Many employers are normalising homeworking arrangements for their entire or a portion of their workforce. This is clearly necessary in order to minimise the potential for Covid-19 to spread, but it should not be at the cost of employees’ physical or mental wellbeing.
By law employers have a duty of care to their workers, regardless of whether they’re in a regular place of business or not. This means being open to discussions about homeworking arrangements – for example, childcare responsibilities – and providing equipment which allows us to work safely – for example, computers, chairs and desks.The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations, 1992 are there to protect you.
Tell your manager you’re going to conduct a Display Screen Equipment self-assessment (checklist: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ck1.pdf) and make sure any shortcoming are resolved. The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors https://www.ergonomics.org.uk/ has produced these handy infographics outlining the steps for healthy homeworking.