Sleek Standing Desks, Ergonomic Chairs, and More

The best work-from-home gifts can upgrade their setup, give them a small taste of travel since there is no flight to somewhere warm on the horizon anytime soon. These work-from-home gift ideas are the tested favorites that are in our offices. Some are new 2020 additions, while others are longtime favorites.

Whether they have a dedicated space already, or you are trying to help upgrade their setup, these are the best gifts you can give to your remote workers. Here are the work-from-home gift ideas that we would be putting on our list this in 2020 if we didn’t already have them.

Vari Electric Standing Desk—$550 and Up

The Vari Electric Standing Desk is the ultimate work-from-home upgrade. Available in 48 -inch and 60-inch sizes, the desk fits in even smaller office spaces easily, and with multiple finish options, it also matches the decor of many shared spaces.

We love how easy it is to set up, the wide range of Vari accessories that allow them to customize the desk’s look and functionality, and how good the whole setup looks. The desk raises and lowers with the push of a button, and it stores four presets, so it’s easy to share with someone else in the house.

We’ve been using standing desks for almost a decade, and this is the best combination of price, style and usability that we’ve found. Read our full Vari Electric Standing Desk review for more information.

Buy now at Vari, Amazon and Office Depot.

Dell UltraSharp 34-inch Curved USB-C Monitor—$769.99

The Dell UltraSharp 34-inch Curved USB-C Monitor is an excellent work-from-home gift idea that they will appreciate every time they sit down to work. We love that this takes the place of two monitors so that we aren’t staring at the edges where monitors meet. The resolution is perfect for working in multiple windows at the same time and that the monitor is color calibrated to 99 percent sRGB so that it is great for working on photos or videos.

With a single USB-C cable, the monitor charges a laptop and connects it to the monitor and all their accessories, simplifying the setup and keeping the work area tidy. A special ComfortView mode helps remove blue light, and there is an excellent window managing feature for Windows users that allows them to make better use of the large screen. Read our full Dell U3419W review for more about why this is a great monitor.

Buy now at Amazon, Best Buy, Dell and B&H Photo.

Ember Mug²—$129.95

The Ember Mug² is a smart mug that keeps coffee or tea at the perfect temperature. It’s one of our favorite products, and honestly, the best thing to happen to coffee in our home office in 2020. This mug keeps coffee or tea at the specific temperature of their choosing. There are presets, and it can even help with tea brewing.

Available in 10-ounce and 14-ounce sizes and a variety of colors and special editions, this cup is perfect for working from home. The keep-warm feature is excellent for long video calls and Zoom meetings. The battery on the 10-ounce model lasts for 90 minutes, and the battery on the 14 ounce is 80 minutes. The mug lasts all day if you place the charging base on your desk, but it lasts the bulk of our morning coffee time without charging. It is hand-wash only and fully submersible.

Buy now at Ember, Target, Bloomingdale’s, Best Buy and Apple.

Jabra Work-From-Home Headphones—$239 and Up

The Jabra Evolve2 is our favorite work-from-home headset. It is wireless, lightweight and uses active noise cancelation to help drown out background noise at home. This is essential for concentration and focus, especially when sharing a workspace. You’re giving the gift of quiet, which is essentially priceless. The flip-down microphone is perfect for phone calls and Zoom calls.

The Evolve2 65 is a lighter design with a great desktop cradle for storing and charging the headphones. Passive noise canceling is good, the microphone sounds great, and there is even a status light that turns red, so people at home know they are on a call.

Both headsets work with Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Skype, thanks to Unified Communications certification.

Buy now at Amazon and Jabra.

OWC Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock—$299

The OWC Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock is an excellent dock that users can plug all their accessories into and then connect to a laptop with just one cord. This model can connect multiple monitors, a webcam, storage devices and accessories, as well as a wired Ethernet connection. On the front are memory card slots and another USB port that is handy for plugging in a phone.

We love the ease of setup and how well this performs with our MacBook Pro and a Dell XPS 13 loaner. The only port we miss is a 3.5mm headphone jack to connect external speakers. If they don’t need these connection options, the OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock for $279.

Buy now at Amazon, OWC and B&H Photo.

Herman Miller Aeron Chair—$1,069

The Herman Miller Aeron Chair is a pricey gift, but it is the best office chair we’ve used. It’s ergonomic, comfortable for long periods of time and very adjustable. We pair this with a standing desk and get the best of both worlds.

