People don’t often think that “work” and “comfort” go very well together in the same sentence. After all, you’re not at work to relax, right? Isn’t a little bit of discomfort a good thing?

The problem here is that people only think comfort is useful for relaxation. But comfort is an essential element of any practice, including and especially work. The relation between work and comfort is studied as ergonomics. If you want a more ergonomically-sound office, here are the things you need to consider.

Seats

The seats in your office are perhaps the most important part of your office furniture. The seat is, after all, the thing that an employee uses more than any other object in the office! If the seats in your office aren’t comfortable and sturdy, you can run into a bunch of problems.

The negative effect you may notice the quickest is that productivity isn’t at an optimum level. That’s because an uncomfortable worker is an unhappy worker! Unhappiness is one of the biggest enemies of office productivity.

One of the effects that will show themselves over time is pain. If the seats in your office don’t offer your employees enough back support, then poor posture will be encouraged. This can result in long-term back problems.

Temperature

A lack of heat in your office isn’t usually something you have to worry about. When you have a room full of breathing bodies and whirring computers, enough heat is usually generated. Of course, this isn’t always the case. Heating should be available in your office, though you should be wary of the fact that some employees may get too hot.

If even one employee feels uncomfortably hot, you’ll need to turn the heating down. After all, those who are feeling too cold can put on extra layers. People who are feeling too hot are somewhat limited in how many layers they can remove in the office!

A lack of heat is a rare problem in an office. Too much heat is another matter! As has been implied, offices can get pretty hot on their own. This is true in most places. But here in Australia, the general heat can already get quite punishing! This means that a good air conditioning system is more important than a heating system.

Space

Business owners often find their offices crammed full of stuff. If it isn’t piles of files everywhere, it’s a bunch of superfluous technology lying around the office.

Having a lot of space in the office is often a bad sign for many business owners. When they see all that space, they jump to the conclusion that they don’t have enough employees. Or they start to think that they’ve got a bigger office than they need, and could save money by moving into something smaller!

But cramped offices affect the output of your employees. When employees begin working too close to one another, it makes them feel stressed. Especially if you have some claustrophobes in your midst! A cramped office will also result in more heat. So don’t worry about having a little superfluous space. Room to move around will help your employees think more clearly.