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That an ergonomic office chair has an important impact on health, especially for the back, is well known to many people today. Workplaces with height-adjustable desks are also increasingly recognized as another important element for employee health and correct office posture. But what about organization on the desk? Is there a specific formula or special tips for an ergonomic desk setup, and does it have a similar impact on health when sitting and/or standing?
Ergonomic Desk Organization
Definitely, an important key to good ergonomics lies in the organization around the desk, which can increase productivity while simultaneously benefiting health. Basically, eight different aspects should be considered:
- Size of the desk work surface
- Correct office desk height
- What does it look like under the desk?
- Positioning of the monitor/laptop
- Placement of the mouse and keyboard
- Lighting of the work surface
- Organization of utensils and ergonomic aids
- Movement and breaks
1. Size of the desk work surface
Desks are available in a wide variety of dimensions and shapes. Giving an exact guideline seems less appropriate here, as every person has different situations and needs.
An important focus in connection with computer workstations is certainly the desk depth, so that the monitor can effectively ensure correct screen ergonomics. A depth of 80 cm (31,5 Inch) should be aimed for, which is also a standard dimension for office desks. With less than 80 cm (31,5 Inch) depth, space problems can arise with the positioning of the monitor, and at the same time there is a risk that the important work surface in front of you becomes too cluttered, making an ergonomic desk setup difficult. Accordingly, deeper work surfaces such as 90 cm (35,5 Inch) offer an additional space advantage and thus promote organization on the desk, making it even easier to be ergonomically compatible.
The recommended width of an office desk is 160 cm (63 Inch), but narrower office desks can also be designed to be ergonomically friendly. Here too, the wider the work desk, i.e. 180 cm (71 Inch) or even 200 cm (79 Inch), the more it promotes overall ergonomics and additionally contributes to correct office posture and an optimal desk setup.
Personally, I have an office desk of 80 x 180 cm (31,5 x 71 Inch) in my office and also at home in my home office, and I get along excellently with it. Of course, both desks are height-adjustable, with one being adjustable with a gas spring, allowing the desired height to be reached within a second. With the other table, the height adjustment works electrically, which takes a little longer but also absolutely guarantees the desired benefit and promotes alternating between sitting and standing work.
2. Correct office desk height
Depending on body height, the desk height differs. The smaller the person, the lower the desk should be. The same applies to standing: the taller the person, the higher the desk must be adjusted.
The optimal height for most sitting people is between 66 and 75 cm (26 and 30 Inch). In the standing range, this is between 105 and 128 cm (41 and 50 Inch).
I don't give the simplest rule of thumb for setting the optimal height and correct office posture with a measurement, but you can check and adjust it directly yourself much more easily based on this situation:
For sitting people:
- Your thighs should be horizontal or slightly higher than your knees
- Your feet must rest on the floor and not hang in the air
- If you relax your shoulders in this position and let your upper arm hang, while forming a 90° angle with your forearm, it should rest horizontally on the desk surface.
For people working standing at a desk:
- Both legs should be parallel and your feet flat on the floor
- Relax your shoulders and let your upper arm hang, with your forearm bent at 90°. In this position, your forearms should rest horizontally on the desk surface.
With the method described above, you don't need a folding ruler and can still effortlessly find the ergonomically correct office posture at your desk.
You should really adjust the office desk height according to your body height. My experience shows me that this is too often neglected because it involves a bit of work and therefore takes up too much time, or the desk is simply not height-adjustable.
I find the statement about "a bit of work and too much time" to be a dangerous argument, as going to a physiotherapist, orthopedist, or back specialist will require many times more time, not to mention the pain you suffer. If you don't have time, you should schedule a time slot for it in your calendar. If you feel clumsy or too weak for such work, you should ask other people to help you for a moment and ideally schedule this in your calendar as well.
If the office desk cannot be adjusted in height, you can still do the following:
The desk is too low:
- Place a piece of square timber or a brick under the desk legs. Make sure that the office desk remains stable and there is no risk of tipping. Often, a few centimeters are enough to achieve the correct ergonomic height of the desk. This effort is definitely worth it.
The desk is too high:
- Use a footrest when working sitting down so that your legs do not dangle in the air but have a support point. This relieves the thighs and helps you prevent blood circulation disorders.
If you cannot change the height of the desk in any way and cannot find a solution for an ergonomically compatible way of working, you should purchase another office desk.
In general, a height-adjustable desk is recommended as it promotes alternating between sitting and standing work. This alternation can prevent back problems and additionally stimulates blood circulation. When standing and sitting, care should always be taken to adopt an ergonomic posture and not just stand on one leg with the other bent, or sit crookedly on the office chair. It is always an interplay between the person, the ergonomic material, and the correct adjustment and posture to ensure the ergonomic desk setup is maintained.
