We Spaniards chose comfort rather than design when working from home
Although many professionals occasionally teleworked in our country before the confinement and had their own working area, most Spaniards have had to improvise working areas at home.
And it is not only a matter of seating anywhere with the laptop to write some other mail. “Telework is here to stay so it is important to consider the design of this space to develop our home office in optimal conditions”, declares Ofita, a company devoted to office furniture. This new working dynamics requires an environment based on concentration, connection and wellbeing both for individual and team or online work.
Ofita has carried out a study on how our ideal space would be
According to this analysis, 53% of teleworkers do it from a separate place at home and 47% from shared areas mainly the living room. Ninety six percent work seating at a table.
For most respondents, ergonomic aspects have to prevail in its design; this means those related to the comfort of the station and the wellbeing of users rather than purely aesthetic aspects.
Eighty per cent prefer an ergonomic chair providing a healthy position when seating rather than an aesthetic chair matching decoration.
Teleworkers who have taken part in the sample consider essential that the chair should have different heights to adjust to them; height regulation of seat (feet have to rest totally on the floor), height regulation of backrest (to allow the correct lumbar support), height of armrests…And with a Synchro system that allows the inclination of the backrest synchronized with the seat, favouring the natural movement of the body and avoiding us being many hours in the same position.
In this sense, Ofita recalls that 60% of diseases related to sedentary work are caused by a wrong choice of the chair and in order to be healthy it has to provide the necessary support to hold the correct position while seated.
On the other hand for 60% of teleworkers surveyed the connectivity of a table and its ergonomics prevails over design.
Work table
The size of the work table will be limited by the space available, although it is recommended to have at least a length of 120cm. For 89% of respondents, the ideal size of the table is between 120 and 160cm.
It is also important that the surface is matt, declares Ofita, to avoid reflections and to have enough depth to place IT devices guaranteeing an appropriate position.
Light colours are also recommended as well as natural materials as they relax and favour concentration. This recommendation by Ofita matches the opinion of teleworkers who have taken part in this sample: there is a clear predomination of those who choose neutral colours (96%) as compared to vivid colours (4%).
With respect to the features of the table for the home office, the majority prefers it to be fitted with some type of wiring system or cavity. There are also aspects such as height regulation to work seating adapting to the height of the user or the provision of a system to raise the laptop and the incorporation of some lighting elements.
