Make Your Home a Healthier Workplace with These Tips
These days, the home has to do double-duty as the office. Actually, it sometimes does triple-duty as a school — quadruple-duty as a gym… You get the idea. One’s home is no longer a sanctuary from other activities. It has become the hub of other activities. This change in the home’s focus is likely to be with us for a very long time. Those who longed for a work from home option are rejoicing. Those who longed for a corner office with priority parking are hoping with all their might that things go back to the old normal.
In the meantime, some jobs require that you work from home at least some of the time. That means your home office has to be functional. More than functional, it has to be safe and secure. There is no key-card entry into your home office. You do not have a corporate VPN. And you likely don’t have the conferencing capabilities of the office park where you used to work. Another factor people often fail to consider is whether or not their home-work environment is healthy. Your office can never be productive if it is not healthy. If this is a new consideration for you, this is what you need to know.
Pest Control
One of the most important things your office park has that your home might not have is excellent and ongoing pest control. You will almost never see an insect of any kind in a well-kept office park. You can’t exactly be your most productive when you are constantly swatting flies.
At your home office, you will need to do a lookup for an exterminator near me and set up a recurring schedule for routine pest control. Don’t blame yourself if you have bugs in your home. If you bought the home, you might have inherited a pest problem with nests deep in the walls. It can be impossible to plug all the entry points. There is also the matter of crumbs in your work area. You should also be aware that computer chassis are also common hiding places for real bugs, not just digital bugs in the code. Stay healthy and focused by staying current with pest control.
Relaxation
At work, you have a well-stocked break room when you need to take a break. You also have set times when breaks are usually mandatory. Additionally, you will generally have ergonomically correct furnishings. Without proper breaks and proper furnishings, you will build up a lot of stress and tension in your muscles.
Large offices can improve employee morale by providing massage chairs. You can find a massage solution to fit any budget. It might not be one of those monstrosities you can often find in shopping malls. But you can get into a traditional-looking chair that is no bigger than a traditional chair that also has massage capabilities. This type of chair can be purchased at most furniture outlets at surprisingly reasonable prices. You don’t have to break the budget to add massage into your work-from-home routine.
Ergonomic Chair
The best ergonomic office chairs tend to be expensive. We’re not talking about your AmazonBasics chair you can pick up for $50. The good ones can easily approach and even pass the $1,000 mark. You have to ask yourself how much is good knee, back, and shoulder support worth to you. If the height or slope of the chair is wrong, that can adversely affect your legs. That pain in your neck might be caused by the chair you sit in for 8 hours a day that is also misaligning your back. Let’s not even get into armrests that are the wrong height for you.
Pair the wrong chair with the wrong keyboard, pointing device, and monitor height, and you are talking about time away from work, and possibly surgery. A healthy workplace has to include a healthy workstation. The center of a healthy workstation is not your computer. It is your chair and other peripheral components.
If you have allergies and other breathing issues, you will naturally want to add something like an air purifier to the mix. Just don’t forget the basics. A healthy office is one with regular pest control, a way to rest and relax tired muscles, and an ergonomic work chair.