Home office setup: desk and chair ergonomics, monitor height, lighting and internet

TUREFF• •0

Working from the sofa is fine for a day. Doing it for months is how people end up with sore necks, aching wrists and a constant low-level headache. You do not need an expensive setup to work comfortably at home, but you do need the basics in the right places. This guide goes through them in order of how much difference they make.

Start with the chair

You spend the whole day in it, so get this right first.

Feet flat on the floor, or on a footrest, with your knees at roughly hip height.
Your back supported, especially the curve of your lower back. A small cushion or rolled towel can do this on a basic chair.
Thighs roughly level, with a little space between the front edge of the seat and the backs of your knees.
Armrests low enough that your shoulders stay relaxed, or removed if they stop you getting close to the desk.

Desk height

With your shoulders relaxed and your upper arms hanging by your sides, your elbows should be at about a right angle when your hands are on the keyboard. If the desk is too high, raise the chair and add a footrest. If it is too low, raise the desk on sturdy blocks. A standing desk is useful, but standing all day is not the answer either. What helps most is changing position often.

Monitor height and distance

Place the screen directly in front of you, not off to one side.
The top of the screen at or slightly below eye level, so you look slightly down at the middle of it.
About an arm's length away. Make the text bigger rather than leaning in.
If you use two screens equally, centre them on the join. If one is your main screen, put that one in front of you.
If you wear varifocal glasses, a slightly lower screen often stops you tilting your head back.

Laptops

A laptop on its own forces you to choose between a good screen height and a good keyboard height; you cannot have both. The fix is a laptop stand (or a pile of books) to raise the screen, plus a separate keyboard and mouse. This one change helps more than almost anything else on this list.

Keyboard and mouse

Keep them close, so your elbows stay by your sides and your wrists stay straight. Rest your palms lightly between bursts of typing rather than planting your wrists while you type.

Lighting

Put the desk so a window is to the side, not directly behind the screen (which makes you squint) or behind you (which causes glare on the screen).
Use a desk lamp to fill in when daylight fades, aimed at the desk rather than the screen.
For video calls, a light in front of you, behind the camera, is far more flattering than an overhead light.
Match the screen brightness to the room. A bright screen in a dark room is tiring.

Sound

A headset or earphones with a decent microphone does more for your call quality than a better camera.
Soft furnishings, curtains, a rug and a full bookshelf reduce echo in a bare room.
If you share your home, agree signals for "on a call" so nobody walks in mid-meeting.

Internet and a backup plan

Work near the router, or use a wired connection for the computer you work on. Wi-Fi through several walls is the usual cause of choppy calls.
Restart the router occasionally and keep its firmware updated.
Have a backup: your phone's mobile hotspot is enough for most days. Check your mobile plan allows tethering and has enough data.
Know where your nearest café, library or co-working space is for a longer outage.
Keep important files synced so you can carry on from another device.

Making it work in a small space

A narrow wall desk or a fold-down desk can live in a bedroom or hallway.
Keep work things in one box or shelf that you put away at the end of the day. It helps you switch off as much as it saves space.
If you must use the kitchen table, set up the same way every morning: laptop stand, keyboard, mouse, a cushion for your back.

Move every so often

Even a perfect setup goes wrong if you sit still for hours. Stand up, walk around and look at something far away regularly. If you have pain that lasts, numbness or tingling in your hands, or headaches that do not settle, see a doctor or physiotherapist rather than adjusting your desk forever. What does your home office look like, and what made the biggest difference? Share your setup or ask for advice in the comments.