8 Rules for Working From Home

The eight rules that matter most when you work from home are fixed hours, scheduled breaks, real sick days, a dedicated workspace, a morning routine, boundaries with the people you live with, daily time outside, and asking your employer for the equipment you need.

Updated October 30, 2026.

You are in big company. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 56 million wage and salary workers, 37 percent, could work at home, based on 2024 and 2025 averages.

Working from home sounds nice, but it is a big change. Your surroundings shift a lot, whether you work from home full time, a few days a week, or just for now. These rules can make the switch a little easier and help you keep work and home life in balance.

I have worked from home long enough to know how the day goes wrong. Email gets opened before breakfast, lunch happens at the keyboard, and the laptop is still open at nine at night. None of these rules is complicated. They just need to be set before the habits set themselves.

Keep regular hours when working from home

Pick a start time and an end time, and treat both as real. At an office, the commute ends the day for you. At home nothing does, and a laptop on the couch is a standing invitation to keep going. Write the end time down, set an alarm for it, and close the lid.

A time-tracking app helps if you tend to drift. You might be surprised by the results, because the weekly total is hard to argue with. Anyone who has ever said “just one more email” knows it is never just one.

Schedule breaks and rest your eyes

The Department of Labor’s fact sheet on hours worked says rest periods of short duration, usually 20 minutes or less, must be counted as hours worked. It says genuine meal periods, typically 30 minutes or more, generally need not be paid, as long as you are completely relieved from duty. Those rules cover employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so check your employer’s own policy too. The practical point is the same either way: take the break you would take at the office. Most of us have had a work-from-home day where lunch turned into a bag of chips at the desk.

Your eyes need a break as well. The Mayo Clinic calls extended digital device use one of the most common causes of eyestrain and says the risk is greatest for people who look at screens two or more hours in a row every day. The American Academy of Ophthalmology advises looking at an object 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds every 20 minutes. It also notes that screen work can cut your blink rate roughly in half from about 15 blinks a minute.

Take sick days, even when working from home

A laptop makes it easy to work through an illness. Don’t. The CDC says that if you have respiratory virus symptoms, you should stay home and away from others. You can return to normal activities once your symptoms have been getting better overall and you have been fever-free, without fever-reducing medicine, for at least 24 hours.

Sick time is part of your pay package wherever your desk happens to be. Log off and let the day count as a sick day.

Set up a dedicated workspace

It is tempting to work from the couch, but anyone who has tried knows a couch is built for naps, not spreadsheets. A table or a corner you use only for work does more than an expensive desk. When you sit there, you are working. When you leave, you are done. If you can, add a separate computer profile or a separate laptop for work so the line holds on screen too.

Computer workstation guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) gives targets worth checking against your setup: the top of the monitor at or slightly below eye level, elbows close to the body and bent between 90 and 120 degrees, wrists and hands in line with the forearms, lower back supported, and feet flat on the floor or on a footrest. OSHA also says sitting still for long periods is not healthy, so change position often. A laptop on a coffee table puts the screen well below eye level.

Build a morning routine

Put something between waking up and opening the laptop. It is tempting to grab a cup of coffee and go straight to the computer, so try to resist. A walk with the dog, breakfast, a workout, a shower and real clothes, or even a cheesy TV show all work. The specific thing matters less than having a start that is not email.

Keep whatever you did before the commute disappeared. That routine was doing work you never noticed, and dropping it all at once is how people end up worn down by the second month.

Set boundaries with the people you live with

If you share a home with roommates or a partner, set ground rules in the first week. Tell them your hours, which doors stay closed, when your meetings happen, and which shared spaces and equipment are off limits. A short talk now is easier than an argument after the third interrupted call. Anyone who has shared a home knows a closed door means very little to a hungry roommate or a curious cat.

Get out of the house every day

Working from home takes away the small bits of walking you got without trying: the parking lot, the stairs, the trip to a meeting room. The CDC says physical activity can reduce your risk of depression and anxiety and helps you sleep better. It also says adults who sit less and do any amount of moderate to vigorous activity gain some health benefits.

The CDC’s target is 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, and it says that total can be broken up, for example 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Two short walks around your lunch break is a start. If you cannot get out, the backyard or the patio counts. Do it on office days too.

Ask for the equipment you need

Your home office may not match the one at work. A monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, printer, software license or proper chair are reasonable requests when your job allows remote work. Ask for specific items and say why. If posture is the problem, point to the OSHA targets above.

It can feel awkward to ask for pricey items. Some employers offer a stipend and some offer nothing, but asking costs you nothing. Stay reasonable, especially if you also spend part of the week back in the office.

Working from home is both a blessing and a difficult task. Go easy on yourself during the transition, be honest about what would make things better, and keep the small pleasures: the brownies you want to bake, the 20-minute yoga session. We are only human.

Rules for working from home: common questions

What is the most important rule for working from home?

Fixed start and end times. Every other rule gets easier once the day has edges. Without them, breaks shrink, sick days disappear and work spreads into the evening. Write down both times, tell the people you live with, and stop when the clock says stop. The rest of the list helps you hold that line.

Do employers have to pay for short breaks at home?

Under the Department of Labor’s fact sheet on hours worked, short rest periods, usually 20 minutes or less, must be counted as hours worked. Genuine meal periods of 30 minutes or more generally need not be. That covers employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. State law and your employer’s policy can add more, so check both.

How often should I rest my eyes when working on a screen?

The American Academy of Ophthalmology suggests looking at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds every 20 minutes. The Mayo Clinic says the eyestrain risk is greatest if you look at screens two or more hours in a row every day. If discomfort continues, see an eye specialist.

When can I go back to work after being sick?

The CDC says you can return to normal activities once your symptoms have been getting better overall and you have been fever-free, without fever-reducing medicine, for at least 24 hours. For the next five days it advises added precautions such as good hygiene or a mask. Follow your clinician’s advice if you have a health condition.

This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. Talk to a licensed clinician about your own situation.