The Perfect Home Office
The Perfect Home Office
Fully-equipped home offices are no longer an anomaly. A 2006 Reason Foundation study estimates that about 4.5 million Americans are daily telecommuters, and around 20 million people work from home at least once per month. In addition, demanding careers often mean that many professionals bring work home after a long day in the office—which makes a dedicated, well-equipped space for work projects essential for every home-based professional. As demand has exploded, many homebuilders routinely include an office option in their floor plans, but nearly every home has a space that can be converted into a quiet work area where you can have a desk, a computer, and other office equipment that will enable you to get your work done.
One of the greatest challenges of the home office is finding a setup that integrates with normal household routines while still maintaining a professional space. People who work from home learn early on that if they are to be productive, they must be wary of the potential for distraction. It’s easy to be distracted by a ringing doorbell or a crisis over spilled milk, so it’s best to set up an office in a space where interruptions by family members can be minimized by simply shutting the door. Spare bedrooms are the most common home office spaces but even a corner of the dining room that is unoccupied during the day is a good place to set up shop.
So now that you’ve set aside some square footage, have a seat and think about the most hazardous piece of equipment in your office.
Chances are that you’re sitting in it.
The most common offender in home office ergonomics is the humble desk chair—and most people don’t even recognize it as the source of their back pain and stiff shoulders. But because the typical home office worker spends so much time in front of a computer, a supportive, well-designed chair will reduce the potential for injury by eliminating stress on the spine. Aside from a reliable computer, a good chair with excellent lumbar support will be the single best investment that you make in creating your home office.
“Companies invest time and money in developing an ergonomically correct chair,” says Shawna McCune of Floyd’s Office Solutions. The range of chair options on the showroom floor at Floyd’s is astonishing—but fortunately, testing office chairs is as easy as sitting down.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control, the best desk chair for your body will be positioned so that the elbows are bent at a 90-degree angle and the arms are level with the work surface. Nate Stormzand of Steelcase, a major chair manufacturer, recommends investing in a chair with adjustable armrests and tilting mechanisms that will allow you to position your body properly. Your feet should be placed solidly on the floor. According to Stormzand, the ideal chair has a seat pan with a “waterfall edge” that tilts with your body movement, so that your legs and knees aren’t pushed against the seat. Footrests can help people with shorter legs, and removable lumbar support rolls can help align the spine properly.
Realistically, no one sits perfectly aligned in an office chair all of the time. When the action in the office gets intense, you are naturally drawn forward as you become more involved in the project at hand, and it’s common to hunch forward or slouch sideways and shift around as you try to find a more comfortable position. But over time, poor sitting posture can cause long-term spinal damage and serious back, shoulder, and neck pain. Additionally, gravity will eventually pool blood in the lower half of the body, creating sluggish pumping action to the heart. The best solution? Get up and move around! Experts agree that frequent stretching and mild exercise during the day help to release tension and increase concentration. Since you’ve got the comforts of home all around you, it’s even easier to grab a few minutes away from your desk.
Spending long hours in front of a computer can cause eyestrain, so the best position for your computer monitor is to align the top so that it is slightly lower than your eyes, placing your neck in a neutral position. Ambient task lighting helps to reduce glare and keep you from squinting, especially if the monitor brightness is turned down. Experts agree that looking away from the screen several times an hour will help to alleviate headaches and make it easier to stay focused.
Finally, home office workers often find that repetitive stress injuries to the wrists and hands are caused by poor keyboard placement. A work surface that is too high forces the arm to twist up, and a keyboard set too low can compress the nerves in the hand and wrist. Typically, the best keyboard position is just below your normal desk surface. Mouse users can combat carpal tunnel by using a padded wrist rest that helps keep the wrist flat and reduce arm fatigue, and some people even use an articulating keyboard tray on a sliding track that lets you adjust the keyboard tray to fit your task. Test a variety of different desk setups and remember—the more comfortable you are, the more work you’ll be able to accomplish! And if you’re not sure where to begin, Floyd’s offers complete in-store and at-home consulting to help people with their home office needs.
Those of us fortunate enough to have a home office enjoy a level of flexibility and comfort that isn’t possible in a more traditional office environment. Instead of spending 20 minutes battling the traffic on Truxtun, we can catch a few minutes of extra sleep or linger over a morning cup of coffee. And don’t get us started on the pleasures of comfy sweatpants and t-shirts as standard office attire. We know we have the best of all worlds—and with a little attention to detail, everyone can create a comfortable, safe home-based workspace that will make a productive workday even more rewarding.