Feeling good in your home workspace. How to achieve it?

Over the past year, since we were forced to confine ourselves due to the COVID-19 pandemic until today, we have undoubtedly experienced many great changes. One of the most significant has been going from going to the office every day to staying at home all day.

Now that we've been working for a year, many people are beginning to wonder what the advantages and disadvantages of working from home are compared to working in the office. Some companies are betting on the flexibility of their employees and are even beginning to propose hybrid models so that workers can decide which days they will work remotely and which days they will work in the office. This week, for example, the multinational Liberty Seguros announced this.

To make this decision, the worker must weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of both situations. A determining factor in his decision will be the well-being achieved in the home office and, if not, understand what the main disadvantages are to achieving such well-being.

Most offices in large companies are furnished according to ergonomic criteria. In fact, in the years leading up to the pandemic, companies have invested large amounts of money in providing their employees with ergonomic tools that take care of their health throughout their time in the office.

One of the main reasons that has led large companies to take measures to care for their employees has been the high number of sick leaves that they are forced to manage every year. Most of them are due to musculoskeletal disorders, generally caused by the unsuitability of the work environment for the person and the type of task they perform. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, musculoskeletal disorders are a priority for Europe, since almost 24% of workers in the European Union say they suffer from back pain and 22% complain of muscle pain.
Companies are now forced to care for their employees in their own homes. This is reflected in the new legislation on teleworking , which provides for compensation for expenses for all those who work remotely, and requires companies to provide workers with a computer, a mobile phone with data and an ergonomic chair, among other things. The new specifications will be valid until December 31, 2023 and include increases in the base salary of 0.75% and 1% until then.
Having the right space and tools for working remotely is a fundamental factor that directly influences employee well-being. To create your “home office” and feel good in your home workplace, we must take into account some aspects such as:

1. Furniture. It must be ergonomic, that is, it must be adapted to the anatomy of the person and the type of task they perform. We must pay special attention to choosing an ergonomic chair , as a fundamental work tool. A suitable ergonomic chair will provide us with benefits such as greater comfort, reducing stress, avoiding distractions, improving our productivity, or preventing the appearance of ailments such as back pain, headaches, etc.
2. The environment. One of the key elements to improve health during working hours is exposure to natural light. This will improve our visual health, avoiding pathologies such as myopia. Additionally, looking at distant objects from time to time will also contribute to better visual health. Both to improve the luminosity and to rest the eyes by looking far away from time to time, it will be useful to have a window near the desk.
3. Habits. Including small breaks with some frequency in our work day is beneficial for our health. It seems that when we are at home, it is more difficult for us to adopt these types of habits, either because we are not used to it or because we simply forget. Small breaks will help us rest our minds for a few minutes and return more refreshed to the task we were doing. In addition, including small doses of movement in these breaks will make us feel more relaxed.