Top Five Work From Home Ergo Traps to Avoid

Chances are, unless you are working at your office full time, that working-from-home is your current reality, if not some of the time if you are working Hybrid, then, all of the time if you are working fully remotely.

And while there are wonderful things about working from home, namely, no commute, comfy clothes and a more balanced home and work-life, don't get too comfortable just yet.  There are several common ergo traps that lurk within our homes which if they go unchecked, can result in unwanted discomforts, raised stress levels and feeling lonely and disconnected.

Here are the top five Ergo Traps that we see at PBE and how to avoid them.  

1. No Boundaries: When you work from home, the work-home boundaries get very blurry, very quickly.  You, like most of us probably awaken to your cell phone and find yourself checking the news, the weather and somehow, getting sucked into reading and answering your emails, all before ever getting out of bed.  

The same lack of boundaries is true for the evening, especially if you work with colleagues or clients in different time zones.  The work day can have this way of stretching out and never really ending. 

What to do: Set very clear start and finish times for your work day and stick to it.  It is also very helpful to have a designated work space in your home which is separate from the spaces in your home where you relax.  If you are in a small apartment or studio apartment then try setting up a desk for your work that you can "shut down" when the workday is done.

2. Working on the Couch: Couches are great for relaxing, napping, zoning out to your favorite TV shows, but for working, they are far from ideal.  Often they are too low, the seat cushion is too deep and the worst offender of all is if you use a coffee table in front of the couch to do your work.  This is a recipe for major slouching which can cause harm to your lower and upper back, your shoulders as well as your neck.

What to do: If you do work on your couch, use that for passive work activities such as Video calls (where you don't have to type), reading, watching videos etc.  If you do have to do computer work, try propping yourself up with some throw pillows for added lumbar support and use either a lapdesk for your laptop or, if you don't have a lapdesk, you can be creative and use a cutting board, cookie sheet or even a sturdy piece of cardboard or styrofoam as a makeshift lapdesk.  

3. Working at the Dining Room Table: At first blush, the dining room table seems like a perfectly reasonable place to work.  And done right, it can be.  But for many of us, the height of the dining room table is too high which causes some serious hunching of the shoulders, as well as crouching over our laptops.  Over time, this can lead to muscle tension in our neck and shoulders and can even cause headaches.

What to do: If you have no other choice but to work on your dining room table, then the following suggestions will help you work more comfortably.

• If you use a laptop, use either a laptop riser to elevate your screen height, or an external monitor.
• Use and external keyboard and mouse.
• Switch to an adjustable chair if possible, or prop yourself up with pillows or a seat cushion if your keyboard height is higher than your elbow height when seated in your chair.
• If you can't adjust your chair or table height and your keyboard and mouse are too high, you can use a lapdesk (cookie sheet or cutting board) to place your keyboard and mouse at a more comfortable height.

4. Distractions: Working from home can be great for many things, but it is also prone to many types of distractions.  If you have household members at home when you work, you may find yourself getting interrupted, or distracted by their presence, noise they may be making and being tempted to stop what you are doing and go talk to them.  There are also things within your house that may be distracting such as the laundry, household chores, your TV, gamebox and even the fridge! 

What to do: Set very clear boundaries with your household members and make it very clear that unless there is an emergency, you are not to be interrupted while working.  If you are distracted by their noise, invest in a pair of noise-cancelling headphones which work wonders.  You can also listen to soft music or ambient noise to act as a buffer to keep you in the work zone. As for household distractions, make time either during your breaks or before or after work to get things done around the house. 

5. Isolation: If you find yourself feeling isolated when you work from home, you are far from alone. (No pun intended.) It is easy to feel disconnected from your co-workers, from your friends and well, just feel a bit lonely without human contact!  And strangely enough, this can occur even if you have an abundance of work video calls.

What to do: To feel more connected when working, here are some strategies to combat that.

• Work at a nearby cafe one or two mornings a week.
• Set up some time to "co-work" with a colleague or a friend.  This can be done in person or on a video call.
• If it applies, go into the office from time to time to connect with your colleagues.
• Make sure to socialize outside of work with friends, families or through community activities

We hope this helps and would love to have you head on over to the comments section and share what works for you!