Office goers across the globe spend a large portion of their day sitting. While going about their daily tasks, the 2 pieces of work equipment that they rely on the most are their desk and chair. Of the 2, the desk is static, leaving the chair as the only dynamic or adjustable element to ensure their physical comfort. In fact, the role of the chair is so important that its design and the posture assumed by the user while seated on it, have a substantial impact on the individual’s musculoskeletal health and productivity at work.
Over the years, chair design has progressed, and the equipment has evolved to become more flexible, better supported, and ergonomic. However, there has been relatively little discussion about how different kinds of work influence the decision of buying an appropriate chair. Godrej Interio’s Ergonomic Research Cell set out to study the activities performed by the users across organizations with the objective of clustering work based on interaction levels, tools used, screen time, etc. We examined how office work can be classified into various groups based on shared characteristics. Additionally, we studied how different work demands of each group can be better addressed with specific kinds of chairs.
Understanding the RIGHT chair:
Today’s work scenario demands long hours at the office, increased screen time, and reduced physical activity. What most people don’t realize is that sitting for long hours while at work, builds up stress in the lower back, shoulders, arms, and legs. Our study shows that 64% of office goers spend 9 hours a day seated, and close to 7 hours on their desktop or laptop. All this, coupled with incorrect seating postures compounds stress, significantly affecting the spine and the back muscles.
To mitigate these eventualities, organizations must move to ergonomic chairs. These chair designs focus on providing adequate support to the entire spine and creating a better posture while seated. Factors like different roles and their different range of action, mobility, and physical freedom should be considered. Given the wide divergence in activities across job roles, it is apparent that chair selection must consider not only the user but also the task they perform.
How can we define employee requirements with respect to chairs?
Backed by a deep understanding of Indian workspaces and Anthropometry, we devised a “User Action Interaction Matrix” that helps classify workers into different categories and then helps to determine the recommended features for the chairs for each category. This Matrix is intended to help organizations focus on the specific task demands of employees and help guide them in the right chair.
To know more about our Action-Interaction Matrix, download the complete whitepaper.