When office exodus started, few were ready. People left with their things in boxes, potted plants and pencil pots in tow. Most people thought that their offices were going to be shut for a couple of weeks. Now, a couple of months seems optimistic. As a result, a lot of people left important equipment behind.
As of March 13, a large percentage of office workers in the UK were still going in to work. Now, that number has plummeted. Trains, buses and streets are more deserted than ever during rush hour as we become a nation of people who work from home.
If you’re lucky, you have a home office — but you’d be in the minority. Rather than office desks and chairs, most people are having to choose between sofas, beds, kitchen tables or the floor, moving less than ever before in smaller spaces. And this could have a devastating impact on our bodies.
The worst offenders are the laptops that we are using to work for eight hours or more a day. When you use a laptop without external equipment (like a keyboard or a mouse) you are much more likely to develop neck and upper back discomfort, says Bronwyn Clifford, a chartered physiotherapist and ergonomic consultant at workplace assessment company Ergo at Work.
“It’s OK for a few days, but not for months and we don’t know how long this situation is going to be lasting for. I am strongly advising my clients to let their staff take their keyboards home with them and looking towards the medium term providing them with a desk and a chair that is adjustable,” she explains. Older workers and those that have pre-existing back and neck problems will be the worst affected.
Experts agree that the sofa is the worst place to work. “A sofa might feel like the most comfortable place at the beginning,” says Ameet Bhakta, a postural alignment specialist. “But after a while it won’t, because when you sit on a sofa what it does is it encourages you to slump. Nearly every sofa I’ve ever been on encourages you to slump to round your shoulders, put your head forward, and that’s going to put more strain on your body.”
At the moment, there is no government mandate to force businesses into buying everyone office desks, chairs and equipment to work from home. However, companies still have to ensure that their request to work from home is reasonable. If employees have no table and no chairs in their home, for example, it would be unreasonable to expect them to work from home for months on end during the pandemic, experts have said.
“Ultimately all employers have a statutory duty of care for their employees’ health and safety,” says Shah Qureshi, head of employment and professional discipline at law firm Irwin Mitchell. “And what they have is a duty to provide a safe place to work. And that includes the right equipment to ensure that they can work safely. When I mean equipment, I’m not just talking about things like laptops and electronic devices, but of course, the correct chair and proper table.”
In the short term, because of the urgency of this situation, employers may not have been able to do this for practical reasons, Qureshi concedes. “But certainly in the medium to long term — and it looks like it may well be the case — they need to conduct proper risk assessments of their employees’ working environment.”
Qureshi says that those without the basic equipment would have a “strong argument” to say that they should not be asked to continue working from their homes, he says. This could open employers up to a “flurry of claims” from people who feel their health has been put at risk. “But I would hope that most employers in this very difficult time will be sensible,” he adds.
The most important equipment to get your hands on is a keyboard and mouse, followed by a computer monitor, and then a desk and chair. Those that have none of these need to continually move, says Robin Christopherson, head of digital inclusion at AbilityNet.
“If you can’t get the keyboard and mouse, if you can’t get the monitor or the ergonomic chair, it’s important to mix it up,” he explains. “Hook up your TV as your monitor for a bit if you have an HDMI cable. Work from the kitchen counter, standing up or if you don’t have that put an ironing board up to standing height and put it against the wall to stop it wobbling around and use that for a bit. If you’re on a dining room chair, put a cushion under your bottom to pad the seat. If this means your feet don’t touch the floor, put another cushion or a box to avoid straining your legs.
He recommends regularly getting fresh air, looking out the window and walking or running up and down stairs if you have them to activate your muscles and move them around.
If you can still get back to the office, take as much equipment as possible home with you, Christopherson says.
When companies recover from the initial shock, they should take a look at the kind of tasks that people perform and their personal circumstances to make a list of those who need help urgently and make them a priority when ordering equipment, Clifford says. “People that are doing computer intensive work — they’re the ones that you’re going to help out straight away, and then look at the others later on.”
Help your body cope while working from home
Get a keyboard and mouse: The worst posture issues will come from hunching over a laptop. Getting a keyboard and a mouse is the most important investment that people can do to immediately improve their work environment, experts have said. If you can still go into the office to get them, do it. Grab your office chair and a computer monitor on the way out too.
Make your own laptop stand: If you are working on a kitchen or dining room table, one of the most important things you can do is elevate your laptop so that the top of the monitor is at eye level. If you don’t have a keyboard and a mouse to rely on and still need to type, try angling a lever-arch file or a chopping board on top of a book to use as a ramp for your laptop. If you don’t have a table at all, make sure that you change the place that you work. Experts recommend standing up and working at a kitchen counter, or even using an ironing board at standing level (propped against the wall) to mix things up. Sitting on the floor and putting your laptop on a sofa or coffee table is also an option.
Move around every half an hour: It is more important than ever for you to move your body around every half an hour. Stretch your arms towards the sky and to the sides. Every hour, try laying with flat on the ground and your legs at a 90 degree angle to stretch the muscles in your back. Walk around while you’re on the phone if you can, and run up and down stairs if you have them.
Whatever you do, do not work on your sofa: Your sofa is the worst place for you to work for a prolonged period of time. Not only will your posture immediately worsen, the perception of comfort can stop you from moving around as much. If you have to work on a sofa, set a timer so that you remind yourself to get up and walk around regularly.
