How Office Furniture Solutions Can Solve Employee Health Problems

Oct 26
08:51

2009

Margaret Winfrey

Margaret Winfrey

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

If this is multiplied several times, how will this impact on your business? Yet for the sake of a few extra dollars it is often the case that these issues can be rectified or prevented. Even worse, if an employee suffers health problems as a direct result of poorly designed office furniture or a poorly designed.

mediaimage
A wide number of office furniture solutions are available to solve many of the common problems which can be experienced within a typical office environment. However,How Office Furniture Solutions Can Solve Employee Health Problems Articles many of these problems are overlooked or ignored, or even accepted as simply part of the way things work. Yet in a modern twenty-first century office there should really be very few problems that could affect the productivity of the office and of the business.

Often it is simply a case of realizing that the problems exist, whether they have been raised or ignored, and identifying ways in which they can be improved. All too often, it is the small, niggling little issues that can become deeply irritating, yet accepted, and that can cause a genuine decline in performance. If employees are uncomfortable or experience issues within the office environment then it is inevitable that over time they will develop bad habits to overcome the problems, or even suffer as a direct result.

In any case, there will almost certainly be two distinct results, once of which is a general decline in efficiency and productivity, the other being a decline in health and welfare. Both of these problems should cause you concern, and very often all it takes are a few extra dollars to make the difference between a happy productive office and one on which you have to spend too much time and too many dollars. If an employee starts to work less productively, at the rate of a 1% decline per week, then within about a year their productivity will have halved.

If this is multiplied several times, how will this impact on your business? Yet for the sake of a few extra dollars it is often the case that these issues can be rectified or prevented. Even worse, if an employee suffers health problems as a direct result of poorly designed office furniture or a poorly designed layout then the repercussions from this can be significant. Quite apart from having to pay sick leave, it could also cost you a large sum of money in compensation should the injuries or problems be deemed serious, particularly if your office design has taken liberty with health and safety law on workstation ergonomics and employee health issues.

Such problems can include repetitive strain injuries that cost businesses millions of dollars every year. So what are the general problems which people find, and what furniture solutions exist to be able to help overcome or prevent these problems from occurring? In some cases, it is a matter of sourcing office furniture which is of a good quality and a good standard of design and manufacture. In others it is a matter of finding furniture which is fully adjustable (not all people are of the same dimensions!), and there are issues with respect to the siting and arrangement of office furniture to consider.

Is your office designed to impress visitors, or for the comfort and efficiency of your employees? Perhaps a bit of both? Let us have a look at some of the more common problems which people can experience working within an office environment.

One of the most common issues relates to the seating arrangements for employees. Quiet clearly no two employees working within your office will be built the same. Height is just one way to consider people's needs, but there are so many others. For example, two employees who are both 170 centimeters tall might be considered to have the same basic needs as far as chair and desk height are concerned. Not so!

Overall height can be the same but more often than not, the torso will be shorter or taller in one case, with shorter or longer legs for the other person. Even just a few centimeters can make a massive difference. When these two employees are sitting down, their overall height becomes largely irrelevant. The height at which their head rests is now one of the critical factors. If they need to use a screen or monitor, then it is important that when they sit down they do not have to angle their head up or tilt it down in order to see the screen properly.

Any slight inclination of the head eventually puts a strain on the neck muscles, and if the monitor is too high, then the slight tilting back of the head will put continued compression strain on the back of the neck. The typical result of this is neck pain, stiffness, discomfort and headaches, and over a long period of time can cause very serious injuries. Clearly if an employee is working with a monitor that over time is causing a number of health problems, the relationship between cause and effect may not be easy to identify, and could be attributed to stress or other factors. Yet these little differences can easily cause significant consequences.

In order to safeguard against this relatively simple yet significant injury it is important to make sure that you use furniture solutions to maximize comfort and office ergonomics, such as height adjustable chairs, height and angle adjustable monitors and possibly even height adjustable desks.

Arm length is also a significant factor, but you should have the picture by now.  The vast majority of employers are not experts in this field, yet they act as though they were.  Would you design your own product ion equipment?  Then why design your own office layout, which can be just as important to the success of your company as any other department within the business. It is the one area most frequently ignored, yet one that can make or break your company. 

Employee health problems and office furniture design can go hand in hand, and the right office furniture solutions for your business can ensure your continued success.