Fitting out one's home for teleworking
Given the unusual, social distancing circumstances under which we find ourselves, more and more people around the country and indeed the world have found themselves suddenly being asked to do their job from their own home. There are many different ways that you can make your home office as comfortable as possible. Some of these are fairly minor, such as changing the lighting conditions, while others can be more significant.
One of the first things to consider is how to optimise the light in your home office area. While you want to make sure that the space is as illuminated with natural light as possible, it is also important to orientate your desk to make sure that there isn’t too much glare on your computer screen. The best way to do this is to face towards your windows as much as possible, and to avoid having your back to light sources. It might also be beneficial to invest in additional lamps or lighting fixtures if you intend to work after the end of daylight hours. You may also wish to install a blue-light filtering application on your computer, or any other electronic devices, in order to try and limit your exposure to this type of light, which can cause eye-strain and interfere with one’s circadian rhythm, making it difficult to sleep at the end of the working day.
The next thing to consider is the desk and chair that you will use - this is perhaps the most important aspect of a home office as it will determine how comfortable you are throughout your work day. If you are able to, go for an ergonomic office chair with special back support designed for office workers. If this isn’t possible, the best thing to do is adjust the positioning of the chair and desk available so as to ensure that your feet touch the floor, your elbows are roughly perpendicular to the table, and that your wrists are sitting supported on the table. You may also feel it beneficial to purchase a wrist support for your desk, to prevent discomfort from having them wrest on a hard surface all day. This can help you to avoid discomfort in the back and shoulders, and ultimately will mean that you are able to be more productive, since you won’t be distracted by aches or discomfort as you work.
Some people also find that they like to have their home office out of their view once their working day is finished, so for them it can be beneficial to put their home office into an alcove, and install a curtain in front of it. If this can not be done, then another solution that can be looked at is to have a chest of drawers or filing cabinet in the office space, so that everything work-related can be tidied up and placed out of sight at the end of the day. After all, it is important for many people to maintain a balance between their work and home lives, which is complicated under these current circumstances. This way, some degree of separation between the two can be maintained.
If, at the end of this quarantine period, you decide that working from home is something that you would like to carry on with, then it would be a worthwhile idea to enlist the help of an architect, in order to make some longer-term changes to your home in order to accommodate this. Get in touch with one of our architects on find-my-architect.com in order to find out more!