Office furniture: where ergonomics meets aesthetics

Furniture can play a role in alleviating these health concerns. Ergonomic seating can provide lumbar support and encourage a more beneficial posture. A footstool can allow you to create the right angle for your legs, and adjustable stands for your computer monitor will ensure your head and neck do not tilt downwards when working. Companies have been working for years to encourage people to sit with perfect posture but now it seems that even this isn’t enough. If your job requires you to be working at a desk all day then no amount of seating or desk alignment will negate the damage done from sitting.

Furniture companies have responded with standing desks, sit-stand workstations and even treadmill options. Some of these are ergonomically encouraging but for many companies the cost of implementing such solutions, particularly on a wide scale, is prohibitive. With the amount of research citing ‘sitting is the new smoking’ trend, it seems paradoxical that companies are increasingly adopting more of a ‘coffee shop’ or ‘homely’ feel to their working areas. Comfy sofas, benches, stools or even bean bags are increasing in popularity as an alternative to the posture-conscious desk. So, is this trend a reflection of businesses showing greater consideration to aesthetics and functionality over ergonomics?

This paradox of office furniture trends is easily explained, and is in reality two sides of the same coin. As a business, you have a responsibility to provide a working environment that is conducive to your employees’ good health and wellbeing. But conversely, as an employee you have a responsibility to not put yourself at risk. So what this means in essence, is that a company cannot only provide bean bags to work on and you as an individual should not choose to only work on a bean bag.

The best thing a company can do for employee wellbeing is provide a variety of settings that encourage people to move about the office throughout the day so you are not 100% sedentary. Yes, an ergonomically designed workstation may be a part of that but so might a stool, standing desk or even a sofa. Individuals have a responsibility to make a choice that benefits both the task and their own wellbeing.