By now, throughout Asia, all but our fantastic key workers, will be finding it challenging to work from home while looking after the children, walking pets, keeping food cupboards full and accepting that this situation we find ourselves in is going to be the norm for a while.
As we are specialists in ergonomic working, we thought it would be useful to share some important tips you can introduce to look after your wellbeing when work and life are both at home.
- Work out a daily routine that is achievable for the whole household and try to stick to it as much as possible!
- Always get dressed as if you were going to work. You wouldn’t turn up to work with your PJs on!
- If you have children at home with you, make sure they have their own routine and activities to occupy them, this will give you a good chunk of time where you can work uninterrupted.
- Your work area should be a dedicated space that ideally you can setup with everything you need in easy reach.
- If possible, this space should only be occupied by you and hopefully you needn’t pack up your office at the end of each day.
- When it’s time to have a break and at the end of your working day, walk away from your office space.
- One of the items that will help you stay focused and work productively, is a chair that supports the curve of your spine so that you are sitting in a straight, upright position. Shoulders should be relaxed, with a right-angle bend at your knees and your feet flat on the
floor. - When sitting at your makeshift desk, try and aim for the work surface to be at the same height as your elbow (books are good lifting props!).
- Now that you are sitting comfortably and your worksurface is the correct height, you need to adjust your screen so that it is approximately 500 to 700mm distance away from you. The top edge of the monitor should be in-line with your eye height. This could be tricky
with a laptop, but you can always use your TV as a monitor. - Avoid working with your monitor against backlit areas or windows, this will eliminate eye strain.
- If you normally work at a sit-stand desk, we offer an affordable desk riser that can be mounted on any table and gives you the best of both worlds.
- Break times should be spent not looking at work, there are exercise lessons on YouTube that are great fun (and the kids love a bit of PE in their day)! And do have a proper lunch break where you eat and drink something.
- If you have children at home, you may need to adjust your normal working pattern to accommodate the extra support you need to give them.
- Don’t do household chores throughout your working hours. Schedule a specific time for these.
- Tell the other people in your household when you are going to join a video call. This will reduce the likelihood of any disruption while you’re busy concentrating on the call.
- Socialise after work, even if it’s just texting or facetiming relatives and friends. Elderly relatives always enjoy receiving letters and cards. Start writing!
- Go outside! Take a short walk and get some fresh air. There is also plenty of gardening
to be done at this time of year. You’ll return to your desk feeling refreshed and invigorated. - When you’re not working there is always plenty to do. Baking, painting, board games, watching TV, science experiments, reading a book together… and of course all those chores that you never get around to doing!
- Most importantly, listen and adhere to the government guidelines, stay positive, keep talking!
If you would like any further advice or information about your home office or our ergonomic office furniture our customer service and sales teams are still in full operation. And, if you found this blog helpful, please feel free to share it with your social networks!