3. What does it look like under the desk?
All the requirements for the correct height and size of a desk may be met, and yet correct office posture is not guaranteed. In this case, you should take a look under the desk.
Legroom under the desk must be well guaranteed at all times, and no waste bin, mobile pedestal, boxes, devices, or hanging cables should come into contact with your legs. If this does happen, you run the risk of an unhealthy posture, as the body instinctively twists away and looks for a way out, which is often ergonomically unfriendly and can endanger your health.
4. Positioning of the monitor/laptop
In my opinion, one of the most important points for an ergonomic desk setup begins with the positioning of the monitor or laptop.
Make sure that the monitor is positioned exactly centered in front of you, so not too far to the left or right, but in such a way that your upper body and head do not have to twist when working on the screen.
You achieve the ergonomic screen height when the top edge of the monitor is approximately a finger's width below the center of your eyes when looking straight ahead. You should test this in the position in which you actually work, and not sit differently during the height adjustment than you would later when typing or reading.
You can easily achieve the best screen ergonomics in connection with the monitor distance by extending your arm and being able to touch the monitor with your fingertips.
The same applies to the laptop or notebook as to the monitor, but this is precisely where a major ergonomic trap lies. My experience shows me that far too many people still place their laptop directly on the desk and work like that for hours. This position in no way corresponds to an ergonomic screen height, and the notebook's monitor is too low. As a result, the head has to be bent too far forward, the shoulders tense up, and health problems can run wild. Avoid this way of working and get ergonomic accessories for your notebook so that it can be placed on a stand. There are various notebook stands available for very little money. This investment should be a must for anyone working with a notebook on the desk for more than 15 minutes.
With the purchase of such a laptop stand, an external keyboard and mouse are also required to ensure ergonomic and efficient working. Here too, I notice that such investments are unfortunately often not made, whether out of "laziness" or because "money has to be spent". However, the suffering that most people could save themselves with such a purchase is completely disproportionate to these minimal, one-off expenses.
Furthermore, I sometimes notice that the screen resolution, brightness, or contrast of the display are not optimally adjusted. Here too, you should take a short moment to check the settings. Test what feels comfortable for your eyes so that they are not too dazzled or tired.
The font size should be set so that working or reading can be done effortlessly and without squinting. For the documents I edit, I often choose the zoom version and set it to 150%. This immediately makes reading feel more relaxed and ergonomic.
Another tip for everyone who uses reading glasses:
Position them well back on the bridge of your nose and not too far forward, otherwise you will have to tilt your head too far up when reading (to look through the bottom of the reading glasses), which can quickly lead to tension, neck pain, and headaches.
5. Placement of the mouse and keyboard
As another important point for an ergonomic desk setup, the positioning of the mouse and keyboard is crucial to achieve correct office posture.
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Keyboard
Place the keyboard with the letter block centered in front of you. If you have a keyboard with an integrated numeric keypad, you will need to move the keyboard slightly more to the right so that the letters remain centered in front of you. You should be able to type relaxedly without twisting. The keyboard should therefore have the same central axis as the screen.
Many keyboards are positioned too close to the monitor, which forces you to lean forward when typing, potentially tensing your shoulders and neck. With a notebook, this is unfortunately "standard" in many cases.
Place the keyboard about a hand's width away from the edge of the desk in front of you.
When typing, your forearms should rest on the desk and, if possible, on the armrests of the office chair. A wrist rest is highly recommended to keep the keyboard posture ergonomically compatible. Eco-friendly wrist rests made of millet husks are also popular here. An ergonomic keyboard is certainly also useful, ideally an ergonomic wireless keyboard. You can find more information about this in my article entitled "Does an ergonomic wireless keyboard promote well-being in the office?".
Important tip:
Be sure to fold in the small rear feet of the keyboard so that your wrist bends less, achieving a more ergonomic keyboard posture.
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Mouse
When using the mouse, I often notice these two main mistakes:
- The mouse is positioned too far out, causing the arms and shoulders to twist too much outwards, which can cause pain, tension, and suffering. Use the mouse directly next to the keyboard and make sure that your forearm does not open more than 90° to the edge of the desk. This saves your arm unnecessary movements.
- A normal mouse is not really ergonomically compatible and carries the risk of bending the wrists too much during use. This can lead to tendinitis and other wrist pain. Here too, a simple and inexpensive solution is a wrist rest, which ensures a horizontal working position for the forearm and wrist. There are also hand pads made of millet husks for working with the mouse. An additional solution would be to purchase an ergonomic mouse directly.
6. Lighting of the work surface
Regarding lighting, you should check that you do not get any kind of shadows on your work surface. Furthermore, the office desk should not be placed directly in front of a window, otherwise the light contrast becomes too great and the eyes tire quickly.
Natural light is recommended, but in almost all cases this is not enough and additional artificial light is needed. Indirect light is a good solution here, with wall spotlights or standing task lights that emit light upwards and also diffusely downwards. Glare should be avoided in all cases, but good illumination is of central importance to ensure everything remains ergonomically compatible. With good illumination, you increase productivity when working.
