Does changing furniture provide you with better employee health?

Have you noticed that your productivity levels are slipping? Do you see a number of employees standing up and stretching often? Do they complain of back pain, neck pain, and wrist pain? There are so many things that can cause your productivity levels to be lower but one thing that might have an impact on the furniture in your office. Employee comfort is mandatory for healthy postures and proper office ergonomics. Are you encouraging your employees to have healthy office ergonomics? If you notice slouching employees, it is time to step in and help your employees so they don't have issues with neck and back pain along with other problems.

Staring at a computer screen for 8 or more hours a day can lead to headaches behind the eyes or sinus headaches. Just about anyone that spends hours in front of a computer will experience eye strain and sooner or later they may take time off work to deal with the pain and annoyance they have from the computer screen. When employees are taking time off to manage headaches and other health concerns that could be prevented will reduce your productivity and it can also hurt employee morale.

The good news is that there are so many different things you can do to improve employee health. Starting with simple things like changing out the office chairs. Do the chairs provide efficient lumbar support? Are they adjustable so the employee can change the height to be centered with the computer screen? How about the arm rests? Every good chair has arm rests so the employee can rest their elbows on them and take the strain off the neck and shoulder muscles that help to lift and support the arms.

What about the desks? Are they too short or too tall? While a good chair can help to fix this problem, it is also a good idea to seek out desks that are ideal for proper office ergonomics and promote proper posture without causing the employee to be far away from where their computer is located.

Do you have wrist pads for the employees? The wrist pads take the strain off the wrists and they do help to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. You will need to look into the gel wrist pads as they have more "give" than the rubber options. For the employees that already have carpal tunnel, purchase some wrist splints as they help to promote proper ergonomics and will allow the blood and nerves to run correctly into the hands.

How long are your employees staring at the computer screen? In addition to offering the employees wrist guards and better chairs, you can also help them by providing them with Computer Vision Glasses. These glasses have a very light tint and a small magnification that is used to reduce the strain on the eyes. They do cost about $30 per pair so you need to charge employees if they break or lose their initial free pair from the company. The glasses do a great job in improving eye stain and headaches that occur as a result of eye strain.

Encourage employees to get up and move around to get the blood flowing. When people sit for too long the blood pools and it increases the risk of blood clots. By having your employees stand up and stretch and walk around, it promotes better blood flow. Compression stockings can also aid in proper blood flow and they can really help to prevent blood clots from forming as well. Compression stockings cost about $20 for a good pair but they can go a long way toward improving the health of your employees.