A model predicting what the physical impact of long-term working from home without the proper set up could be on people has been produced, and it's not a pretty sight
Trying to scare people back in to the office much?
Anna is based on a home worker with no dedicated workspace who instead opts to work from bed
I mean, if I’d been working 5 days a week from my bed for the last three years then I think I’d probably be pretty fucked up by now. The article doesn’t purport to be every home worker, it says it’s about people who work without the right office equipment.
I work a few days a week from home now, but I’m fortunate to have a spare room with a good desk, a full-sized chair with lumbar support, natural lighting, etc. Not everyone has that. When my office first reopened, the first people to return were often the recent graduates who lived in cramped flatshares with overburdened shared WiFi, who had been either working from their beds or sharing a kitchen table - working from home had not always been a fun experience for them. The people most reluctant to return were those in their 30s and 40s who could afford the full home office setup (as well as who might not have felt they got the same benefit from having experienced colleagues around to learn from, given where they were in their careers).
While this is true, the headline is deliberately provocative and leaves out all the nuance so it works as rage bait, and potentially to “scare” people into wanting to go back into the office.
When I started WFH during the first lockdown I didn’t have correct setup. I was constantly rotating my torso ever so slightly because my laptop was to my left due to insufficient desk space. I ended up with sore muscles on my hip (which took almost a year to fix itself). I got kitted out with a proper setup, at the company’s expense.
Poor Anna must have ignored countless warning signs to end up like that.
I mean, if I’d been working 5 days a week from my bed for the last three years then I think I’d probably be pretty fucked up by now. The article doesn’t purport to be every home worker, it says it’s about people who work without the right office equipment.
I work a few days a week from home now, but I’m fortunate to have a spare room with a good desk, a full-sized chair with lumbar support, natural lighting, etc. Not everyone has that. When my office first reopened, the first people to return were often the recent graduates who lived in cramped flatshares with overburdened shared WiFi, who had been either working from their beds or sharing a kitchen table - working from home had not always been a fun experience for them. The people most reluctant to return were those in their 30s and 40s who could afford the full home office setup (as well as who might not have felt they got the same benefit from having experienced colleagues around to learn from, given where they were in their careers).
While this is true, the headline is deliberately provocative and leaves out all the nuance so it works as rage bait, and potentially to “scare” people into wanting to go back into the office.
Most people don’t read articles, unfortunately.
When I started WFH during the first lockdown I didn’t have correct setup. I was constantly rotating my torso ever so slightly because my laptop was to my left due to insufficient desk space. I ended up with sore muscles on my hip (which took almost a year to fix itself). I got kitted out with a proper setup, at the company’s expense.
Poor Anna must have ignored countless warning signs to end up like that.