We love the overall comfort and ability to fine-tune the armrests’ position, adjust the front edge and the build quality. Our chair looks and works like new despite multiple moves, and it comes with a 12-year warranty.

Buy now at Amazon and Herman Miller.

Designing Your Work Life—$20.99

Designing Your Work Life is the best gift to give someone who needs a change at work. We love that this book walks you through designing a better job and shows you how you can do this potentially without leaving your current job.

The authors use design principles and a workbook-style approach to help guide the reader through identifying things that need to change, making changes, seeing if those changes delivered the desired results. This is one of our favorite reads of the year, and the results are astounding.

Buy now at Amazon, Walmart and IndieBound.

Waterfield Designs Work-From-Home Bag—$179

Why do you need a work-from-home bag? Simple, to keep the dining room table or shared space clean and tidy and help create a separation of work and personal time. If they don’t have a dedicated workspace and are still sharing the table or living room, a bag like the Waterfield Designs Tech Folio 16-inch is the best gift idea.

It includes room for up to a 16-inch MacBook Pro, all its accessories, including a mouse, and keeps everything tidily in space. They also offer a Tech Folio for 11-inch tablets and the Tech Folio Plus for most 13-inch laptops and tablets. This is something that we loved using during a temporary office period in 2020, and it can easily transition to the office when that is back in the cards.

Buy now at SFBags.

Plants—$14.99 and Up

Plants bring life to an otherwise drab space. While you can pick these up locally, transportation and store hours are still a challenge. We love the selection that Amazon and Sill offer for plants, and if you want a gift idea to ship, this is much easier than buying one on your own and shipping it.

Amazon is a great place to look for succulents, air plants and indoor cactus options. Just be cautious as you shop to buy real plants as many of their listings are for artificial plants.

Sill offers a wide range of beautiful indoor plants that you can send as a work-from-home gift to your office BFF.

Buy now at Amazon and Sill.

Nomad Charger—$99.95 and Up

We love the Nomad Chargers at our desk, and we’ve been switching between the Base Station and the Base Station Stand. We love this as a work-from-home gift idea that will keep their devices charged up all day while keeping the desk looking clean.

The Nomad Base Station Stand is a stand-up charger that can wirelessly charge phones and AirPods for $99.95. The Nomad Base Station Apple Watch Mount Edition can wirelessly charge AirPods, a smartphone, and there is a small mount to snap an Apple Watch charger in so that it can charge everything up. We love this model specifically for the ability to charge the Apple Watch up after using it to track our sleep.

Buy now at Amazon and Nomad.

Bali Box—$99.95

The Bali Box is a curated collection of products from Bali that supports local artisans and is a great gift idea for friends who are stuck working from home instead of traveling.

While it doesn’t fulfill the full wanderlust of travel, this box is packed with beautiful objects from Bali, including a hand-carved coconut lantern, honeycomb bracelet, woven offering box, a themed print, backpack and more.

We love the breadth of items as well as the book that explained the objects and their significance to Bali.

Buy now at Bali Box.

Logitech K780 Keyboard—$59.99

The Logitech K780 is an excellent keyboard upgrade gift idea for anyone working from home. It can connect to up to three devices, which is perfect for connecting to a work PC, a personal tablet and a phone to seamlessly reply and use each device.

Typing on this keyboard feels good, and it’s pretty quiet, which is great for other people at home and on video calls. It works with PC, Mac, ChromeOS, Android and iOS.

Buy now at Amazon, Logitech and Best Buy.

Logitech MX Master 3—$99.99

Give the gift of a better mouse with the Logitech MX Master 3. This is an ergonomic mouse with tons of buttons, ultra-fast scrolling and the ability to work between up to three computers. The included software lets the user configure the scroll behavior and extra buttons for individual apps for improved productivity.

We are huge fans of the design and the ability to get a Mac-specific version. The mouse works on any surface, even glass, and it is very precise in tracking movement.

Buy now at Amazon, Logitech and Best Buy.

Rain Design iLevel2 Adjustable Height Laptop Stand—$51.99

The Rain Design iLevel2 Adjustable Height Laptop Stand is the best gift idea for someone working from home without a monitor. This raises the monitor to the perfect height, and the aluminum style looks great. It’s a great option for someone working at a desk, but it is easy enough to move to a table during the workday and then put away at the end of the day.

It is easy to raise a laptop screen to the right height for longer use with a tilting design. This is designed to raise the laptop up and then use an external keyboard and mouse. It’s not a great option for raising the laptop up and still typing on it.

Buy now at Amazon.

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