Home Office Setup
Working From Home ?
The Work From Home arrangement is now more prevalent than ever. What this means is that wherever you happen to be due to circumstance, this is where you will be working that day.
This post provides functional Work From Home solution ideas to enhance your work productivity and comfort whether you are fixed at home or happen to find yourself in different locations.
Firstly lets cover off the standard Ergonomic setup to enhance your comfort and avoid health concerns later down the track.
Ergonomic Desk Setup Tips:
Adjust Your chair: Adjust the high of your chair until your your elbows are bent at 90 degrees (hand to elbow is parallel and rest on the desk. If your feet are not touching the ground flat, use a foot stool or a suitable object.
Adjust Your Monitor: Your monitor should be at arms length and ensure the height from the top of the monitor is at eye level. If your monitor is not height adjustable, use books or other a suitable object. If you use 2 monitors, set your primary monitor directly in front of you or if you use both monitors equally, arrange them so that you are in the middle of the two.
Placement of Keyboard and Mouse: Ensure the Keyboard and mouse are positioned so that you are not extending you shoulders or arms to reach for both.
Phone and Video Calling: If you are on the phone or video-call, use handsfree or a headset
Well-being: Keep Hydrated. The “Step Up Your Health” article offers good advice on staying hydrated.
Get up and take a break. Don’t remain seated for more than one hour without taking a break to stretch and reset yourself by removing yourself from your work environment. Get yourself a fruit from the kitchen, wet your face, look at the window, water the plants.
Creating the right workspace:
For creating that right workspace:
Fold Down Desk
If you have limited space, even the kitchen bench is not an option, consider a fold down desk solution. All you need for this is a suitable wall location. As long as you can mount the desk, fit your chair and you are not blocking any walkway, this could be your best option.
Convert Your Space:
If you can handle a little DIY and have a little nook similar to this, convert the space to a desk. This can be the perfect solution for small a space allowing you to create a dedicated yet small work area in the home A hardwood bench-top adds a nice touch, make the entry holes for cable runs and fit a cable tray underneath. Desk, check!
Alternatively, your kitchen bench, dining table will do. However, as your work from home situation may be indefinite, consider a more productive and healthier long term solution such as a standing desk.
A height-adjustable desk, or standing desk, is adjustable. You are able to change the height and therefore alternate between standing and sitting. This benefits your health in various ways and reduces back pain which ultimately helps avoid the issues that come along with sitting for too long.
Suggested Height Adjustable Desk (Autonomous SmartDesk 2 Review):
Wrist Rest For Keyboard & Mouse
Having wrist support can ease and prevent wrist fatigue particularly when spending many hours at the desk typing and clicking. They also assist with ergonomics by providing a more natural straight position than a bent one. The HyperX Wrist Rest for Keyboard & Mouse consists of Cool gel memory foam, is cool to the touch and features anti slip grip for firm providing stability.
Technology:
Computer:
If you don’t have a work issued computer and require to purchase your own, your choice should be determined by your workload and mobility needs. Heavy or light processing, stationary or mobile to move about your home.
Apple Laptop
The go to for mobility and performance in the Apple platform is the Apple MacBook Pro. With an excellent screen, great sounding speakers, keyboard and most importantly its processing power providing a quick and smooth computing experience
Windows Laptop
The Asus Rog Zephyrus G14 is an AMD powered 14 inch laptop with 120Hz screen. It offers great performance for various workloads including gaming. Impressive 11-hour battery life and portability make this a very good alternative to the MacBook if you are a Windows User.
Monitor
For ergonomics your head should be at the right position , consider at least a 24 inch monitor that can be raised to eye level to maintain correct posture
LG is a 34" (21:9) Ultrawide IPS Curve LED monitor. This form factor is great for working with multiple documents / programs side by side without the need for a second monitor. Offering excellent picture and build quality with very good colours out of the box.
Another monitor option is the BenQ 32 inch EW3280U offering a crisp 4K picture image quality and good colour accuracy. A built-in speaker provides decent sound which is aesthetically located along the bottom border of the monitor.
Internet
Setting yourself up to effectively work from home will require you to have a reliable and fast internet service. A weak Wi-Fi signal or black spots at home will impact on your where you are able to setup your working space. With a mesh wireless system you are able to cover a large space and basically enable a reliable and robust signal to every corner of your home.
The Orbi WiFi 6 System from Netgear comprises of a Router with 1 Satellite Extender offering a coverage up to 5,000 sq. ft. and 60+ Devices.
