Recently, I changed my home office setup, and found myself with pretty severe neck pain as a result. I switched to a chair that provided better back support and raised my laptop, adding an external mouse and keyboard to try to alleviate the problem. It did, but not as much as I’d have liked. Now I’m trying regular breaks and exercises to see if that makes a difference.
Interestingly, I never had these problems when I worked in an onsite office: I always managed to adjust my chair to suit my needs, and have my monitor at the right level. Since I spend a lot of time out of my home office anyway, my office setup only has an impact on the sedentary part of my work week; the rest is, as they say, in the lap of the gods. Read the rest of this entry »
During the past month, I’ve been busy redecorating and rearranging my home office. I spend most of my time there after all, so it needs to be conducive to productivity. For all my planning, there seems to be an aspect of my home office that I’ve largely ignored — the lighting. Read the rest of this entry »
A standing desk (also called a stand-up desk) is just what it sounds like: a desk that allows you to stand up while working. Taller than a sitting desk, a standing desk is between waist and chest height. Google and Wikipedia will tell you that this type of desk was used by Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Woolf, Marilyn Monroe and Donald Rumsfeld. (OK, I made up one of those.) There can be health benefits to using a standing desk, particularly for certain back problems. Using a standing desk should even burn a few extra calories, compared to slouching in a plush designer chair.
A few years ago, I decided to build two new desks for my office. One is a conventional height and the other is a standing desk. I wanted the option to move between desks for a little extra activity throughout the day. I have computers at both desks. I often stand while browsing the web and reading email, but usually sit to type or for long periods of concentration. Moving back and forth helps keep me fresh, as well as organized, with different tasks at each location. Here’s how I built my standing desk. Read the rest of this entry »
Having a hard time concentrating on the work you do at home? Maybe you’ve outgrown your home office. You could rent one somewhere else, but that can be quite expensive. You could find a coworking space, but unless you live in a major city they can be quite hard to come by. A good option might be to rent some desk space in somebody else’s office: It’s cheaper than renting your own, you get the separation of work and home life, and you might even get some witty office banter along with your desk, chair, Internet access and a filing cabinet, (phone line typically not included). But above and beyond the basics, how do you find the office studio that best suits you?
If you live in the UK, Desk Space Genie could help. It’s a nationwide marketplace, launched yesterday, for desk space in the region. Simply type in your desired location and it returns a list of available desks in your area.
I’ve got to admit that, as it’s a brand-new service, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of search results. So I was pleasantly surprised to see a few decent-looking options in my area (Bristol). You can sort results by distance or price.
Desk Space Genie search results
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A web worker’s office is her most important tool. Arranging it should be given more care and importance than setting up one’s LinkedIn profile. In my four years of web work, I can’t say that I’ve achieved the perfect office yet, but I already know what I have to do to get there. If I could, I would go back in time to implement the following things so I could get a better start with my home office setup.
Spend time looking for a great chair. One thing we have in common with office-bound workers is the need for a good chair. Without it, we’re prone to back aches and hours of working in pain or discomfort.
Alternatively, some people prefer to sit on uncomfortable chairs or even work standing up. Having uncomfortable seating sometimes forces people to work faster and more efficiently. But if you prefer a more contemplative style of working, you should focus on looking for a comfortable chair.
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So you thought you’d escaped the cubicle farm when you decided to put down roots in your local coworking community? Think again! The cubicle is back!
At Leeds’ The Round Foundry in the UK, entrepreneurs in the creative and digital industries can opt for traditional serviced office space or a hot-desking plan in a large shared space. Each hot-desker gets a cute lockable ‘pod’, that includes…
- Six large shelves (with file holder tabs!)
- Six power outlets.
- Two Cat-5 sockets.
- A coat/bag hook.
- A motorized, adjustable desk area.
- Um, wheels.
The pods (the model is know as a Macro-1) are actually quite cool, designed by local company Volume Products as part of a range of modular office furniture. Though they appear to be designed for traditional office spaces, they seem to have been adapted well to the Round Foundry’s coworking area.
However is raises some interesting questions about the nature of work environments that coworkers are interested in inhabiting.
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Recently, I changed my home office setup, and found myself with pretty severe neck pain as a result. I switched to a chair that provided better back support and raised my laptop, adding an external mouse and keyboard to try to alleviate the problem. It did, but not as much as I’d have liked. Now I’m trying regular breaks and exercises to see if that makes a difference.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
