Telework can offer health problems identical to those of traditional work. To make this practice sustainable, posturologist Olivier Girard recommends six steps on Europe 1 in order to best prepare his telework. Useful in the office, these tips become essential at home.

Telework has become more popular during confinement. Some companies are now considering perpetuating it, but teleworking in good conditions requires preparation. For Olivier Girard, ergonomist, posturologist and author of the book Plein le dos: le manual de la posture , guest of Europe 1, there are six main steps to follow to telecommute in a sustainable and risk-free way. Precautions necessary because "all the risks that you observe in a workplace that result in back pathologies are specifically created by what you do with your body".

Preliminary step: prepare for telework

As Olivier Girard recalls, even in telework "the employer is responsible for ensuring that you work in good conditions", which was not necessarily the case during the coronavirus crisis. Several conditions must be fulfilled according to him. 

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"It takes training" in the right attitudes for employees and managers. Companies must review their managerial conditions to manage employees remotely. Conversely, the employee must be able to benefit from home advice if he wishes, "but the employer must respect his private life". In addition, it requires "the same working conditions as in the office". "Telecommuting should be conditioned on having the space to do so", judges Olivier Girard. 

Steps one and two: choosing the right seat

The seat should not be "too low" or "too deep" like a sofa, it should "not be too hard, otherwise you will never sit on the bones of the buttocks, and there must be lumbar support". It is indeed necessary to be on the bones of the buttocks, against the backrest, with the stable pelvis. This seat "chosen through these four criteria, will closely or remotely resemble a kitchen chair".

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Then you have to do "seat tuning". The objective is "to soften the seat if it is a wooden seat, so that you can last a long time". This involves adding a cushion but it must be well chosen. "With a very thick cushion, your pelvis will go forward" and slide. So you need "a rather thin cushion" and a lumbar support, such as a lumbar cushion or towels, for the backrest.

Steps three and four: a suitable table to protect your neck 

"For 90% of humanity, the right work table will be between 68 and 76 centimeters high." But as Olivier Girard specifies, 76 centimeters is a maximum and "most of the coffee tables are precisely around 75-76 cm. So often the table that we will find at home will be too high" . The ideal is to have "a desk that is more or less at the level of his elbows" or to raise his seat.

You must also have your equipment optimally to protect your shoulders and neck. The keyboard and mouse should be "right under your fingers. It should be where your fingers are when you have your elbows close to your body". The height of the screens is finally essential. "On a cell phone the nape of the neck is very bent and that is a risk for the nape of the neck so we will either raise the laptop or put a separate screen".

Steps five and six: reorganize your work time and take breaks

These first steps are "biomechanical" and make sure you are well seated. But as Olivier Girard points out, "even if you are well seated you cannot stay forever, you will have to reorganize breaks". "The breaks will be all the more frequent as your posture is going to be sub-optimal".

So if your position is optimal, as good as it can be "you can be seated for half an hour without needing to get up", but "after half an hour it is still recommended" . Conversely if it is not optimal, "we can go down to a quarter of an hour". The idea is not always to stop working but simply to get into a standing position for a few moments.