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Whether it’s our homes or workplaces, furniture designs play a pivotal role in setting up the decorum, elevating the aesthetics, and from pragmatic usability perspectives too. Furniture articles and designs have witnessed significant shifts in terms of styling, aesthetics, sophistication, and modularity over the decades. Ergonomics in interior design is a trend that has been ruling the furniture ecosystem for quite some time, and it’s anticipated to stay in trend in the foreseeable future too.
In this article, we will discuss ergonomic design in furniture at length.
Let’s get started!
Before we delve into ergonomic furniture designs, let’s understand what ergonomics is. In a nutshell, ergonomics is the study of how the human body works, interacts, and responds to environmental objects. The human body tends to have a certain postural alignment for performing a particular task or activity. These insights are leveraged in the designing of ergonomic furniture pieces.
Ergonomic furniture pieces are furniture articles that have been designed to support function and comfort for human use. Reducing the risk of musculoskeletal problems, joint pain, back issues, neck pains, arthritis, restricted organs, and poor blood pressure are some of the key objectives of ergonomic furniture designs.
Furniture designs are versatile in today’s marketplace, and why not. The choice of furniture, requirements, style preferences, and a host of other factors vary from individual to individual. The same is applicable to home and office furniture furnishings too. At home, you may prefer an ergonomic sofa and ergonomic chair designs for the living room and ergonomic beds, mattresses, and pillows for the bedroom. If you happen to have a study or a temporary workstation at home, you may also go for ergonomic desks, keyboard panels, chairs, sofas, recliners, and more. For office settings, ergonomic furniture, especially ergonomic chairs, has become a must. This is pivotal to ensure employees have a healthy and comfortable workstation experience, don’t end up hurting their spine and body muscles, have maximum productivity enabled by proper postural support, and more. So, you might wonder what makes a piece of furniture ergonomic. Let’s take a close look at some of the key attributes of ergonomic furniture designs.
The human body tends to have specific movements and postures while sitting, standing, working at a desk, or performing any other task in an office setting. Ergonomic furniture pieces are those that enable these routine body movements rather than restricting them in any capacity.
S is deemed the natural posture for the spine. However, certain employees might lean towards the C posture while working or using office gadgets. Several studies have cited that a majority of employees tend to use 3 to 4 varied gadgets during their 8+ hours of work. While occasional C postures might not be harmful, their prolonged presence may lead to a host of spinal cord and musculoskeletal health concerns for the employees. Ergonomic chair designs, desk designs, keyboard panels, and other furniture essentials aim at fostering the S shape for the spinal cords of the employees. Thus, they are crucial in ensuring employee wellness, productivity, and performance while keeping postural health concerns at bay.
Ergonomics in interior designs, especially for office furnishings, is gaining ground quite rapidly and unarguably so. Office furniture articles, such as desks, chairs, meeting tables, and other essentials, are going to be used by a range of people differing in body weight, structure, and posture. And, normal office furniture articles might not be equipped to cater to such a versatile range of people. At this juncture, ergonomic design plays an important role. Ergo furniture articles are crafted to accommodate the functional requirements of a diverse range of people.
Compared to regular furniture, ergonomic furniture pieces encourage ample natural movement of the body during work hours. This is particularly essential in ensuring employee overall wellness, engagement, and collaboration at the workplace.
Furniture designs, whether for a home or office setting, hold aesthetic and sophistication significance. However, ergonomic furniture designs place more stress on the usability, comfort, and convenience aspects.
Prolonged hours at office desks are the new normal. While these can’t be avoided, hurting or stressing the bones, joints, and muscles can certainly be avoided. This is exactly what ergonomic furniture articles aim at doing.
Height adjustability, pivoting/swivelling features, weight-activated seating mechanisms, temperature-controlled furniture fabrics, and so on are some of the other crucial attributes of ergonomic furniture designs.
Ergonomic furniture articles are no longer just a luxury or status quo product that office interior decorators might think of opting for. Instead, ergonomic designs have emerged as a must for office settings for today and tomorrow. And why not? With the rise in sedentary lifestyle choices, more and more people are swaying away from physical exercise that tends to keep their healthy body and mind wise. Eating out of cans, packages, and microwave containers is increasingly being preferred. Prolonged hours at the desk, irrespective of the hour of the clock, eating and sleeping disorders are contributing to a host of primary and secondary healthcare concerns. While ergonomics in interior designs might not solve all these challenges, it can certainly ensure proper postural alignment during work hours. Some of the key benefits of leveraging ergonomic furniture in office settings include:
Imagine you are craning your neck to watch a slideshow or work on a spreadsheet on your desktop. And you need to dedicate a couple of hours to the same. By the time you are done, you might have a sprained neck, aching back, and sore eyes and your productivity for the rest of the day or work hours may just substantially decline. At the same time, imagine you are sitting on an ergonomic chair design, and your desk, keyboard panel, and everything else is perfectly reachable. By the time you are done with a certain task, you are not fatigued or aching. Ergonomic furniture designs can do this trick. Lack of fatigue means you are raring to go after other tasks on your table. And, your heightened productivity not only helps your organisation’s mission but adds to your personal performance and success too.
Employees are deemed the biggest assets any organisation can have. They are crucial in guiding the organisation in realising its short and long-term goals and objectives. They are crucial in achieving the perfect equilibrium between the internal and external stakeholders, and so on. Thus, an organisation’s success depends on its employees’ productivity. And similarly, the employees’ productivity depends on the level of comfort and convenience they feel while working. Ergonomic furniture designs at the workplace ensure that employees enjoy maximum flexibility in terms of body movement while they are at work. These furniture designs help minimise the instances of discomfort, stress to the body’s bones, joints, and muscles, distractions, etc.
Diversity and inclusion – this is probably the latest and most talked about topic in office settings, whether it’s the lounge areas or the boardrooms. Today’s workplace is getting geographically, socially, and culturally diverse, and the workplace floor plans and furniture articles need to be inclusive too.
In this regard, ergonomic furniture pieces are going to be the go-to solution. These are crafted to be customisable and adaptable to a diverse range of people. These are far more accommodating and versatile in nature compared to the conventional office furniture essentials.
When we talk about well-being, it has two crucial aspects – physical and mental. Ergonomic designs help employees enjoy the best of both worlds. With proper postural alignment and flexibility enabled by ergonomic designs, employees feel not only physically invigorated but also mentally fit and firm. Offices that come equipped with requisite ergonomic furniture designs tend to give off the vibe that they care for their employees’ overall well-being. And this is certainly going to be rewarding for both the employees and employers in the long run. Now that we have discussed the attributes and benefits of ergonomic furniture designs let’s understand how workplaces can be appropriately equipped with ergonomic designs.
As the famous adage goes, “change is the only constant”; workplaces need to be equipped to cater to the changing working environment. For organisations that are keen on embracing and making most of these changes in a swift, efficient, and hassle-free manner, here are some of the ways to leverage ergonomic furniture to do so.
Every member of your team is unique in their own way, whether it’s about their personality, professional acumen, height, weight, or posture. Thus, the furniture that they are going to use on a daily basis at the office needs to be personalised as per their specific needs. Thus, while purchasing ergonomic furniture online or offline, keep your employees’ requirements in mind. The next thing to consider is the nature of your employees’ work. Though ergonomic furniture is crafted to be adaptable to a vast community of people, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach here. One ergonomic chair design that is awesome for some employees might not be applicable to all. So, while vetting ergonomic furniture designs, keep the above aspects in mind.
Adaptability is key to sustenance. For your office space, get ergonomic chairs, desks, sit-stand desks, and footrests that are crafted to offer maximum comfort, flexibility, and convenience. Most ergonomic chair designs come equipped with height-adjustable features and interchangeable cylinders to accommodate people of varying heights. Get the right fits for your office environment. Employees sitting for long hours at desks need optimal leg space to be flexible. Get desks for your office that cater to this specific need. You can also strategically place footrests under the ergo desks so that your employees can keep their feet up and creativity at its peak.
As we have already covered earlier in the article, office furniture is not something that you are going to change every year. And ergonomic furniture is definitely pricier than regular office furniture. So, it’s going to be a considerable investment too. Whether you are planning to purchase these furniture designs online or offline from stores, make the most of the ‘try before you buy’ concept. This way, you will be able to make judicious purchase decisions.
Ergonomics in interior design is probably the next big buzz that’s going to stay in trend for quite the foreseeable future. If you are keen on making the switch from traditional to ergonomic furniture and wondering where to get the best ergonomic designs online, you won’t have to look beyond Alankaram. Alankram, inspired by its core principles of aesthetic, elegant, and sustainable furniture designs, brings you a carefully curated collection of ergonomic furniture, such as ergonomic chairs, desks, and other furniture essentials. Choose Alankaram; choose to redefine your workspace. Offer your employees a workplace environment that inspires them to be at their creative and productive best.
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