Just because you spend most of your time at work doesn’t mean your workspace has to be stressful. Many employees spend up to 60% of their day at work, so it’s important that your workspace is comfortable and encourages you to stay there for as long as possible. The last thing you want is to spend all your time at work, which is why you should focus on making your workspace as pleasant as possible. In this blogpost, you’ll learn more about the benefits of working from home, as well as some of the best ergonomic upgrades you can make to your WFH space.
WFH can be isolating, boring, and even lonely. It can also be an invisible, unavoidable part of the work-life balance. Unless you have a coworker, most of the time you’re working from home and don’t have anyone to talk to about your day and how draining it can be at times. We’re all going through the same thing, right?
But it doesn’t have to be that way. WFH doesn’t have to be isolating or boring. And it doesn’t have to be lonely. The good news is, there are some easy ways you can make your WFH space more ergonomic. Upgrading your desk space, chairs, and lighting are all simple ways you can make your WFH space both more comfortable and more productive. Here are 5 upgrades you can make to make WFH more comfortable and productive.
6 Ergonomic Upgrades for Your WFH Space
People who work from home can feel like they’re trapped in their pajamas all day. Sure, it’s nice to have your own apartment and not have to interact with other people, but between long bouts of Netflix, catnapping, and always having the perfect outfit available, you’re not going to meet anyone’s standards of “getting out and about” anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend your days completely locked away. The key is to find the right balance—a balance where you can get the work done that you need, but not so much that you’re miserable.
When you work from home, you might as well be living at home as well. The things you can do from the privacy of your own home are pretty limited. What you need is a place where you can get your work done and still have social interactions with other people. The question is, how can you get the work done while maintaining a balance in your life? Here are 5 tips for making your work from home space more ergonomic.
Make your workspace adjustable
You know that first day at work when you’re standing in your cubicle and you look at your desk and think, “Wow, this is just so big. I’m going to be able to do so much here.” That’s not how you want to feel when you’re at work. Your workspace is so important because it’s the space where you spend the majority of your day. You need to make it as ergonomic as possible.
This doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune on new furniture, either. A simple change in your environment can have a big impact on how comfortable and productive you feel. If you have a treadmill desk, for example, you can simply move it to the side and take up more of the room with comfortable seating and a desk. You can also change the lighting in your workspace so it’s not so bright.
Get rid of your laptop stand
While it’s true that you might want to take your laptop out of its bag every now and again, you also want to make sure that you don’t go out of your way to do it. There’s no reason you have to take your laptop out of its original bag—or even remove it from its dock—to put something on it or use it for reference. Save yourself some hassle and put your laptop away when you’re done using it. If you don’t have a place to store it when you’re not using it, that’s an even bigger waste of your time.
When you’re working from home, you don’t want to be constantly rearranging your workspace to accommodate your workspace. In order not to risk your sanity, you want to make sure that you’re not spending too much time doing unnecessary tasks.
Install an adjustable chair
When you’re working from home, there’s no reason you have to be sitting in a chair that is painful for you to use. Sure, your favorite recliner is probably the most comfortable piece of furniture in your house (especially if you’re reading this from your recliner), but it doesn’t have to be the only place you spend your day.
Investing in a good chair is an essential part of working from home, but you also want to make sure that it’s an adjustable chair. This way, you can make adjustments to the height and the angle of the chair so that it’s as ergonomic as possible.
Add a standing desk
If sitting is your jam (and let’s be real, it probably is), then a standing desk is probably not the right option for you. That said, some people find that they’re more productive when they’re standing than they are when they’re sitting—and that’s entirely fine. There’s nothing wrong with standing during the day, as long as you make sure that you’re doing it in a way that is as ergonomic as possible.
To make sure that you’re working from a standing desk in an ergonomic way, you have to make sure that it’s adjustable. If your desk isn’t adjustable, you can make adjustments to it so that it makes standing as comfortable as possible.
Add a standing mat
If you’re planning to stand during the day, there’s no reason you can’t stand next to a comfortable cushion while you’re doing it.
What you want to do is find a way to make standing as ergonomic as possible. One way to do this is with a standing mat by your desk. This way, when you’re standing, you’re not standing straight on the ground. You’re standing on a cushion, which makes your posture much more comfortable.
Another thing you can do to make standing more ergonomic is to make sure that your workspace is adjustable. Without this, you can’t adjust your standing height so that it’s as ergonomic as possible.
Keep your work environment healthy
While you don’t have to change your job to work from home, it’s important to keep your work environment healthy.
Firstly, you want to make sure that the lighting in your workspace is as bright as possible. Bright lighting makes it easier to focus, while too-dim lighting can make you feel like you’re working under a cloud.
You also want to keep your workspace as clean as possible. It’s normal to struggle when you’re working from home, but if your space is a mess, it’s only going to make your life more difficult.
You don’t have to spend a fortune on a new desk, either. You can find a used desk online for a fraction of the cost of a new one, and it will be just as good. The only difference is that it’s older and may have some issues that you may need to address, but it will be just as good as the new desk when it comes to work from home.
Conclusion
It’s no secret that working from home can be a huge challenge. Between the lack of social interactions, the lack of sunlight while you’re doing your work, and the lack of actual work that you get done, it can be a challenge to find a good work/life balance. It’s even more challenging when you realize that you have to find an environment that works for you as an individual. In this article, we’ve explored 5 ways you can make your workspace more ergonomic, including getting rid of your laptop stand, installing an adjustable chair, adding a standing desk, adding a standing mat, and keeping your work environment healthy.
