Saturday, August 11, 2007

An Office Chair: More Than Just a Piece of Furniture

A working professional in today's era spends almost 10 to 15 hours in the office. With almost all industries becoming computerised, and various softwares introduced to make work easier for the professionals, they have all the information just at the click of the mouse. Due to technological advancements, people working in offices and especially employed in white collared jobs, seldom have to move from where they are seated. Hence, the office chair becomes a constant companion and an integral part of their lives.

Though just a piece of furniture, it occupies an important place in a working professionals daily routine. Comfort is extremely important while designing a chair used in the office, since the employee has to sit on it and work for long and continuous periods. Earlier desks and chairs were not accorded much importance when used in an office environment. But with mounting work pressures and with employees increasingly spending more and more hours in the workplace, the impact of the furniture used in offices and their effects on the employee's health, efficiency and productivity has been closely analysed.

Office chairs are designed in such a way so as to make an employee sit at his work station comfortably continuously for long hours, and at the same time provide mobility as well to interact with colleagues and peers. It is with this in mind that chairs with wheels or swivel chairs were introduced. The seats are usually cushioned to provide comfort to the employees.

The seats on these office chairs adapt to the body structure of the individuals sitting on it. These days most of the chairs used in offices have height adjustable features. The employees can adjust the height of the chair according to their own heights and the height of the desk or the workstation. The armrests and the backs of the chairs are designed to help the employees maintain a correct posture and spinal and other back problems. The main purpose of comfortable office furniture is to help the professional in forgetting about discomfiture and focus entirely on work.

While purchasing an office chair several things have to be kept in mind like the designation of the person and his working hours in the office. The right office chair does not only provide comfort to the employees, but also increases their efficiency, resulting in the overall growth of the organisation.