Spending 8 hours a day at your desk is a long time and becoming our second home, so it makes sense to make sure it’s set up to work for you and not interrupt that creativity flow. We work from a mixture of desk as we are a remote company without a permanent office space so we are starting to get pretty good at adapting to what we have available. When not visiting clients and meeting in our communal space, we are working form home and so we’ve tried to make the most of our space to work for us. Here are tips below to help you set up your desk whether it be in the office, at home or wherever you are setting up for the day.

Lighting

Natural Lighting is the best lighting you can get during the day while you are working. Poor or harsh lighting can cause headaches, eye strain and fatigue so it is best to make sure you are in a good position. The sunlight we get throughout the day helps maintain our internal ‘clocks’ which in turn affects our brains release of serotonin, the chemical that contributes to our well-being and happiness. Can’t move to be near window or not getting enough natural light in your home office? Go outside for at least 15min a day during your breaks to give your body a chance to regenerate.

Plants

Bring the outdoors inside with some greenery! Adding a plant to your desk does similar things to Natural Light, it boosts your mood and give you something to look at when you need to look away from the monitor. The plant doesn’t have to be real with some wonderful fake plants out there but real is better. Wanting a fake plant because you struggle to care for it? Try a peace lily, they are low maintenance and good for air quality. They only need to be watered when the soil is dry and they are very good at letting you know when that is because they start to droop. Cacti’s and aloe plants are also low maintenance options.

Temperature

Temperature in the office at work can be hard to adjust so this one may be out of your control but still good to keep in mind. Keeping the office between 20 and 25 degree Celsius has been shown to be the middle ground of not too hot and not too cold. This middle ground means that you won’t feel fatigued from being too hot in the office as you will dehydrate faster and if it’s too cold, it’s too hard to concentrate as your body is working harder to keep you warm.

Sound

The world is full of distractions and the noise from outside and inside the office can cause problems with concentration. Construction, birds, kids and even your desk neighbour on the phone can be too noisy to allow you to concentrate fully. A good pair of noise cancelling headphones is perfect to drowning out the unwanted noise but also comes at a cost of not hearing when people are trying to get your attention. Ambient sounds like Jazz, rain or other soundtracks can help you zone out the world and focus on creating when you still need to be able to hear colleagues or people around you.

Have A Workflow

Think of your desk like an aircraft cockpit. Whether you keep a meticulously tidy desk or papers and notes are everywhere, there are things that could help your desk function for you.

Keep things you use daily within reach. This will reduce your time searching for them.
Move things you don’t use daily off your desk into drawers or shelving. This give you more space to work with, less to fiddle with and they are still within reach when you need them.
Have lots of cables and gadgets on your desk? Cable management is key to sorting them out so that down the track it reduces time figuring out which is which.
Use storage hacks to give everything a home like adding a hook for your headset, a mount for your external hard drive behind your monitor, drawer sectioning for stationary.
When things have a place, you can easily do a few small things to tidy the desk each night and keep your workstation flowing.

One you’ve got what items you need daily on your desk, have a look at their positioning. Maybe consider putting everything towards the left-hand side so that as you use things and no longer use them, you can move them to the right as a visual representation of being done with the task. If you are right-handed, you can swap this around to work better for you with writing notes.

Ergonomics

I know that your physio or chiropractor reminds you every appointment about how you need to have good posture and a good desk set-up, and you say that you’ll get around to it someday. Well we’re here to add our voices to the choir because an ergonomic set-up designed for you is incredibly important for your physical health and maintaining a pain free life while at work. Below is what you need to consider when setting up your desk before adding all the niceties mentioned above.

Desk Height

Arms and hands roughly parallel to the floor and at a 90 degree angle from your shoulders
Feet flat on the floor
Legs fit comfortably under the desk i.e. you can cross your legs if you want

If adjusting your chair can’t get everything into the right position, try:

A keyboard tray helps bring the keyboard down to your hands
Use a footrest to get life your feet and allow them to lay flat

A sit/stand desk can be pricey, but it is great for giving you a chance to change position throughout the day. Office works also has sit/stand add-ons to your desks that are less expensive and ideal for adapting your office space when you can’t organise a new desk.

Chairs

It should fit you properly with lumbar support, seat depth and arm rests at the right height. A chair that is too big for you will make it harder to have good posture when sitting.
Need to have adjustable height so you can be at the right height to your desk
Need good padding If you are sitting for long periods

Before looking at the cheapest in your price range, remember a good chair is an investment into your health and comfort.

Monitor

Your monitor shouldn’t be too close or too far. If you stretch your arm out and your fingertips just touch your screen, it’s at the right depth from your seat.
Top of the screen should be at or just below eye level, so you aren’t looking at odd angles to see all parts of the screen
Try to place monitors perpendicular to windows where they won’t get any glare to help avoid eye strain
Have dual screens? Your main screen should be straight on with your secondary screen slightly angled to the side. If you use them both equally, place them close together and at an angle where they point in towards you.

Keyboard and Mouse

Should be positioned where you can keep your elbows relatively close to your body. Your elbow/hands should be 90 degrees to your shoulder, and you shouldn’t have to reach forward to use them.
To help compensate for the upwards angle using a mouse and keyboard can create when we can’t adjust them is to use a padded mouse pad or a padded bar in front of your keyboard. This will hold your wrist up and create the flat angle that reduces strain on them.
Adding an external mouse and keyboard when using a laptop is recommended so that you have more control or where they sit when using a laptop stand to raise the screen

Above all, you need to practice proper posture when sitting at your desk. All these ergonomic tools and positioning can do you wonders but if you aren’t sitting with good posture, you will be doing more harm than good.

What are you finding is the best way to set up your desk? Do you find that you need to re-arrange things every 6 months to try out something new? Let us know if the comments!

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Set Up Your Desk to Work for You