{"id":2457,"date":"2020-05-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/?p=2457"},"modified":"2020-05-11T09:41:33","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T08:41:33","slug":"is-your-home-office-working-well-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/staffdevelopment\/is-your-home-office-working-well-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your home office working well for you?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As we enter our eigth week of working from home, our daily Staff Development Blog Series this week will focus on the theme of \u201cWorking Well\u201d. Today the Health & Safety team would like to ask you the question \u2013 \u201cIs your home office (or the space you have designated as your office) working well for you?\u201d<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As well as the physical set up of your desk, this question also\nencompasses the wider aspects of office working, such as taking breaks and\nresting your mind (if, like me, that\u2019s something you need to do on occasion)\nand having enough fresh air in your home office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us had never worked from home before so we have had to be very\ncreative in how to set up our \u2018home office\u2019 in a short space of time.  How we take our breaks has also changed –\nthere is no staff common room at home and no kitchenette where you might, by\nchance, meet a colleague. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would like to celebrate your creativity, so please share with us\nyour pictures of how you have set up your own home office and what you do in\nyour regular work breaks at home.  Take a\nphoto, send it to health.safety@canterbury.ac.uk , (no later than Wednesday\n13th May and if you wish to remain anonymous please let us know) and we will\nshare and celebrate your creativity in Friday\u2019s blog \u201cA celebration in pictures of CCCU working safely and well at home\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, take a look at our Head of Health & Safety\u2019s not so great workspace below and see if you can identify the six changes that had to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Home<\/figure>
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Note: no Head of Health & Safety was injured prior to the creative changes made to ensure a safe set up.  The correct set up can be viewed in our previous blog \u201cHow to make your workspace safe and comfortable at home\u201d<\/a> or see the list at the end of this blog.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, what has worked well for me?  Following the \u201cEssential Guidance for\nRemote\/Home Workers\u201d and completing the H&S\nchecklist for Remote, Home Working<\/a>, enabled me to achieve a home office set\nup that works well for me.  I have since\nrevisited the guidance, to make sure I maintain the best set up, and will\ncontinue to do so as it helps me to review if any adjustments are needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furniture and Equipment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, for some unknown reason other than, perhaps, to test my\nresolve, my chair decided it no longer wished to support me in a safe manner\nand developed an irreparable fault.  Recognising\nmy own reputation for injury arising from less than suitable chairs, \u201cmaking\ndo\u201d until back in Rochester House was not a sensible plan.  To obtain a replacement chair, I followed the\nsteps outlined in the Covid-19\nFAQ \u2018How should I best set up my working environment at home?\u2019<\/a> and, having\nobtained approval from my Head of Department and followed the protocol for\nvisiting campus during lockdown, I ventured out to North Holmes Road.  For those who need to collect DSE and IT\nessential equipment from campus I can confirm, from my experience, that the\nsystem in place to collect equipment is working well \u2013 thank you to the Security team<\/strong> for making this an easy, safe,\nstress free visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep moving<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep me from staying in one position, I have taken to moving\nlocation for meetings and this works well for me. This does, however, mean I\nkeep unplugging the various cables connecting my laptop to my monitor and has\nmade it particularly important that I follow the checklist<\/a>\nand check my cables as part of my morning start up routine. Revisiting this,\ntoo, is a good reminder for me of checks that should be regularly undertaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing Stress<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has sometimes been stressful for me to adapt to remote working,\nhaving to learn new ways of accessing our shared documentation and getting\nfamiliar with the different communication channels (only today I found myself\nin the wrong Microsoft Teams meeting!).  Talking\nto my Health & Safety colleagues, however, has made me realise I am not\nalone in experiencing difficulties and it was a comforting reminder that we are\nall on this learning journey together.  My\nlaptop, too, has colluded with my chair in an attempt to thwart my \u201cworking\nwell\u201d.  Whilst my laptop has been able to\noutwit me it is, however, no match for our great\nIT Support team<\/strong> to whom I want to send a big thank you for dealing with my\nquestions with expediency and great patience, as well as showing me solutions\nand work arounds that have kept my anxiety at bay and allowed me to keep\nworking well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking breaks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few hits and misses to find new routines, things are now working well for me. Whilst in Rochester House I consciously made trips to the kitchen, not only to fuel my insatiable appetite for regular caffeine (which I do try to offset with water consumption), but also to keep moving.  What I hadn\u2019t consciously realised, until working from home, was the importance of the social interaction that took place there, that also gave my mind a break from the work in hand \u2013 which I now know is equally as important for me as uncoiling myself from my sitting position. Whilst they don\u2019t replace the lovely conversations that I used to have with colleagues, below are a couple of ways I have been giving my mind, as well as my body, a rest during my mini breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n