The relationship between workers and their environment

The human body is designed to move, it’s what we’ve been doing for thousands of years. The issue that we all face, at home and in the office, is that modern life is overwhelmingly sedentary. With some reports claiming the average person sits for 12 hours per day. But by making careful decisions, we can make significant improvements to our home and office lives.

So much more than a chair

Ergonomics is the study of how equipment and furniture can be arranged so that people can do work or other activities more efficiently and comfortably. Which is why a full customisable chair is an excellent start. But to get the most out of your team we need to decide where movement can be encouraged.  It’s why we relocated our storage to the exterior walls to encourage twisting and movement. There are roles where moving storage further away will have a negative effect on productivity and comfort. So we must consider the functions that they need to do efficiently while encouraging activities we know that are good for them.

Build movement into your workspace

At Planned Office Interiors our team work on creating a healthy balance between the workspace environment, everyday tasks, and the office equipment. Why? Because there is significant research by Cornell University that increased employee wellbeing and performance can be achieved as a result of building regular movement into workspace design.

Workstation set-up

A sensible place to start when building movement into the workplace is the workstation. Every employee must have the ability to configure their equipment to the correct height, angle and distance for their needs. And wherever possible, employees should be encouraged to change their posture every 30-minutes. This can be done with ergonomic chairs that allow the user to move, balance and improve their position without thinking about it. Or by creating the need to move by placing storage and equipment, such as a printer, a short walk away.

Standing, moving and sitting

According to research, changing your position by standing or moving every 30-minutes has substantial physical and wellbeing benefits. Sometimes, a short walk to get a drink, asking a colleague a question or putting paper into the central recycling bin is all it takes. These frequent and gentle changes in heart rate and posture throughout the day enable our bodies to stay loose and our minds active. Research proves that an active workplace will increase employee productivity by 46%.

Ask Neil about our range of ergonomic workspace solutions – helping employers to make their workspaces healthier and more productive on 01785 817114