A Home Office Checklist That Starts With Your Laptop

If your desk becomes the dinner table at six o'clock, a permanent office setup may be unrealistic. The useful question is what you can set up consistently each morning, then put away without a room full of equipment.

Separate viewing from typing

A laptop joins the screen and keyboard together. Raising it can improve your view of the display while leaving the keyboard too high to use comfortably. For sustained work, a separate keyboard and mouse let you position the display independently.

The HSE laptop setup guidance recommends separate typing devices so the screen can be raised on a suitable riser. Use a stable surface intended to carry the equipment, and follow the laptop's instructions for ventilation. A secure riser is preferable to stacked objects that could wobble or fall.

Build a small setup you can repeat

Keep the keyboard, mouse and any suitable riser together so the effort of unpacking them does not become a reason to work hunched over the laptop. Leave room for the current task: typing needs a different arrangement from a call with handwritten notes.

When you pack away, remember the cables. They should not run across a route where somebody will walk or catch the equipment. Check the setup again when the table moves or another person uses the chair.

Match the change to the problem

You lean forwards to read.

Check screen position, text size and glare first. Moving the chair or adding back padding will not make small text easier to read.

You lift your shoulders while typing.

Look at the relationship between table height, seat height and keyboard position. If changing chair height leaves your feet unsupported, address that too.

You cannot reach the backrest and keyboard together.

Check seat depth and how close the chair can get to the table. Thick padding may reduce usable space further.

You keep turning to use your notes.

Move the items you use most within comfortable reach. Give the active document space near the screen rather than leaving it behind you.

If you work for an employer

Raise an unsuitable setup through the workplace's DSE assessment process. HSE's home-working guidance considers the whole workstation and says that furniture already in the home may or may not be sufficient. A chair cushion is not a substitute for assessing the work.

Notice what happens when you put the kit away

A portable setup needs to be straightforward to unpack each day. If the riser takes over the room or the chair blocks the table, simplify the arrangement. Keep regular changes of activity in the day as well; the HSE break guidance applies to the routine around screen work.

For a compatible chair that otherwise works at the table, our home-working back cushion page explains an optional way to add lower-back contact. It cannot change the height of the table or fix the linked screen and keyboard on its own.

Sources reviewed October 2026. General seating guidance; seek individual advice for persistent symptoms.