Whether you are working at home for the short term the long term
or as an adjunct to working at the office
you want to make your workspace as professional as
possible one reason is your health it's too easy to injure yourself through
bad ergonomic setup another reason is efficiency having the
right equipment and setup will let you be more
productive with less stress let's start with the setup
of your work environment if you are routinely working from your
kitchen table or couch stop you'll easily injure
yourself you want a separate workspace such as a
separate home office a guest room or shed that doubles as a
home office or some nook in your home or porch that
you can set up your desk in if you don't have a desk you can use
a table just make sure you have a dedicated
place for your computer get yourself the equipment you need a
chair your computer one or two monitors a mouse or trackpad
and a keyboard you might also want a docking station
a backup drive a dvd drive speakers webcam or other equipment based on the
work you do and what comes with your computer and
monitor it's easy to forget about lighting but
lighting can make or break a workspace you don't want to
work in the dark as that can cause eye strain so you want
good light levels but you want your lighting
to be indirect so you avoid glare that means you don't
want lamps shining on your screen and you don't
want strong light from adjacent lamps or windows competing for your vision
make sure any side lamps have their light angled
away from your screen if you have a window behind your screen
have a shade in use during the day if you have a window behind you try to
move your desk so that doesn't happen and if it can't be avoided pull down a
shade or draw a curtain to cut off its light the
top surface of your desk or table should usually be
29 inches above the floor so you can sit up straight with your forearms parallel
to the ground that way you don't create awkward
posture that can damage your muscles tendons or joints desk height of 29
inches may be too high or too low depending on your height and build
so you may need to adjust the height for your body
if you can use a keyboard tray do so it should also hold your mouse or
trackpad a keyboard tray lowers the top of your keyboard
and input device to proper desk height while letting you use the desk surface
for paper-based activities at the proper
height the best keyboard trays also let you tilt the keyboard inward so you
don't need to raise your wrists when using the keys at the back
your chair should be at a height that lets your forearms be parallel to the
floor and the wrists slightly down when typing or mousing
when you are sitting up straight it's preferable to have an adjustable
chair so you can get the best height and angle for your body
it's also preferable to have arm rests but
be careful your arms should just lightly touch the armrests while typing
or mousing never push your arms into the armrests
while working as that can cause arm and shoulder strain your monitor should
be positioned so that when you look straight ahead
your eyes are at about 25 to 30 percent from the top of the screen this position
helps prevent shoulder and neck strain you may need to use a
riser to get that correct height if you use a laptop as your
primary computer and many of us do these days don't use
it routinely on your work surface doing so can towards your shoulders neck
upper back and arms in damaging positions instead
use an external monitor keyboard and mouse to get the proper
posture you can also raise the laptop to use its screen as a monitor
if you don't have a separate monitor here's a tip
get a foldable stand you can pack in your luggage when you travel for several
days along with a mouse and keyboard to raise
the laptop screen in a hotel room conference table or other temporary
workspace okay now you are ready to create the
right workspace at home make sure you have the equipment you
need and an ergonomic setup that way you can work productively and
safely for as long as you want or need