Tag home office ergonomics

In the current situation of the Covid-19, the world accepted and embraced the new working culture that is ; Work From Home. So as to maintain the social distancing and minimize the spread of the virus.

With the introduction of work from home culture came the ergonomics requirement of home offices to deliver more productivity without hampering one’s health.

This article talks about the required ergonomics for a comfortable home office.

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Let’s get started on the inexpensive, yet impactful design tips for a comfortable home office

Notwithstanding where you work from – whether in the fields or on desks or behind wheels – never underestimate the importance of ergonomics. By adopting the right ergonomic approach, you can reduce physical strain on your body. Conversely, if you fail to do so, then you’re sure to complain about muscle pain, pinched neck, and aching wrists, after 8 hours of work of leaning on your laptop from upon your couch or bed.

Now, if you’re working from a desk or table or workstation, simply follow the below-listed tips for creating a healthy, ergonomic workstation. For the same, you need certain tools and furniture that you already may have. Else, you can make some additions to your existing home office design.

1.  Choose your location wisely

The location of your home office set up is an important consideration. That said, you must choose a place where you do not slump on your couch or lean over uncomfortably. More so, do not sit facing a window directly because the glare can disturb you. Consider sitting perpendicular to your window or closing the blinds to reduce exposure to the sun’s blaze.

Additionally, assign a particular place to work from – preferably, a room with a door. Then, you can maintain a work-life balance while leaving your workplace when your work for the day finishes.

A vital step when choosing the right work from home location is to adjust the appropriate surface height to sit when you’re at work. Make sure your elbows are at a 90-degree angle while relaxing your shoulders. An ideal solution is to work from a desk that conforms to your height.

2.  Pay attention to legroom

Office hours are generally set from somewhere between 8-10 hours. And for these many hours it becomes essential to ensure ample leg space at your workstation.

The amount of legroom you have underneath your desk is normally determined by its depth. If possible, go with at least a depth of 600 millimeters in workstations. Along with this, it is also imperative to declutter your desk from underneath too, so as to utilize the complete depth.

More so, do not have your desk too close to the wall, because your feet can continue to hit the wall otherwise.

Though, you can also avail desks having pull-out extensions, by way of which you can create depth for making your home office comfortable with extra leg space.

3.  Height up your desk

As a good ergonomics practice, it was initially advised to have your desk at a height of 680 to 720mms above the floor. But with changing time and people growing taller on average, this measurement was increased to a roughly average of 730mms desk height from the floor.

Although this should not be considered a benchmark of measurement. You can always feel free to increase or decrease the height of your desk with respect to the height of the person using it or as per the demand of the work done on the desk. This is where adjustable furniture kicks in for a comfortable ergonomic in offices.

All in all when you work on your desk just see that your elbows rest at desk height with your feet flat on the floor, and your knees bent at a 90-degree angle and your back straight.

4.  Get the right chair

As part of your work-from-home endeavors and for getting the home office ergonomic code right, use chairs that allow adjusting the height. Of course, you can place a cushion atop your chair as well. However, you will be more comfortable with office chairs that allow adjusting of the backrest, tilt, and height.

There’s a smart trick to check if your work chair’s height is right for you or not. Just stand next to your chair and see where your legs come with respect to the seat of the chair. Ideally, your knees should touch the seat of the chair. Again, this may also vary as per the height of a person.

Preferably your spine should be straight or resting at roughly a 100- to 110-degree angle against the back of your chair.

5.  Eye to screen height

You must adjust the monitor or laptop screen such that your line of sight comes under the top third of your screen. Here’s a quick tip to elevate the screen; you can place books below to uplift the screen.

You can also use an external keyboard and mouse for greater flexibility and additional space to spread your shoulders.

Now, if you’re using a laptop, you can use external equipment for elevating the screen. Only place the external keyboard below your laptop or desktop screen. Also, do not sit away from mouse and keyboard or you could hurt your muscles. Instead, you should have your elbows close to your body center to be comfortable.

6.  Consider standing desks

If you’re planning to work from home, then why not avail interior designing for home services? As they are professionals and work closely with leading trends not only w.r.t. aesthetics but also for health benefits.

One such health benefit is to incorporate standing desks for improved health and productivity. Having said that it is important to understand that too much of everything is detrimental. That means you will have to switch between your positions (standing and sitting) so as to balance the stress. For this you can assign a desk/table with adjustable height feature that can be extended up to 1200mm above the floor.

Along with this also see that when you stand up to work, your desk should be at elbow height and your monitor should be at eye level for a balanced posture.

7.  Light up your work space

One of the best home office ideas is to ensure your workplace is adequately lit. To get the home office lighting right, position your screen such that it refrains from any direct sunlight flashing from behind you onto your screen to minimize reflection and glare.

Similarly, ensure that your work screen is not placed in front of a window that gets direct sunlight as it will throw a shadow on your work, thereby making it uncomfortable to work.

But, if your medium to work is pen, paper or any flat surface (basically anything other than a screen) then this type of positioning with direct sunlight can be perfect to light up your workstation.

8.  Substitute cupboards with drawers

When designing your home office from scratch, try utilizing drawers instead of cupboards.

Any prominent property management company in Delhi NCR will vouch that many of their NRI clients receive requests from their tenants for replacing cupboards with drawers in these times of work from home dynamics.

This is because they can find tools easily in drawers as compared to rummaging through dark and dusty cupboards. With drawers you can easily segregate the smaller but important objects in different drawers and you will not have to go through the back of the cupboards to find these smaller items. In fact, you can also mark the drawers and place your important files as per the markings.

Drawers are your best pick for smaller home office items. Of course, for the bigger objects cupboards still hold value.

9.  Have the power points within your reach

While working you plug and unplug your laptops and phones frequently, right? So, you may want to install the power points where you can reach them with ease.

More precisely if possible, place the board with the power points within your arm’s reach to save your spine and shoulders from unnecessary stress.

10.  Take breaks often

Never sit in your chair all day long, even if you have an ideal office set up. Keep changing your position every 30 minutes or so and also give a soft blink to your eyes every 20 seconds to keep them from straining.

Make way to design your ergonomic office today!

So, we have listed the important aspects for you to ponder upon when building your ergonomic home office. Even so, for building a perfect home office from scratch, only call upon the experts for they are well-versed with the nitty-gritties of ergonomics to keep you comforted all through the day while you tend to your work. But if you already have one consider incorporating these tips for a comfortable work from home environment.

LuXia can help you!

LuXia is a full-service property management company in India with interior designing as one of the forte. We can help you design your home office ergonomically without any hassles. Get in touch with our interior designers to walk you through the process.

contact@theluxia.com |   +91 9810505543

Good luck!