no means a new concept, labelling you child’s belongings such as back packs, clothes, stationery… anything you can stick a label on…in a bid to prevent their belongings being lost is a huge advantage to having them returned to you. Our TZe laminated labels come in a range of colours and designs and have been tested to the extreme so you know that these fun, personalised labels not only look great, but are made to last.
Your bathroom
When you have to share a bathroom with a number of people, the morning rush can be particularly chaotic. Minimise the chaos by labelling a caddy in the bathroom with your name and put all of your products in there so you can be more efficient in the mornings. By giving everyone their own caddy for their products and accessories, you’ll no longer experience that overwhelming sense of frustration that comes from rummaging through the cupboard while looking for what you need – save the time, mess and stress! It may also stop others from pinching some of your expensive cleanser you’re not willing to share too.
Your shed
If you don’t have a shed full of stuff that you’re not sure what to do with, half-finished projects, and tools laying around all over the place – you probably know someone that does. Getting your shed organised in a way that allows you to find what you’re looking for not only saves you time (so you can finish off that cubby house you’ve been putting off for months…) but also money. Ensuring that everything has its place means that you don’t accidentally purchase the same tools twice, and you know where to find them when you need them. Having a well labelled area for your tools also helps you store them safely and can prevent any accidental injuries due to improper storage.
So, if you’re working from home and feeling unmotivated or disorganised in your surroundings, take a little break from your desk, grab a P-Touch label printer, your favourite TZe labels and accessorise, personalise and organise a space around your home today.
This article has been republished from Brother Australia.
Home learning is a concept that has never had to carry as much weight as it does today. With the COVID-19 pandemic confining people around the world to their homes, school districts have embraced remote classes and distance learning en masse. Unsurprisingly, considering how new learning at home is to many families, there have been some distinct challenges to overcome.
If your kids are learning at home, you’ve likely already encountered some of these issues, or will soon. Fortunately, none of the difficulties associated with distance learning are insurmountable. With the right combination of technology, focus and attitude, your family can make it through this crisis without the kids missing out on key parts of their education.
3 challenges of home learning
The following are three of the common issues that students, parents and teachers across Australia have had to grapple with through the first few months of mass home learning. By taking a few sensible steps, you can minimise the impact of these trends and turn your family’s schooling experience into a success.
1. Home learning and work from home go together
If you had whole days’ worth of free time to supervise your kids in their studies, home learning would be a much easier process. There is a chance, however, that all the adults in the home may be working at their jobs, contributing remotely. Parents sharing their experiences with ABC News reported mixed results matching their kids’ schedules with their own. In some school districts, there is a need for supervision, which has caused the parents’ work schedules to shift – this has led to the unpleasant experience of working until 2 a.m. or on weekends.
The challenges are greatest among parents of primary school-aged children, with many respondents telling ABC they have students under the age of 10 who require constant supervision or would be too disruptive of their parents’ work to allow both to occur side by side. The challenges and stress associated with keeping these young ones on task can be relieved or compounded by communication. When communication is lax or overbearing, the result may be greater worries.
Resolving the issue
For parents trying to work from home while their kids are present and learning, collaboration with schools is one of the main ways to improve conditions. As ABC News explained, since kids are not truly being home schooled, parents are within their rights to communicate with teachers about difficulties. Parents who are only able to perform their own work when their children aren’t learning can ensure their home offices are stocked with efficiency-building technology and their time-management strategies enable them to get a good night’s sleep.
2. Time management is tough
There are unique difficulties in cases when kids have flexible schedules and can hand in assignments when they’re ready instead of at the exact end of a school day. While this level of scheduling freedom helps families avoid the struggles of clashing work and school time, keeping students motivated in the absence of classrooms and teachers is a new challenge, one that may become worse over time. Queensland University of Technology professor Rebecca English told The Guardian afternoons can be especially challenging, with students sometimes losing steam and focus after lunchtime.
Amanda Dawkins, principal of Five Dock public school added that parents should be realistic in what they expect kids to accomplish at a sitting. Adults have to remember that students are not likely to sit down for six consecutive hours working. Getting them to do smaller blocks of work can suffice, and parents should not criticize themselves too harshly if their children become restless and have to stop.
Resolving the issue
One of the keys to time management is not being too harsh, English told The Guardian. When parents and their kids join together to work on the schedule for the day, the students get a sense of agency. Just having hard limits laid out for them could cause kids to become restless. Parents demonstrate trust in their young ones when they work with them rather than against them on a home learning schedule, and the results may be accordingly better.
3. Technology is necessary
One of the major issues associated with distance learning is that it is managed digitally. If families don’t have all the technology tools they need, and if schools are unable to provide them, it can be hard to meet requirements. A Victoria parent told The Age her family is having tech-related distance learning problems because they are presently staying in a temporary apartment, with little room and no printer.
It’s important for Government, Schools and Families to collaborate, to close the technology gap a little. For instance, The Age described solutions such as dedicated web portals and customised videos for students. Sometimes, families will find they don’t have enough devices for everyone in the household to get their work done simultaneously.
Resolving the issue
A home office well-stocked with affordable technology tools such as multi-function printers and scanners can help students keep handing in their work without missing a beat. Easy connectivity between these devices and computers or tablets is an important feature, because being slowed down by tough-to-use tech is not a good way for either children or parents to spend their days at home.
Succeeding in the home learning age
The current situation, with distance learning en masse and in-person courses for kids who cannot stay at home, is a compromise to deal with an unprecedented situation. You and your family can make it through this time, as there are ways to address all of the issues rising to the surface through the first few months of social distancing.
With the right attitude toward setting a schedule, support from the schools and access to effective technology, you can combine a work-from-home model with the new educational needs of your family. Until restrictions are relaxed, becoming familiar with distance learning is essential. Whether your family is currently working from home, learning from home or both, Brother has a range of award winning multi-function printers and scanners that can help you make work a little easier, visit our website to find out more.
This article has been republished from Brother Australia with minor changes.
