Home Office Set-Up Essentials for Remote Workers

This year has been an adjustment period for many workers across all industries, with employees all over the world adapting to a work-from-home lifestyle due to COVID-19. If you’ve been adjusting to working remotely, you may notice quite a few changes to your daily routine. Luckily, some smart additions to your home office setup could make all the difference in your productivity.

Here are just a few office supply essentials from OnTimeSupplies.com to help improve your home office setup and get you back on track with this new normal.

A Comfortable, Supportive Computer Chair

While your company may provide you with a supportive desk chair, at home, your tired desk chair will start to feel quite uncomfortable after a long day of working. Upgrade your computer chair with something smart and supportive to improve your posture and cut down on back pain.

An ergonomic computer chair with an adjustable tilt and a contoured seat cushion is a much more comfortable alternative to your traditional chair. Many of these modern desk chairs offer height and width adjustments for people of all sizes, and optimal lumbar support will keep you sitting at just the right position for all-day comfort and productivity.

A Modern Home Office Desk

If you’re adjusting to working from home for the long haul, you may even want to invest in a new desk for your home office setup. Many modern desks offer smart organizational solutions, improved ergonomics and other features that will greatly improve the way you work remotely. This may even be a great time to invest in an adjustable sit-standing desk if you prefer to get out of your desk chair for part of your day.

A Stylish Daily Planner

Having trouble staying focused at home? If you find it difficult to meet deadlines or keep track of video calls and virtual meetings, a daily planner may help you plan your days and set goals for your remote work. While many remote workers use smartphone calendar apps or digital reminders, there’s just something about jotting down notes and penciling in items on a calendar that makes it really stick.

Name Brand Printer Toner and Ink

Since you won’t have access to your company’s printer or copier, you’ll need to improve your printing capabilities in your home office setup. Stock up on name brand toner and ink for your printer. Whichever brand you prefer, you’ll find a very wide selection at OnTimeSupplies.com with bulk discounts to help you stick to your budget.

An Over-the-Head Telephone Headset

Finding yourself on phone calls and virtual meetings for most of your day at home? Working remotely means that your in-person meetings are now phone calls, so you might want to invest in a convenient telephone headset that allows you to take notes and navigate your computer while you talk on the phone.

We carry a great selection of over-the-head telephone headsets that are compatible with most phones. Many of these feature noise-cancelling microphones, so if your home office setup is also a busy, noisy family home, you can be certain that you won’t miss a beat — even if your afternoon meeting coincides with your kids’ playtime.

New Ways Your Job is Trying to Kill You

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We’ve talked at Office Ink  before about how poor ergonomics in the workplace is  bad for your back, your eyes, your reputation and your energy levels. Now, more and more research shows the typical office environments poses other significant health risk to millions of office workers. Yahoo! has helpfully put together a list of all the new ways your job is trying to kill you:

  • Misaligned hips, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and varicose veins: poor workplace ergonomics stress nerves, muscles and bones.
  • Weight gain and diabetes: the chief hazards of getting paid to sit on your duff all day is the sedentary nature of the work. And a stressful work environment further elevates the risk of diabetes. Snacking at your desk doesn’t help either. 

You probably can’t quit your job, real as your fears of varicose veins may be. The best thing you can do to minimize the health risks of a sedentary office job is  is improve the ergonomics of your workplace with properly sized and designed office chairs and desks, take regular breaks to stretch your legs and cut down on snacking at your desk.

Do you have additional tips on beating the health risks of the modern office? We’d love to see them. Leave your advice in the comments of this posts.

Source: Yahoo! 

Office furniture wheelchair accessibility guide

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Not sure of the best office furniture layout of wheelchair accessibility? Use our office furniture wheelchair accessibility guide to develop an office furniture plan that optimizes maneuverability and ergonomics.

Wheelchair Maneuverability:

Your office furniture layout should allow ample space for workers who use wheelchairs to move around in. Here are a few guidelines:

Wheelchair passage: office furniture should be placed a minimum of 32″  from walls and other obstructions to allow for smooth wheelchair passages.

Turning space: allow  60′ clearance so workers can rotate and turn around corners.

Wheelchair Workspace Ergonomics:

In office settings, wheelchair accessible work spaces aren’t too different then standard work areas. The main thing to keep in mind is that workers will need to be able to reach without standing. Here are a few dimensions to keep in mind wjen configuring your office furniture.

Floor space for stationery wheelchair: allow 30″ x 48″ for workers to sit in front of desks and tables.

Desk Height: between 24-36 inches high. Standard desks are usually 30″ high.

Forward reach: workers shouldn’t have to reach any higher than 48″  and no lower than 15″. ”

Side Reach: When workers need to reach to the side,  items should be now higher than 54″ and now lower than 9″.

Source: ADA Standards

Video: improve office ergonomics with diy exercise equipment.

https://www.google.com/sorry/index?continue=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DMHTb1GAR534%26hd%3D1&q=EhAmADwAAAAAAPA8kf_-OlQIGN2S-4AGIhkA8aeDSwu275M00-gt2j_XXoutdBwCJixCMgFy

The dangers of sitting all day at work are well known at this point: increased BMI and mortality, as well as stress and discomfort in the lower back, shoulders and neck. A good ergonomic desk mitigates those dangers, as can a standing desk. But the best thing you can do to improve the ergonomics in your office is take the sedentary out of your sedentary job and add some activity to your day. You can start by taking periodic breaks to stand up, walk around and stretch.  In this video, green-building pioneer Lloyd Kahn shows you how to take it to the next level and rig up an in office gym with little more than rope and a few exercise bands.

I love the ideas in this video, but not everyone has the space or the ability to turn their office into a gym. Luckily, there plenty of exercises you can do in your office that don’t require any equipment, and won’t rumple your clothes.

Lloyd Kahn’s Office Gym via Lifehacker

Top 3 Ergonomic Desk Chair Features

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There is a dizzying array of ergonomic desk chair features on the market, each with a more inscrutable name than the last. It can be hard to decipher the jargon of the office furniture industry to determine exactly which features you need, and which you don’t. OnTimeSupplies.com has an in depth office chair buying guide designed to help you navigate the terrain, but here’s the quick and dirty version: the top three features you need in your ergonomic desk chair. Continue reading

Ergonomics in the Workplace: repair an ergonomic keyboard with a binder clip.

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Is there anything the mighty binder clip can’t do? Last month, we showed you how binder clips can help teachers stay organized. Now Lifehacker comes along with “10 DIY Miracles” you  can accomplish with a binder clip. Hands down, our favorite is their trick for repairing your ergonomic keyboard.

Lost the little feet that elevate your keyboard? Those little plastic squares provided big boost to ergonomics in the workplace. Experts say your keyboard should tilt down & away from the body, a position impossible to accomplish without the aid of those little feet. If yours have snapped off, you can replace them with a binder clip:

  • Step One
    Remove the two metal wings from your binder clip.
  • Step Two
    Slip one metal wing into each of the foot wells.

Voila! You’ve repaired your ergonomic keyboard and improved the ergonomics of your workplace. Happy keyboarding!