What You Should Know When You Work From Home



          Working from home tends to be the common practice due to the novel coronavirus, known as Covid-19.   On the positive side, workers can enjoy their own privacy from working at their own home offices.  For instance, they do not need to worry about the type of business attires to put on because they can wear comfortable clothing at home.  Also, working from home provides them with a sense of freedom to manage their personal businesses whenever they need to do so.  On the other hand, working from home can instigate frustrations from proper equipment setup, including, but not limited to computer, monitor, internet security, lighting, furniture, and more. All these home preparations can lead to emotional distress and even physical injuries.  For example, your home office chair might not be height adjustable.  Your monitor or monitors might not swivel.  Your work space might be very constrained due to the number of personal items that have occupied the desk.  The list can go on and on…..
          The bottom line is that if your home office is not set up in an ergonomically justified fashion, you, as a home worker, could be exposed to the risk of injuries. Unfortunately, companies are not able to send a professional to their workers’ homes and conduct ergonomic evaluations due to the public demand in “social distancing”.  As a consequence, workers must perform self-monitoring regarding their work postures and equipment setup.  Although some people might purchase equipment that they believe are ergonomically justified, they are not professionally trained and their lack of competency in the field could misguide themselves obtaining equipment that does not fit their body sizes.  In those cases, injuries could have occurred in the worst scenarios.  Even if injuries might not be the ultimate consequence of mismatch between equipment and body size of the workers, financial resources could be wasted.  In today’s economy, many organizations might not provide the financial resources to cover ergonomic equipment. 

Tips for Home Workers

Below includes some tips when you work from home:

1. Monitor your arms and make sure you DO NOT REACH forward.

2. Keep objects, such as keyboard and mouse close to your body. 

3. AVOID compressing wrists and forearms on edge of desks. 

4. Alternate with different work postures.  Any static work postures could cause injuries.

5. Take 2-min micro break every 40-45 mins of each work sessions.  During break time, perform stretching exercises to enhance circulations. 



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