Office Ergonomics Tip of the Week

Sitting at a desk for hours on end will eventually take a toll on your posture, health, and mood. While taking a 5 minute break every hour to stretch might not seem feasible, it is a necessity. Think about the tasks that you do at your desk that you do not necessarily need to be sitting down for, like perusing files or having a conversation. I personally like to slip on my wireless headset, stand up and stretch while taking conference calls. No one is the wiser and I actually feel more alert during my calls.

Bimonthly Book Review: Pimp My Cubicle

Do you feel like the drab grey walls of your cubicle are holding you down, stifling your creativity, and/or contributing to your lack of inspiration? If your answer is yes, you need to pick up this book and all of the bling that comes with it. Pimp My Cubicle offers a bunch of over top, inspiring ideas to help turn drab to fab. I will be the first to admit that 99.9% of the cubicle inhabiting world would not likely have the nerve to carry out the cubicle pimping as exemplified within the pages of this book, but it is good for a laugh, it would make an excellent gift for an office mate with a sense of humor, and it does come with a mini disco ball.  

I wonder if it would be possible to pimp my Avaya headset! I would equip mine with a Batman beacon that lit up every time I answered a call. It would serve two purposes: it would look cool and it would notify my coworkers when I am on a call. See the beacon, I am already speakin’….wow, I think I inadvertantly just gave the blogging world an unneccessary glimpse at my true geekyness.

 You can get Pimp My Cubicle new on Amazon for about $24.00.

Office Ergonomics Tip of the Week

An issue that people do not often think of when they are trying to create an ergonomically correct office space is computer screen glare. 

Pretty much everyone understands that glare on the computer screen can be bothersome but, believe it or not, it also has the potential to be harmful. Computer screen glare may cause headaches from squinting to see the glare through the screen (not to mention wrinkles) and it may also promote poor posture and, therefore, back aches. Just think back to last time you had to deal with computer glare; I bet there was a lot of ducking and weaving in attempt to adequately see your screen.

According to a great article at the Corner of the NISMAT website, you can avoid computer glare by trying to adjust overhead lighting so that it does not come from directly overhead and instead from the side. Another easy way to prevent glare is to purchase a computer glare shield. This same NISMAT article mentions telephone headsets as an ideal way to avoid bad posture caused by awkwardly holding telephone handsets. The above mentioned office Ergonomics training website has some more great tips for dealing with computer glare as well, if you would like to learn more about the issue.

Tips for Organizing Your Home Office

My first New Years resolution for 2008 is to organize my home office. My second is to stop procrastinating when it comes to big projects (see resolution 1). So As of this weekend, I have bitten the bullet and started the home office organization process. Luckily, I have done this before and I know a few things about this subject/task. Here are just a few tips I have learned: 

1. Assess what you need to purchase and/or do to be organized. Do not get off track by buying things that look or sound cool but will not further your organizational goals.
2. Once you have decided what you need (a desk with drawers, a filing cabinet, etc.) do your research and measure, measure, measure! We all know that spending hours assembling a corner desk form Ikea, only to find out it does not actually fit in the desired corner, is not at all fun!
3. Keep ergonomics in mind. Set up your phone and wireless headset within easy reach, your monitor at the proper eyelevel, and make sure you have a comfortable chair with proper lumbar support, just to name a few ergonomic biggies
4. Create a system for filing and staying organized. Make sure that the files you need to access the most often are the ones that are easily in reach. I like to colour code everything and always have back ups
5. Do not think that office organization is a one time thing. Set aside an hour per week, or at least per month, in your calendar/planner to maintain your organized office.
6. Purchase a calendar/planner!

These are my tips for organizing an office, but I am always up for more. If you have any, let me know, please!

Office Ergonomics Tip of the Week

It is the New Year and many of us have made the resolution to become more organized. I know that I have and I will be writing more about that in my next entry.  

If you plan to become more organized this year, the logical place to start is the home office. While you are organizing your home office, optimize the room ergonomically as well. Adjust the lighting so you do not have to squint. Make sure your telephone and headset is easily within reach. Dump the old, back breaking office chair and pick out a new one. Better yet, get a yoga ball to sit on! You will be surprised how much proper posture will affect your mood and organizational abilities.