Increased work from home - increased risk of pain and wear and tear?

Many people are gradually getting used to working from home. The Corona situation has forced many of us to do so. In fact, Danes were already working from home more than most other Europeans before the coronavirus outbreak. A quarter of employees regularly worked from home in 2019. And this year, many workplaces that previously did not make use of home working days have been forced to move work home in the private sector. For better or worse, that is. Of course, depending on the nature of your work tasks, working from home makes more or less sense. For those who can work from home without any problems, it means no travel time and increased flexibility, which means that private life and work life can be more compatible. In addition, many have discovered digital solutions such as online meetings. At the same time, it is not as easy to get professional sparring with colleagues and this affects social relations with colleagues. After all, it is conceivable that digital solutions and flexible working hours and workplaces will play a greater role in the workplaces of the future.

The home office is often not good enough

So what does the workplace look like at home? Not everyone has a height-adjustable desk, a proper office chair and a large computer screen to work at when working from home. Some end up sitting with a small laptop on the sofa or at the dining table all day. Working at home can therefore unfortunately mean poor posture and pain for those who don't have a good office space at home. In the long run, it can be detrimental to the economy of companies and society if employees get sick from working at home. But no one should get sick, whether they work from home or not.

Home office requirements are too low

The requirements for a home office are actually not that stringent. To put it in a nutshell, the requirements under the Working Environment Act are simply that you have a good chair to sit on and a table that is suitable in height and size, as well as a reasonable amount of screen space. And this only applies to home-based work of a certain duration. So the requirements are relatively simple to meet. The few requirements there are are designed to prevent pain and wear and tear. At a time when so many people work at home, it is hugely important to ensure good working conditions, even if it means having a look into people's private homes. Because sitting on the sofa with a laptop on your lap is not sustainable. So maybe it would even make sense to tighten the requirements of the Working Environment Act if we look into a future where we have to prevent wear and tear to a greater extent and have to stay in the labor market for longer? In any case, it must be ensured that home workplaces are properly designed so that we can also withstand working from home in the long run.

By Josefine Huusom