14 May 2020

Top tips for creating a comfortable working from home environment

Working from home is commonplace now. Organisations have adapted and their employees have set up camp in dining rooms across the UK. Since lockdown began we’re having to find different ways of thinking and are learning to adjust to these unfamiliar office environments.

To help you and your employees develop some healthy ways of working from home we have put together some top tips.

Create comfortable working conditions

Before you start working, take some time to look at your surroundings. Where possible, avoid working in your bedroom. You want to be doing your best to keep your working and resting areas separate. Allocate an area of your home as your dedicated working space, and spend some time getting your set-up sorted, ensuring that you have everything in place for that comfortable work environment. Consider things like:

making sure you have everything you need – having stationery and paper around you
adjusting your equipment settings – ensure your screen brightness is set to a comfortable level for your eyes
monitoring your working conditions – adjust your room temperature to help prevent you from feeling too hot or too cold
sitting in a comfortable and supportive chair, which provides support for your lower back. Avoid the sofa as this can be bad for posture, and your options on visiting a physio in person are limited.

Understand your posture and seating arrangements

As you adjust to your new set-up it's important to pay close attention to your working position. While sitting at your desk, monitor your positioning during the day and make a conscious effort to correct any poor posture and sitting habits. Slouching isn't good, and you'll want to reduce the risk of developing pain or discomfort. Bad posture examples to look out for include:

sitting in a poorly adjusted chair
slouching in your chair
sitting rotated at your computer
leaning forward or hunching over your keyboard
looking down at your mobile phone
angling your head up, if your screen is too high
using your shoulder and your ear to support a phone, to free up your hands. If you and your employees frequently use phones for work, try using headsets instead. Using a wireless headset can also give you more ability to get up and move around during phone calls.

Keep an active lifestyle

If you're used to working in an office environment, you may find that while working from home, you're walking shorter distances and having fewer reasons to get up and move around. This is because you're attending conference calls instead of walking to meeting rooms and you're probably set up a lot closer to the kitchen and toilet.

Structuring your routine can help you stay active while working from home. Identify the opportunities where you can introduce exercise in your day. Get regular breaks from sitting at your workspace to stretch and move around, and look to build these into your working day. Some of our suggestions would be:

starting your day with an exercise routine before you begin working, such as doing some muscle-strengthening activities
getting up from your workspace every 30 minutes to stretch and move around. For example, taking a short walk each time you make a refreshment, or walking around during phone calls
venturing outside during your lunch break. Fresh air is great; you could go for a walk or do some gardening.

Helping you stay comfortable and well

We've got many more articles and resources to inspire you, and your teams on our dedicated coronavirus hub. You'll find support on topics like mindfulness, nutrition and exercise. We want you to be as healthy and happy throughout this challenging time as possible, because no-one should go without the healthcare support they need.

This article is provided by Simplyhealth.