No longer WFH? Here are ways to keep your home and family safe while you’re at the office

Returning to the office after a long hiatus can be nerve-wracking. Today, that’s never felt more true as many of us are not only reacclimating ourselves to office life after a multi-year WFH routine but also learning how to remotely manage our homes and families during the 9-5 workday. 

According to Forbes, 59.1% of the workforce works in the office full-time, and another 28.2% are hybrid workers, spending some time in the office and other times at home. That’s nearly 90% of the workforce that has to say goodbye to their homes at some point each week, oftentimes leaving their homes unoccupied until they return after the workday! 

But returning to the office doesn’t mean you have to tolerate home protection uncertainty. In this blog post, we share simple tips to ensure your home and loved ones remain safe even when you’re away working hard at the office, job site, or wherever else you go to work. 

Lock up 

While it may seem obvious, locking your door each time you leave the home is one of the best ways to protect your home from unexpected intrusions. According to Apartment Therapy, 30% of all burglaries occur with the intruder entering through an unlocked door. That’s 750,000 homes each year!

If you regularly find yourself forgetting to lock up after you leave or have dogwalkers or teenagers who may be entering your home before you return from work, consider installing a Smart Lock. With a SimpliSafe Smart Lock, you can set your door to automatically lock on a timer and provide other household members or contractors with unique PINs so they can enter without the hassle of a key.  

Maintain WFH routines

Even the slightest changes to your home’s facade can signal to neighbors or passersby that your home is unoccupied – such as an empty garage or dark rooms that are typically lit when someone is home. 

If you’re returning to the office after working from home for an extended period of time, be sure to continue some of the same WFH routines you once followed during the workday to fend off intruders. Open the curtains, turn on the downstairs lights and keep your garage door closed –  you want your house to look awake and occupied in the same way it was when you called it your sole workspace. 

Automate your home security 

When rushing out the door to catch the train or get the kids to school drop off on time, we often forget to complete small, important tasks. While SimpliSafe can’t remind you to take your lunchbox out of the fridge or put your daughter’s show-and-tell project in her backpack, it can remind you to arm your security system. 

Customers with the Fast Protect Monitoring Plan are able to set arming reminders via the SimpliSafe app so they never forget to fortify their homes. With the simple tap of a button, customers can arm their homes remotely after being prompted by a reminder notification. 

Additionally, Fast Protect customers have the benefit of having their homes monitored 24/7 by professional monitoring agents so that in the event of an emergency – whether that be a fire alarm or entry sensor alert – they will be immediately notified via the SimpliSafe app and emergency resources dispatched when needed, thereby ensuring their homes are properly protected even when they’re away at the office. 

Remain connected 

For many of us, one of the most difficult changes of moving from a WFH routine to an in-office routine is no longer being surrounded by family members during the day. Luckily, today’s technology allows us the ability to check in virtually from anywhere. 

According to SimpliSafe’s “Under One Roof” trend report, 56% of people use their home security technology as a way to check in on their loved ones. 43% of parents list visibility into their family or pets as one of the main reasons for buying their home security system. With home security cameras such as the Smart Alarm Wireless Indoor Camera, homeowners can easily pull up their live video stream to ensure their beloved dog is happily occupying himself at home (and not getting into any mischief). 

No matter if you’re going into the office once a week or five times a week, following basic home safety precautions and installing a home security system are simple ways to lighten your mental load and ensure you’re returning to a safe and undisturbed home. Your future self will thank you.