Tips to Reduce Stress in Your WFH Environment

March 29, 2021


By Jason Eisenberg

Community Program Manager

About 44% of full-time employees in the United States currently work from home on a full-time basis (Statista Research). And before 2020, the same research indicates only 17% of full-time employees worked remotely. More businesses have been utilizing a remote workforce – some out of necessity – and many of them have seen positive results. However, the transition to a mobile workforce is far from over. There are many aspects to working from home that have not been addressed and are still taking a toll on remote employees, one example being the management of stress levels. According remote work expert and founder of Distribute Consulting, Laurel Farrer, we’re still adapting to full-time remote work and haven’t crossed the threshold of a sustainable remote work force that is mutually beneficial to businesses and its employees.


Enforcing Workplace Safety at Home

One of the biggest keys to work-from-home sustainability is managing the physical and emotional well-being of remote employees, and according to a survey by the online employment platform Monster in 2020, there’s a lot of room for improvement.

  • 69% of workers are experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home (Monster)

Most people are not aware of all the workplace standards that are enforced by federal regulations (OSHA) to help keep employees productive and safe in the office. Therefore, many aren’t utilizing these practices in their home office.


“So when we go home, all of a sudden our back is hurting, we’re starting to get blurry vision and headaches – many of us don’t understand why that’s happening and so we don’t understand how to protect and enforce safety regulations for ourselves.”

Working on a laptop? That does not meet ergonomic regulations. “Not even close,” Farrer states.

You need to have an external keyboard, you need to raise your screen, you need a specific wattage of lighting – the list goes on in order to keep people not only safe, but productive. We’ll go over the popular ’90-Degree Rule’ for more ergonomic help below.


The 90-Degree Rule

Laurel and her company encourage, at the bare minimum, the ‘90-degree rule.’ It enables your body to have strong 90-degree angles throughout your workday. That means your back is straight, your chin is straight-forward and your elbows are able to be at a 90-degree angle, as well as your hips and your knees.

 

By keeping to the 90-degree rule, you should be able to assume the proper form, regardless of your body type because there are tools and resources that can help you do that.


Streamline Expenses and Workflow

One of the biggest identified stressors for employers is the funding of their employee’s home office setups. Laurel uses the example of a virtual team that needs access to a printer on occasion. If buying a printer for everyone on your team doesn’t make sense, think about streamlining and having employees go to Office Depot to send a file and print for pickup.

Streamline Expenses and Workflow

One of the biggest identified stressors for employers is the funding of their employee’s home office setups. Laurel uses the example of a virtual team that needs access to a printer on occasion. If buying a printer for everyone on your team doesn’t make sense, think about streamlining and having employees go to Office Depot to send a file and print for pickup.

For jobs that require large format printing, it could be more efficient to use them at Office Depot instead of keeping your empty office open for the sole purpose of using your equipment. 


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Celebrate Our Diversity

The way Laurel frames creating WFH setup is pretty exciting because we have this opportunity to test products and methods to create a work environment that works ideally for us. Just so long as you follow the basic rules of ergonomics so you can mitigate your physical stress when working from home.

“What is YOUR right answer. Because what may be good for you, may be bad for me. So, let’s celebrate our diversity and customize our solutions for ourselves.”


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All content provided herein is for educational purposes only. It is provided “as is” and Office Depot does not warrant the accuracy of the information provided, nor does it assume any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein.