|
|
What Do Office Workstations Consist Of?
As studies showing the tangible benefits of placing workers in an ergonomically correct and well designed environment have become common, many companies have started to explore the benefits of office workstations. A common question asked by business managers and executives considering investing in office workstations is: what do they consist of?
That seems like a reasonable question, and the short answer does not do justice to the complexities of each item. For the sake of brevity, the short answer consists of ergonomically correct chairs, desks, and possibly drawers all potentially enclosed in sound reducing partitioning.
While chairs have the unenviable task of hosting the derrières of modern office workers, but they are actually very important to efficiency according to ergonomic studies. Proper height, support, the ability to pivot and/or rotate, as well as whether or not the chair should have wheels are all very important ergonomic choices, but often take back seat to decisions such as aesthetics and comfort. While aesthetics and comfort are undeniably important aspects of any piece of furniture, one should not overlook the benefits of proper ergonomics at the expensive of something flashy or more comfortable; bear in mind that comfort may actually be opposed to proper ergonomics in some situations, and many chairs are used as examples of this counterintuitive relationship.
If the chair forms the base of any office workstation, then the desk is the backbone. Desks have come a long way since their origin of rectangular surfaces for working. Modern office workstations are built around shaped desks typically featuring angled surfaces allowing for larger areas to store, review, modify, and create documents while a computer monitor is typically found in the very corner of the desk, in the least usable surface while the mouse and keyboard are in easy reach, potentially on a roll out sub-surface tray.
Office workstations need to have sufficient desk space to allow their occupant(s) to get enough work done without the need to constantly sift through folders and documents that are stored elsewhere. Such abused of time are extremely wasteful, and choosing a desk with sufficient surface area in an appropriate size is critical to making the most out of any office workstation. That does not mean that workstations should be devoid of any method to store documents. Drawers, filing cabinets, and even desktop filing bins are very common items built into desks or somehow added to the office workstation via a separate piece of office furniture or on the partitions.
The partitions separating office workstations from each other and from the rest of the office environment are important both ergonomically as well as for practical purposes. Ergonomics are important because walls can be used to effectively hold documents such as pertinent memos or even filing systems within easy reach. Documents and folders should be at or near eye level to ensure that the users of office workstations are as productive as possible. Keeping sounds contained is important for maximizing floor space utilization. Too many people in too tight an area generate too much noise, and therefore sound absorbing partitions can help one better utilize their limited office floor space.
|
|
|
