Ergonomics Recommendations for Remote Work

This mouse is comfortable for a wide range of hand sizes, and it has six programmable buttons and long battery life. I’ve made a download to help you with your setup while you’re working from home. To download this sweet infographic that shows you exactly how to setup your workstation, click here. An employer has a few ways that they can help with their employees setups, and whatever they choose is dependent on their budget. Either working at home, from the road, or at the office shouldn’t matter and people should be able to work pain-free no matter where they choose to work.

Whether your job has a hybrid work model or you’re remote full-time, here’s what to know about setting up the best, most ergonomic home office. Take frequent breaks to change up your posture and stretch throughout the workday. If you use your phone often when working from home, use a headset or the speaker phone option to prevent neck strain.

An Essential Skill in Today’s Remote Workplace

Stand up to get anything that you can’t comfortably reach while sitting. Other ways to facilitate more movement include taking phone calls standing up, or walking around wherever possible. That includes setting boundaries to create some distinction between home and work.

1. Position yourself directly in front of the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
2. In a perfect world, experts say you’d re-create your usual office setup at home.
3. To keep your neck, shoulders, and back free from injury, your head should be vertical to your neck.
4. If you can, use an external monitor or laptop stand (with an external keyboard and mouse) to prop up your screen.
5. Position your external keyboard with the center of the space bar aligned with the center of your body and the center of your screen.

Fitting in Fast: Making a Safe Workplace for New Hires

If your desk has a hard edge that’s not rounded, pad the edge or use a wrist rest. This protects your wrists from a problem called contact stress that can happen as a result of extended contact with a hard edge. To help keep a healthy posture, an office chair with lumbar (low back) support is best. If you use a hard-backed chair, choose one that lets your knees stay level with your hips. Pad it with a seat cushion and place a rolled-up towel behind your lower back. If your chair has armrests, adjust them so your shoulders stay relaxed.

The best office chair

Note that if you have a home-based worksite, such as one that manufactures products, OSHA’s General Duty Clause does require your employer to provide a hazard-free workplace. This includes ergonomic dangers that increase workplace injuries, like bending, reaching overhead, and lifting. Before you started working from home, you probably had a dedicated space at an office. Sure, it was likely just a cubicle—if you were lucky—or a seat at a shared table, but at least you had a computer, desk, and all the other components needed to do your job. Take some time this weekend to create a more ergonomically-friendly work environment at home.

If you want to improve your posture, find an office chair with armrests. Laptops are amazing inventions but they don’t have the best features for ergonomic comfort. Alternating a standard and standing desk, along with breaks for walking and stretching, will give your neck and back the best chance at remaining strong and not over-stressed from prolonged sitting. If you don’t have that option, then switching between a chair and standing position throughout the day can really help.

The arms shouldn’t bend out to the side or across the midline of the body. To keep your work from home ergonomics neck, shoulders, and back free from injury, your head should be vertical to your neck. This position creates the least amount of strain, according to Hedge.

If you don’t have a good chair, add pillows for back/leg support.• Raise your chair (most kitchen tables and desks are too high). It is essential that the monitor is separated from the keyboard/mouse. The top of the monitor should be at or slightly below eye level, shoulders relaxed with the elbows around 90 degrees. While writing, especially for long periods, remember to take breaks and check your posture. Make sure your pens and pencils work well to minimize the amount of pressure you need to apply while writing.

Remote Work Solutions

1. Focus on making adjustments to these four areas to get a good setup.
2. If you already have a condition like arthritis or diabetes, you may be at higher odds of that happening.
3. To keep your legs and feet from getting sore, stand for no more than 30 minutes at first.
4. And of all the laptop stands we’ve tested, it’s also the easiest to adjust.
5. Align the top of the monitor screen with the user’s seated eye height (when the user has no glasses, wears computer glasses, or wears single prescription lenses).
6. However, 11 million people in the UK are suffering from back pain due to their homeworking setup, according to Bupa.
7. Extend your arm and hand forward to lay them flat on the table.

If you need a higher surface, use sturdy boards, bricks, or blocks to prop up your desk or table legs. Place your feet on a few books or boxes under your desk, so that your thighs are nearly parallel to the floor and your hips are slightly higher than your knees. Find a working height so that your elbows naturally fall flush with your table/desk height. This will promote better wrist alignment rather than impingement or carpal tunnel stress.

Here are the top things to consider if their organization has people who work from home (or would like to). It might be a slow learning curve at first, but you can eventually reduce your typing by two-thirds or more. Put in headphones and use your device’s assistant to get things done so that you can keep your head up and look straight ahead.