Gifts for People Who Work From Home

The upgrade a home worker rarely buys for themselves, and the one they notice every evening. It clamps onto the top of the monitor, curved screens included, and lights the desk without bouncing glare off the display. The Halo 2 also glows softly behind the monitor, which takes the edge off a bright screen in a dark room, and its motion sensor can switch it off after five minutes away from the desk. A rechargeable wireless dial sets brightness and warmth anywhere from 2700K to 6500K. It takes up no desk space at all, which matters in a spare-room office. Check first that the recipient works on an external monitor: it does nothing for someone who only uses a laptop screen.

For the colleague whose coffee goes cold during the first meeting of the day. The Mug 3 holds a drink at a chosen temperature and recharges on its included coaster, so it can stay on the desk from morning to evening. A sipping lid comes in the box and stretches the battery further, and this generation is dishwasher safe, which removes the main chore of owning an Ember. The 14 oz mug lists at $149.99, steep for a mug, so it works best as a gift for a partner or close friend, or as a team collection for a colleague.

The home office is often the coldest room in the house, and heating the whole house for one person at a desk is wasteful. A heated throw over the lap warms the person instead of the room, and it moves to the sofa once the laptop closes. Bedsure's flannel throw has six heat levels, a timer and a preheat setting, and it switches itself off automatically, which suits anyone likely to doze off under it after work. At 50 by 60 inches it covers the lap without trailing under the wheels of a desk chair, and the whole thing goes in the washing machine.

glerups wool boot with natural rubber sole Socks on a hard floor are cold by mid-morning, and proper slippers are the gift a home worker wears every single day. These are made of 100% natural wool, and the natural rubber sole means a dash to the mailbox does no harm; the sole wipes clean with a wet cloth. The ankle-high boot covers more than the slip-on version, a real advantage in a drafty room. Wool also has a natural ability to clean itself, so airing them out keeps them fresh. At around C$140 they cost more than ordinary slippers, but they replace the habit of working in two pairs of socks.

Everlasting Comfort Office Foot Rest A small, inexpensive gift that changes how a long afternoon at the desk feels, especially for anyone whose feet do not sit flat on the floor from a kitchen chair or a too-high desk. This one is 100% memory foam with a non-slip base, and it flips over to become a rocker for restless feet. The cover unzips and goes in the washing machine. It lives under the desk, so it adds nothing to the clutter on top, and it is an easy pick for a colleague whose setup the giver has never seen.

A ZZ plant The desk plant for someone who forgets to water anything. ZZ plants cope with low light and grow well under ordinary fluorescent office lighting, and they need water only every couple of weeks, once the soil has dried several inches down. The usual way to kill one is overwatering, which makes it a forgiving first plant and a cheap way to bring something living into a room of screens. Its upright stems take little space on a desk corner. One warning matters for the gift: the plant contains calcium oxalate crystals that are toxic to cats, dogs and people, so choose something else for a home with a pet that chews leaves.

A good notebook is a small luxury that gets used every day, for to-do lists, call notes and the thoughts that do not belong in a chat window. This A5 hardcover has 251 numbered pages and a blank table of contents, so a note from three months ago can actually be found again. Two ribbon page markers, a pocket inside the back cover and eight perforated sheets for tearing out handle the practical details. It is sold ruled, dotted, squared or plain in a long run of cover colors; ruled or dotted is the safe choice when the recipient's habits are unknown. At around the price of a lunch out, it is the easiest gift here to send to a whole team.

The gift that makes a kitchen table or a secondhand desk feel like a proper workspace. Grovemade cuts this pad from 3mm-thick virgin merino wool felt, which gives the wrists and the mouse a soft, warm surface instead of cold laminate or wood, and it lies flat, so it adds nothing to the clutter on the desk. It comes in several sizes, from a small pad that fits under a keyboard and mouse to one that covers most of the desk, so measure or ask about the desk before choosing; the small size is the safe pick for a compact setup or a giver who has never seen it.

For the friend who spends half the day on video calls lit by a window behind them. This small light hangs on the top of the monitor, runs on USB-C power and uses Logitech's TrueSoft diffusion to give soft, even light on the face instead of the harsh glare of a desk lamp turned toward the camera. An on/off switch and controls for brightness and color temperature sit on the back, and Logitech's free G HUB app does the same from the desktop. A standard quarter-inch thread lets it sit on a camera tripod if the top of the monitor gets crowded. It earns its place for anyone whose job involves being seen on camera; for someone mostly on audio calls, a desk light is the better buy.

A home office is rarely quiet: a dishwasher, a barking dog or a partner on another call. Noise-cancelling headphones close that out, and the Space 2 does it without the price of the flagship models, at a $129.99 list price. At about 261 grams they are light enough to wear through a full workday, and multipoint keeps them connected to a laptop and a phone at once. In independent testing they ran for more than 53 hours with noise cancelling on, which means charging them about once a week. The microphone sounds clear and natural in a quiet room, so they work for calls as well as music.

Working from home puts the coffee machine a few steps away, and water is easy to forget. A good bottle within reach on the desk fixes that. The FreeSip lid lets the drinker sip through a built-in straw with the bottle upright or tip it back to swig from the wider opening, and the spout cover pops open with one push and locks shut with another, so a knocked-over bottle stays sealed. It comes in 24, 32 and 40 oz sizes and a huge range of colors, which makes it easy to match to the person. The lid is top-rack dishwasher safe, but the bottle itself is best washed by hand, and it is meant for cold drinks only, not hot or carbonated ones.