My 5 At-Work Office Essentials

Here are a five essentials I always have on hand at my work space no matter the studio/gig.

Are you making your way back to the office after months of WFH? Take a minute to round up these essentials before you get back to it. Having worked in the animation industry for over six years and being in Production specifically, my desk at work tends to be, well, chaos. There is a method to the madness though - overtime, long days, and back to back meetings means I have learned to adapt my work space so I'm prepared for whatever might come my way. 

 Mousepad

 The vast majority of studios I have worked at do not provide mousepads, you gotta bring your own. In Production, we move fast and don't have time to be slamming our mouse around on our desk as we fumble to find what we need.

 Personally, I take the opportunity to customize and get one printed at London Drugs (they offer regular mouse pads as well as mouse surfaces, and no this is not a paid ad) with nice pictures. Kitschy? Absolutely. Honestly though, when the going gets tough at work, it has been a comfort to me to look down at my desk and see a pic of my niece and nephew there on my mousepad. 

Portable Charger

 This!! Hunting for a plug in the office when we all have so many things plugged in can be a pain, and next thing you know you are under your desk, covered in dust, trying to charge your phone OR you are forgetting it in a room where you finally found an empty outlet. 
Some studios also lock the USB ports on computers for security, so you go to plug in your phone to charge and BOOM your whole system is locked out--total pain.

 In Production especially, you are more likely to be on your phone for work email, whatever instant messaging app your studio uses, taking notes, etc. Psst- if you are unsure, make sure you check with your amazing IT team for what work communications are appropriate to install on your phone.

 Just get a portable charger. That way everything can be on your desk, handy, and you can walk into dailies with your phone still charging.

 Extra Socks + Shirt


 Please don't make me explain this, just take my advice. By shirt I just mean like, a t-shirt, not a full-on blouse/dress shirt (this isn't Mad Men).

 Sewing Kit

 I can't bear to explain this one either, suffice to say you can get small, cheap sewing kits at any dollar store. You, along with some of your coworkers will no doubt thank me for this tip at some point down the line.

One last word about your work preparedness - do your HR team a favour and fill out your emergency contact info. You never know, and I generally operate from a 'better safe than sorry' viewpoint.

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