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Work, career and remote life

Home office setup

Arranging a desk, chair, screen and keyboard at home so you can work in a comfortable, neutral posture for long stretches.

What It Means

A home office setup is the way a workspace at home is arranged: the chair, the desk, the screen and the keyboard, and how they fit the person using them. OSHA's Computer Workstations eTool treats a neutral posture, with the joints naturally lined up, as the goal, because working that way puts less stress on muscles and tendons and lowers the risk of a musculoskeletal disorder.

Try It: Check Your Desk Against OSHA's Numbers

Sit the way you usually work, then check each point against OSHA's workstation guide.

The top line of the screen is
Points that match OSHA's guide2
Out of6

How People Say It at Work

  • "I finally set my monitor at the right height."
  • "The kitchen table is wrecking my back."
  • "I need a chair that actually adjusts for working at home."

The Breakdown

How to set up your workspace

  1. Start with the chair and desk. Adjust the chair height and the work surface together until you sit in a neutral posture, joints naturally lined up.
  2. Place the keyboard directly in front of you, close enough that your elbows stay by your sides with your forearms about parallel to the floor.
  3. Keep your elbows at about keyboard height, your shoulders relaxed, and your wrists straight, without bending up, down or to either side.
  4. Put the screen 20 to 40 inches from your eyes, measured to the front of the screen.
  5. Set the screen height so its top line is at or below eye level.

Try it today. Sit as you normally work and have someone measure from your eyes to the screen with a tape measure. Anything under 20 inches or over 40 is the first thing to fix.

A note on laptops. A laptop joins the screen and keyboard, so raising the screen to meet the eye-level guideline lifts the keys too. Meeting both guidelines at once usually takes a separate keyboard or a separate screen.

Good to Know

The measurements on this page come from OSHA's Computer Workstations eTool. If wrist, neck or back pain keeps coming back after you've adjusted your setup, talk to a doctor.

FAQ

How far should my monitor be from my eyes?

OSHA's guide gives a preferred viewing distance of 20 to 40 inches, measured from your eyes to the front surface of the screen.

How high should my monitor be?

Set it so the top line of the screen is at or below eye level, according to OSHA's Computer Workstations eTool.

Where should my keyboard go?

Directly in front of you, close enough that your elbows stay near your body with your forearms about parallel to the floor. Keep your wrists straight while you type.

Do It in Buhata

Tasks

Add a Task with a monthly repeat to recheck your screen distance, screen height and chair against this list.

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Related Terms and Categories

  • Ergonomics

    The science of fitting a job, its tools and its workspace to the person doing it, to lower the risk of strain and injury.

  • Remote work

    Doing your job from somewhere other than your employer's workplace, most often from home, for some or all of the workweek.

  • Hybrid work

    A work arrangement that splits the week between working from home and working at the employer's site, such as three office days and two at home.

  • Deep work

    Focused, distraction-free time spent on a mentally demanding task, a term from author Cal Newport's 2016 book Deep Work.

Work, career and remote life

Sources

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), "Computer Workstations eTool"; OSHA eTool, "Workstation Components: Monitors"; OSHA eTool, "Workstation Components: Keyboards"; OSHA eTool, "Positions"

Last updated .