Cheap office chairs costly mistake - 4

This is the final post on the pitfalls of buying cheap office chairs, so let’s answer the remaining questions.

Do I or my staff feel uncomfortable in the present office seats?

You need to look at your existing seating and the effect it is having on you or your staff.

Perhaps it’s worn out and beginning to show its age. Or even worse, there are visible signs like threadbare fabric, maybe even with holes in it with the foam padding is showing through.

If the seating is in a really poor state, it becomes something of an embarrassment and that can very easily damage your image and business. Imagine the reaction of a client visiting your office, it’s hardly likely to create a positive reaction if your chairs are clearly visually worn out. Subconsciously, it’s likely having the same effect on you too.

Let’s move on to the next point.

How do I or my staff feel about a cheap seat? Is it affecting productivity?

If you or your staff is sat in cheap seating that just isn’t comfortable, chances are it will affect morale and motivation. If chairs need frequent repairs, it really can be a false economy and effect efficiency whilst chairs remain unusable until they are repaired or spare parts arrive.

Finally, to the last point in my list.

What’s important to me or my staff about my/our office chair?

People will have many different opinions about what is important to them about their seating.

For many, possibly the majority it will be comfort and this is certainly significant if long hours are spent in a chair, particularly at a PC.

For others it will be a status or image thing, where the way the chair looks is important, that’s OK, but only once comfort and ease of adjustment is taken care of.

Lastly, there are the less obvious benefits of good seating, like productivity and how well tasks are performed and this will relate closely to comfort and ease of use when working, particularly under pressure.

People are much more likely to feel properly valued, if they have a good quality, comfortable seat that they can readily adjust to their own needs.

In the long term it pays to buy good seating, as it allows you to work more efficiently in good comfort to minimize aches, strains and pains.

Good office chairs should be seen as a long term investment with a life expectancy of 5 - 8 years and yes they will cost you more initially. But surely it’s better to but them once and forget about them, rather than replacing cheap seating two or three times over the equivalent life span of a quality chair.