Working from Home Suggestions – Comfort

I started my journey working from home about a year ago.  Our company has been 100% remote for the last 4 years, and the team has built up a great process to be able to efficiently working from home.   During this COVID-19 Pandemic, I have read a lot of really good Work From Home (WFH) articles.   This quick post will be my attempt at a different take at a WFH information post.

WFH Comfort

I am writing this document to focus on comfort while working from home.  There are many ways a person can define comfort but I will do my best to explain my view.  Since I started working from home I have selected a few items to make my working from home experience more comfortable.  Some of the items I will list are my personal preference and I also rank some items greater in importance than others.

  • A good chair
  • Standup desk
  • A nice pair of shoes
  • A good set of pants
  • Heater / fan

Comfortable Chair

The first item my team recommended to me when I moved from an office environment to working from home was to purchase a good chair.  I started my WFH experience with the following chair from Amazon (Amazon Basics Mid-Back Desk Office Chair ).  I quickly realized after sitting for long periods this is not the best chair for me.  The amazon chair is great for visitors however, I should have listened to my co-founders and purchased a better chair.  I have now upgraded to a Steelcase Think Chair I have been extremely happy with this chair.  NOTE: I did not pay this amount, I was lucky and picked it up at the annual Steelcase sale at their corporate headquarters.

Standup Desk

After I initially failed at not selecting a good chair, I decided to listen to the team and purchased a quality standing desk.  A few of my teammates use the Uplift desks.  I went a different route and selected The Flexispot Height Adjustable Desk.  This desk exceeded my expectations, especially for the price.  NOTE: I stand about 45% of the time.

Comfortable Shoes

During the first month I was wearing my Acorn house slippers, these are extremely comfortable but caused some challenges to my feet and lower back while standing for long periods. (not to mention causing my feet to sweat).   After some research, I landed on purchasing a specific pair of shoes that I only wear in the house for work.  It made me feel like I was heading to work each day when I put them on.   I purchased the Merrell Gridway.  I can’t say enough about these shoes, so comfortable and have support for standing for a long period.

Comfortable Pants

This category may be something that people forget about.  I worked in a business casual environment before working remote, I was used to wearing khaki or dress pants.   Once I was home every day I was getting dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt.  After a while, I realized that jeans were not that comfortable and Adidas running pants did not make me feel like I was working.  I recommend the Everlane 5 pocket chino.  These are flexible and extremely comfortable while still looking professional.  After watching this video on what pants to wear while working remotely, I realize I focus on presentability and comfort.  I would also recommend the ABC pant from Lulu Lemon,  however, they are a bit pricy.

Heater / Fan

My office is in the spare bedroom in the basement.  During the winter it is sometimes cold and in the summer I find that I could use some airflow when the windows are open.  I try to get as much fresh air as possible. Initially I used an old ceramic heater but I found it was too loud when doing conference calls.  I ended up getting this heater, and have been happy with its performance.  In the spring, summer, and fall, I use a ceiling fan most of the day.

Price List

I decided to include a price sheet showing the overall cost for these items.  Some of these I already owned, but others I found on sale. Overall my cost for these items was around $596. That was quite a bit less than the original prices or online prices of nearly $1500.

ItemMSRPPriceNotes
Amazon Basic Mid-Back Desk Chair7952Less expensive when I purchased
Steelcase Think Chair850100Purchased from Steelcase HQ Sale
Flexispot Height Adjustable Desk299299
Acorn House slipers350I already had these.
Merrell Gridway12040Purchased from Merrell company store
Everlane 5 Pocket Chino7254I received a 25% off coupon
Lasko Ceramic space heater6551

Conclusion

The items I discussed above are probably just a portion of things I have discovered to make working at home enjoyable and comfortable.   I am sure I missed a few items as well.  A lot of these items were shared with me initially and I did not realize how important they would be.   I initially focused on equipment like hardware and software instead of these key environment items.  I kept this list to non-technical items and will share my technical setup in another post (Items like monitors and display mounts)

Overall, I suggest people find a way to make working from home the best experience for them and what fits their personal needs.   I realized that I need to feel like I’m going to a designated location and dressed for work, this allows me to separate work from home life.

 

 

 

 

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