Is Your Office Workstation a Hub Or a Hole?

Since an office workstation will be the base for most employees to spend the majority of their day, it is of crucial importance to make sure that you have considered a whole range of factors in order to ensure their comfort and safety. There are often some areas to which a great deal of attention is given, but sadly there are often others which are entirely ignored or overlooked, and if this is the case then over the longer term it is highly probable that injuries, strains or simply a decline in productivity will occur.

Yet there are relatively simple things which can be done to improve office workstation design, and the good news is that not all of the solutions cost money. In some cases it will be important to spend a little extra on order to reap a better level of productivity from your employees, but in some cases it is simply a case of considering all possible factors, and looking around at the influencing features of the office environment and deciding how best the office can be designed and compiled into a single cohesive solution.

After all, if your office is a major hub within your business then it will be important to make sure that those working within such an office environment are able to do so efficiently and safely, and that there should be no causes for a decrease in potential workload or activity.

The morale and general well-being of employees is often deemed to be something which is largely out of the hands of the business, and often blamed on either mood swings, home or finance problems or clashes with others in the workplace. Even employees can sometimes be hard pressed to put a finger on why they may not be having a great day or working as hard they could. Yet all too often it is the design of the office, and the office workstation in particular, which is to blame in part.

Most office workstations these days have a computer of some kind, and clearly it will be of significant importance to make sure that any prolonged use of the computer has been thought through carefully, with the workstation itself, the chair, and the technology all working fluidly together as a solution which maximizes comfort and productivity for the employee.

It will certainly be highly advisable to make sure that the chair provided for your employees has a number of basic adjustments, such as height, tilt, lumbar support and of course a back rest. Arm rests aren't always necessary, and usually serve relatively little benefit as far as ergonomics are concerned. To be able to raise or lower the chair in order to make sure that the employee's eyes are level with the monitor is essential, as any tilting of the head can easily result in strain or compression injuries over time, These can be very painful, resulting in twinges or headaches which will undoubtedly result in reduced workflow at the very least.

However, in designing the office workstation itself, have you also considered where you will locate it? There are a number of factors so often ignored or overlooked. Primarily this tends to be because those people designing or planning the office space do so standing up, walking around and looking at the office workstations from angles which are quite different from those which the employee is likely to use.

One such example is placing a workstation in such a way that the employee has their back to the window. How could this be an issue? For two main reasons - firstly the bright sun coming in is almost certainly likely to reflect off the screen. If the workstation has been built to a standard arrangement then the monitor will be on top of the desk, facing the window and reflecting the outside of the office. By forcing the employee to squint against the light, and subconsciously flick focus between the distant reflections and the text on the screen much closer you will be certain to encourage eyestrain and headaches which will reduce productivity.

There is also the fact that the sun may well cause a surge in heat, making the employee feel physically uncomfortable too. So how about switching the workstation to face the window? This then has the problem of causing the employee to look at a screen which is almost silhouetted by the bright light behind. This will also cause eyestrain and headaches.

The best idea is to angle workstations so that there is no direct light either behind or in front of the desk, providing the employees with a screen that is easy to read, positioned at the correct height and has no bright light sources nearby to cause any eye strain or distraction. The office workstation should be designed and positioned from the employee's point of view, not just the designer's or the manager's. Make your office workstation a hub, and not a hole, and allow your employees to work effectively and efficiently without damaging themselves or your business.