Tip:
Whitish light makes you tired less quickly than yellowish light.
7. Organization of utensils and ergonomic aids
You should organize your desk in such a way that it can be cleared every evening and everything has its own place.
During daily business, it is recommended to have only the most necessary materials on the desk, such as a pen, pencil, and the required documents. In some cases, a calculator, hole punch, stapler, or other small utensils are added. However, it is recommended to put these back in the drawer after use, unless constant use is required.
An ergonomic desk setup also has to do with tidy drawers. In principle, you should only have one of each required item. So one pen, one yellow highlighter, one pair of scissors, one tube of glue, etc.
Many years ago, we organized a half-day campaign in our offices to clear out all "superfluous office materials" such as pens, storage boxes, and other small items that can accumulate in office drawers over the years. The goal was a clear desk and tidy drawers. It was shocking to see how much material was not used, but only took up space. With a tidy desk and well-organized office drawers, work can be done about 20% more efficiently. I experienced this myself with my office workstation back then and can confirm that I was really able to increase my efficiency through this campaign, and at the end of the day, I find it a great added value to have an empty desk.
The following five steps can also bring you to this goal, which will certainly significantly improve productivity and ergonomics on and next to the desk:
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In-Box
Use only one inbox for new documents that come in during the day. Throw away all non-essential material immediately so that the inbox is not unnecessarily burdened.
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Follow-up folder 1-31
All projects get a number, which is recorded in a table of contents placed at the very front of the follow-up folder (also known as a sorting folder). All projects are placed in their spot in the follow-up folder according to their numbers. In your calendar, you schedule processing time for the individual projects and thus always remain in control.
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Display book with clear pockets
In a display book with clear pockets, you keep all important information, such as phone lists, account numbers, and other important notes. The goal is that you no longer have loose sheets of paper with important notes lying around. On the first page, create a table of contents so you can find everything quickly.
Position the display book on your drawer pedestal or in a quickly accessible hanging folder so that you can access the required information immediately, even during a phone call.
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Magazines, documents for reading
Everything you want to read when you get a chance, keep in a separate pile, which you place, for example, in a storage tray with about 30 cm (12 Inch) of available height. As soon as the 30 cm (12 Inch) fills up over time, take the bottom pile away and dispose of it in the waste paper. This automatically creates new space for current reading material and avoids storage chaos.
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Office drawer
Empty your office drawers and place everything on the desk. Keep only what is really needed and give everything else away. For each item you keep, assign a fixed place in the office drawer. You can do this with foam cutouts or small cardboard boxes. There are already very clever solutions for drawer organization here too. This creates top order and you will never have to search for items again.
These ergonomic accessories also make working easier for you and help improve productivity:
- Document holder
Place a document holder between the keyboard and the monitor. Place the documents to be processed on it, thereby ensuring correct keyboard posture and generally correct office posture.
- Drinking glass or water bottle
Water is the engine to better health. Generally, people drink too little at the workplace. Therefore, place a drinking glass or a water bottle directly on your desk. This encourages you to drink, and you only have to make sure that the containers are constantly filled. It is recommended to drink one liter or more of water per day. Among other things, this also helps the intervertebral discs and detoxifies the body. Avoid any kind of sugary drinks and do not overdo it with coffee, but try to stay true to water.
- Cable organizer
To keep hanging cables somewhat organized, they should be tied together with cable ties. There are also interesting solutions here that simplify cable management and can thus also contribute to increasing ergonomics, especially with height-adjustable office desks and anywhere where cables conflict with your legs.
8. Movement and breaks
Movement is one of the best remedies for many office illnesses. Therefore, move as much as possible!
For example, place the printer so that you have to stand up to get the printed paper. This already gives you some movement.
Alternating between sitting and standing work is recommended.
Also build in short breaks regularly. For example, you can walk up and down stairs or simply go outside and get some fresh air.
Also try to take a short walk after lunch. This helps digestion and brings additional oxygen into the blood. Even the mental change of scenery in and of itself can trigger a positive effect.
Concluding Thoughts
An ergonomic desk setup inevitably has far-reaching effects and has a significant impact on the health and productivity of individual people.
It is not primarily so crucial whether you own the best height-adjustable office desk, but that you have understood the concept of the entire ergonomic organization around a desk and can thus guarantee correct office posture.
Certainly, ergonomic accessories play another central role, as does screen ergonomics, which remains fundamentally important for every desk setup.
The key lies in implementing the points described, so that better ergonomics at the desk workstation can be experienced immediately.
If the topic of ergonomics in the office or home office appeals to you and you are interested in learning more, I can recommend my book "Wellness in the Office". Combined with humorous drawings, I share 50+1 tips to turn your office into a little paradise.
