Quick Solutions for Common Home Office Set-up Mistakes

Do you work at home?

Working from home comes with a lot of great advantages. It is more flexible, you don't have to commute, and you can work from the comfort of your pajamas - just to name a few.

But when you are working remotely, you often don't work from an actual 'office.' (Some remote workers do have actual offices in their home, but most do not.)

When we set up a home office, we usually take what’s available: the dining room chair, the old desk chair, the kitchen table...

While some of this furniture might fit your body proportions perfectly, the odds are that most do not.

The most common home office set-up mistakes I see usually come from working at a chair, keyboard, or monitor/laptop that is at the wrong height.

Working with these elements at the wrong height for your body can lead to body alignment issues, which I discuss here in another article.

So, how can you fix these common home set-up mistakes?

Quick & Easy Guidelines to Find the Best Heights for Office Furniture

The Chair:

The seat of your chair should be roughly at the level of your knees, when you stand facing it. This quick guideline is very reliable.

To utilize this guideline, I suggest buying an office chair that can be adjusted for height. Then you can lift or lower the seat to the right height for your body.

The Keyboard:

If you sit and bend your arms to a right angle, your hands will be about 4 inches above your lap. That’s how low the keyboard should be.

This means using a separate keyboard, if you have a laptop. I know it sounds like more trouble than it's worth, but implementing good ergonomics now can save you from chronic pain later!

The keyboard should also be close to you, so you don’t have to reach forward if your elbows are aligned with your shoulders.

The Monitor/Laptop Screen:

Ideally, the top of the monitor or laptop screen should be around eye level. But if you wear bifocals or progressive lenses, you may have to lower the monitor height considerably.

If you have a small laptop, consider setting it up on a raised surface so the screen is closer to eye-level.

Practicing Good Ergonomics

As you have probably noticed by now, what we think of as 'good ergonomics' in the office varies for everyone. That's because you have to base heights on your body proportions, so that your home office set-up will be tailored to your body proportions.

See how close you can get to the above positions. Even adjusting just one of the parameters can increase your comfort and decrease your risk of injury!