Tip: If you are concerned with ISP service drop-outs and require always on internet, consider having the flexibility of mobile broadband 4G/5G sim card to act as a backup that you can switch to in the event your internet service drops out right in the middle of an important business meeting.
Lighting
Good lighting is very important to reduce eye strain strain resulting in tiredness, lack of focus and potential headaches. In the absence of natural lighting, a good quality artificial light is needed. The BenQ LED Desk Lamp is a general purpose task lighting solution providing a flicker free lighting experience with an adjustable colour temperature and special eye safe LEDs.
USB Backup disk
Another benefit of having additional storage for your data, an external hard drive can be used as an emergency backup drive should your primary drive fail, or you could use as a bootable backup for Mac OS or other OS.
The Buffalo MiniStation Extreme is a 2TB USB 3.0 drive with NFC & 256-bit AES security features. The case is rugged and is dust and water resistant.
Laptop Stand
A laptop stand provides is a good way to minimise the clutter on your desk. Satechi provides a vertical and universal offering (adjustable to fit any laptop) with a solid build and equally compelling looks which is complemented by being able to conceal wires inside to keep with a tidy theme.
Mouse:
The Mx Master 3 is one of the best wireless mouse to use. This latest release has improved ergonomics and responsive scroll wheel, can connect to multiple devices and has mouse gesture capability to improve your workflow experience.
With the Razer Pro Click Mini wireless mouse, you can increase your efficiency while working. This computer attachment can help you get through your work by providing a peaceful, distraction-free experience with up to 725 hours of use. It travels about your workplace quietly and fits into your backpack thanks to its modest form factor. This Razer mouse also has seven individually programmable buttons. As a result, by generating shortcuts for your most commonly used commands, you can work more effectively. You can connect it to up to four devices, allowing you to swap between your laptop, tablet, and television without having to repeatedly pair and unpair them.
Headphones
Using headphones when working in a busy or noisy environment, helps to turn off the distractions, prevent interruptions and ultimately to zone in to your work. A couple of great quality options are from Sony and Bose that offer very good audio quality, voice calling and noise cancellation. You can’t go wrong with either offering
Headphone Stand
Yet another space saving option for your workspace is to be able to conveniently store your headphones and have them in easy reach. The Satechi Aluminum USB Headphone Stand Holder comes with three USB 3.0 ports useful for charging (compatible) headphones and general hub with cable management.
Microphone
The Blue Yeti is a USB high fidelity plug in and play microphone providing near studio quality. The Yeti comes with a 3.5mm headphones jack to plugin your wired headphones, different recording modes, physical controls and a mute Button.
Tablet & Mobile Phone Stand
To accommodate a tablet or mobile phone within the workspace with ease, another quality product from Satechi is the R1 tablet stand. It is a sturdy and foldable stand that maintains the position you set whilst also proving a good base grip.
CHAIR
A good chair offers you comfort with the ergonomics to support your back and provide good posture. The Autonomous ErgoChair 2 comes with a headrest, is adjustable to accommodate varied positions and is suitable to accompany a Height Adjustable Desk
Mobility - Work Anywhere: Office In a Bag
Working for long periods of time, 7-8 hours a day or more, away from an office environment can challenging particularly if your space is limited and there is no suitable dedicated area to sit and setup a laptop for long periods that won’t take over a space, such as the kitchen.
This is where a desktop setup in-a-bag approach may be better suited to your needs, whether you find yourself in the kitchen, garage, balcony, garden, park, cafe etc.
Simplicity, speed, and a functional setup are key to make the best out of your limited space situation. Having the ability to pull everything out of a bag, enable a fast setup, get into work mode right away and then pack it all away and out of sight to transition smoothly back into your home environment feel is what this approach is all about.
This is what you’ll need:
A bag that can hold a 15/16 inch laptop
Laptop computer. Can be anything with a decent battery life and port options. Macbook or Asus mentioned above are ideal.
Keyboard (wireless)
Mouse (wireless)
Laptop Stand (at least one), to raise your screens
Power Bank. For the extra juice if required to get you through the whole day
External Monitor. For improving productivity.
Noise Cancelling Headphones. Important for cutting out distracting noise and help you zone in on your work.
Privacy Screen (optional). A portable screen can be used to block distracting light or movement whilst also providing a little privacy and help you zone in on your work.
Positioning. Sit centre of the laptop and screen, elevate each screen using the stands so that the top of the screens are at your eye level as much as possible. Keyboard and Mouse are positioned so that you are not reaching for them. Privacy screen, if used is positioned to block any distractions.
Suggested products:
Backpack
Head over to Incase for a selection of well mae backpacks to hold everything you need to get your work done