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The office chair you choose plays a big role in your workday. We often give them little thought, until they break. But minute by minute, hour by hour, an office chair can help or hinder your work. Choose one that isn’t right for your particular needs and you will find yourself constantly irritated, even if you’re not fully aware of it.

Physical construction is the most basic level of a good office chair. It needs to be solidly built and the right size for you. It has to have the proper cushioning and good material. But that is only the beginning.

A good chair will adjust easily through a wide range of heights and angles to conform to your body and style. Have you ever seen an office chair where adjusting the height becomes an Olympic sport? Some designs require you to have the strength of an athlete just to raise the level an inch. Others have the opposite problem, popping up or down at the slightest touch of the lever. Avoid them.

Contemporary office chair designs will provide excellent support to the lower back. They’ll allow you to adjust the height and sometimes even the angle of the arm rests. That’s key to ensuring that you get the proper orientation to the desk and keyboard. You can then work in comfort, avoid long term health problems, and get more done in a day.

Depending on the size of your office, though, you may need more than just desk chairs for you and your partner, staff or co-workers. If you have clients or a reception area, good supplemental seating is a must. In Japan or China, what you offer your guests says a lot about how you regard them. Westerners may place less emphasis on it, but the effect is still there, if more subtle. Mesh chairs or bungee chairs are both appreciated by everyone.

The design of the primary office chair or supplemental seating can also say a lot about the business owner. We’ve all seen scenes in films of highly stylish law offices, for example. The seating isn’t just a matter of impressing clients, as important as that may be. A good design presents an image that goes beyond vanity. It establishes an air of competence, good design sense and more that can mean the difference between getting the contract or not.

Fortunately, there are hundreds of models on the market that fulfill both roles - beauty and function - very nicely. A leather-covered office chair with a cherry wood base is stylish. Wheels that never wear out with easy to reach controls make it highly utilitarian. An ergonomic chair with a rachet back adjustment puts support at just the right height for you. Great padding makes it comfortable. Stylish fabric makes it a joy to use.

Many small business owners have a tendency to resist spending on a fine chair. That’s understandable. Tight budgets are one key to success. But given the years of use and the effect a good office chair has on the decor it pays to spend a little more to get a lot more. After all, buying ugly, too-tight shoes isn’t for you. You’ll get as much use out of a good office chair as any footware.

When buying office furniture, we often tend to think only in terms of utility. But appearance can play a valid role, and not simply in order to impress clients.

When you look for an ergonomic chair, you’re interested in one that is comfortable, with controls to adjust the back angle and arm rest height. A desk with a keyboard shelf should be adjustable in terms of both height and angle. These features help make the furniture more usable and reduce the odds of back or wrist pain. That allows them to fulfill their primary role, the reason you buy them in the first place: to increase productivity.

But how they look also fulfills that goal, in part, though perhaps in more subtle ways.

Going to the office, especially a home office, requires motivation. For those running a small business, keeping that motivation high day after day through 14-hour, seven-days-a-week challenges can be tough. Disappointments are frequent, rewards often less so. Many entrepreneurs report that keeping their spirits up is actually the hardest part of running the business.

A fine looking piece of furniture can well help ease that burden. Even the most practical-minded persons are affected by the environment around them. It’s no accident that motivational posters, photos and prints continue to sell well. Even a child’s drawing can be a reminder of why we work so hard. An elegant desk can draw you to the computer.

Most successful business-people are so in part because they have good focus. They can really concentrate, shutting out distractions. But even the most dedicated will take a moment to look up, scan around and see the office decor. Filling it with a fine looking set of document holders or a stylish pen holder brings a smile. Having a work table that is a thing of beauty as well as function is a delight.

The objects we choose are a reminder of who we are and our unique personalities. We feel more at home when the furniture and accessories reflect our values. Since those vary from person to person, every area will be different. Even in relatively large, impersonal settings like big corporations you see cubicles adorned with personal items. But every one tells us something about who works there.

It’s not a mere indulgence to choose items that dress up the work area just the way you like. It lifts your mood, which has a direct bearing on how eager you are to work there. When you’re excited about getting down to business, you get down to business much better.

Beauty, after all is said, is a very practical value.

Small businesses need to keep their budgets tight. Weathering downturns is a challenge for every business. This principle, called capital conservation, is a major key to success, especially for those just starting out. With the cost of office furniture and equipment today, it’s more important than ever.   Continue Reading »

The word ergonomic refers to the science of applying knowledge about human physiology and behavior to the design of the things people use. In the context of office equipment and furniture it can be applied to keyboard stands, monitor arms, chairs and desks, and a wide variety of other things found in the office.
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When you shop for office furniture you have a basic choice to make about where to buy. In the past, the default option might have been the local office supply store or department store. Today, it isn’t just music or movies or even computers that are bought online. Furniture, too, is an option.

The advantages of buying office furniture in a brick and mortar establishment are obvious. You get to see the furniture first hand, making it easy to judge size, color and other factors.

But the disadvantages should be equally obvious. You have to take time away from the home office for shopping. That cuts into your work day. You have to consume gasoline, no small expense these days. Then, even if you buy, you still have to find a way to get the item home. Depending on the item, that can range from trivial to impossible.

There was a time not too long ago when no one would have considered buying a pair of shoes on the web. There was too little useful information and too much risk. Today, with software that sizes your foot exactly you can sometimes get a better fit from an Internet vendor than a retail store.

Likewise with office furniture, the information available online today far outweighs what you’re likely to get in any store. Salespeople are rarely experts in the things they sell today. When shopping online you can get technical information from multiple sources.

You also get user’s manuals, diagrams, how-to instructions for assembly and more. That is the sort of reference material that, in days past, you would have to purchase the item to obtain. Now, you can get it before you ever buy. That helps you judge ease of use or assembly and more before you invest.

There’s one aspect of that information you can almost never get in a retail scenario, either: reviews. On odd occasions you might have a valuable recommendation from a friend or associate. Today, thanks to a trend popularized by Amazon but now used by hundreds of places online, you can scan through reviews from real buyers.

Those buyers might be anywhere in the world, giving you a good mix of attitudes and backgrounds. A percentage are clueless. Many know more much than any salesperson you have ever met. With that additional insight you can shop with confidence.

Delivery problems are a thing of the past, too. FedEx, UPS and other carriers today deliver everything from computers to king-sized beds with ease, often for free. You might think the delivery cost was built into the price, but it isn’t necessarily so. If they have to deliver to a store, it often costs no more to deliver to you. Delivering a monitor, an office chair or even a desk represents no problem even for those who have an office in rural areas.

Weigh the pros and cons for yourself of shopping at a retail store versus using an online office equipment vendor. You might decide never to leave your desk again.

Find office furniture at eBay.