Despite appearances, the office can be quite the bad workspace to spend about eight hours per day. If aches and pains aren’t strange to you, then the office might be taking its toll on your health. Luckily, nowadays thanks to ergonomics, it’s something that can easily be fixed.
Since ensuring the health and safety of the employees ought to be at the core of every company, that’s exactly what investing in ergonomics does. With the variety of furniture specifically designed to provide the benefits of ergonomics, along with the variety of brands like the notable Ergotron one can choose from, it’s neither difficult not pricey to invest in such innovative solutions for the workplace.
While it may not be everyone’s priority, fact is when you’ve got a work environment with furnishings that aren’t there to get you, you don’t get discomfort distracting you from your work, thus there’s an expected improvement in productivity. When a person is working with discomfort, not only will the productivity lessen, the quality of work would suffer from it too.
As a result, there’d be an increase in absenteeism, as well as cases with both direct and indirect costs of compensation claims. It shouldn’t come as a surprise this leads to a shaken reputation of the company itself, and doesn’t make the employees feel valued so it’s at the expense of the morale as well.
All this could easily be prevented by acquiring the necessary bits and pieces of ergonomics, a decision that results in a return of investment, by the way.
Essential Furniture and Accessories
· 1. The chair is one of the most essential pieces of furniture at the workplace, even more if you spend most of your worktime sitting. Since every employee is different in the likes and dislikes, it takes getting their preferences into account to decide on the right ergonomic chair for each of them instead of buying the same model for everyone, paying attention to adjustment, armrests, neck rest, footrests, as well as width and height.
· 2. Nowadays when the benefits of alternating between sitting and standing are becoming widely known, shopping would be incomplete without the specialised Ergotron sit-stand desk, or at least an accessory that helps transform a simple tabletop into a sit-stand workstation, as in the example of Ergotron WorkFit, without requiring any special tools or skills to install it.
You won’t even have to worry about how to adjust Ergotron standing desk because their products are designed to be user-friendly, and thanks to the strong lift assist mechanism, with the simple move of the upfront handles you can adjust yours up and down as you see fit; in other words, it’s effortless, and you won’t even have to reach or bend over to adjust it.
Best of all is, there are those models offering adjustability for the keyboard as well, not only lowering or rising them but positioning them at an angle too. Now this is an aspect that’s just as crucial, having in mind how often carpal tunnel syndrome happens to be a problem at the office.
· 3. It doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting or standing, you mustn’t put a strain on your neck throughout work either which is why getting a monitor stand is also mandatory. Wondering how to adjust Ergotron monitor stand?
This brand’s stands have got a patented CF™ motion technology guaranteeing premium adjustment, allowing you to lift and tilt one or two displays simultaneously in a single motion, though if you’re up for even more flexibility, especially if you’re also working with laptops or tablets, perhaps the monitor arm would be a better solution.
I know a lot of people ask themselves: Are monitor arms worth it? Well the answer is yes, especially if you’re up for clearing out some much needed space on your desk, and getting the chance to organise it better.
Things to Remember
The bad thing about investing in office equipment like Ergotron ergonomics is not knowing how to use it properly. To make the most of this ingenious design, it’s necessary to have some basic knowledge on how to position each and every piece of furniture or accessory.
For instance, to be able to minimise the chances for MSDs, it’s advisable to keep the screen, or rather the top of it, at eye level though even lower by one degree is also acceptable, both when sitting and standing. As for the tilt, to get the best view while still not causing an eye strain or glare, a slight tilt from the bottom of the screen towards the employee would do, the degree depending on personal preference up to 30 degrees.
Let’s not forget the screen distance is equally important, so the screen should be kept at least at an arm’s length away for best use. Speaking of the keyboard, it ought to be placed at a level that allows for the hands and forearms to be slightly downward, and a good indicator you’re not using the keyboard correctly is bending your wrists to the point of getting wrinkles at the top of them.
