Occurring during the second full week in January, Home Office Safety and Security Week is designed to help remind home workers of the importance of maintaining a secure working environment. With the most recent statistics showing that almost half of all Americans work from home (at least part of the time, if not full-time), it’s more important now than ever for home workers to ensure that their working space is safe and secure.

This includes making sure electronic files are secure, that computers and other vital office equipment are insured, and that smoke detectors are properly installed in the home.

The History of Home Office Safety and Security Week

Although we researched this holiday week extensively, we were unable to uncover its roots. However, we do believe that it began sometime during the turn of the 21st century, probably at the beginning of the 2010s, when working from home started to become more popular. We’ll continue to search for the origins of this holiday, and when we find it, we’ll update this section.

Observing Home Office Safety and Security Week

Because we have some experience and knowledge about creating a secure home office, we would like to offer some advice about celebrating this week. We’ve listed some tips below that should help most home office workers keep their workstations safe and secure. People can also use the hashtag #HomeOfficeSafetyAndSecurityWeek on social media to spread the word about this holiday.

Home Office Safety and Security Tips

Below are some tips for keeping your home office safe and secure.

• Use Multi-Factor Authentication for work communications.
• Make sure passwords are secure and use a Password Manager.
• Invest in quality antivirus and malware programs.
• Don’t allow family members to use work devices.
• Restart your computer at least once per day.
• Make sure the computer and router are updated with the latest security patches.
• Follow company policies.
• Use a VPN.