An office is a place where the average adult spends most of his or her active hours within a day and it is a place where they are assigned to tasks that they are required to perform in order for the organisation to achieve production targets either in the form of goods or services. Production targets are in essence the productivity benchmarks that the organisation sets as goals and each employee contributes to these set goals within their capacity.
Due to this and based on a multitude of research that revolved around ‘productivity’, organisations came to realisation that productivity is a key element towards achieving organisational goals and among the most important element that advocates high level of productivity is the office environment itself.
This led to organisations designing offices to look appealing though fancy décor, fixtures and lighting in the initial stages around the 1960’s and by the 70’s conveniences such as pantries and rest areas were included into the ‘office concept’ which were good improvements, however, still inadequate. Eventually all findings based on research pointed to one single element every single time and this element was ‘comfort’.
According to Premier Office Furniture, when employees are comfortable, they automatically become highly productive and among the elements within an office that is critical to the ‘comfort factor’ is the design and quality of office furniture followed by how the furniture is set up in the office which is equally important that will be featured in our subsequent article that will follow this article soon.
Quality & Design of Office Furniture
The quality of furniture refers to the materials that were used to make the furniture. The fabric, the type of cushion material, the type of steel and plastic that is used to produce the furniture, all of which present the quality of the furniture in terms of robustness and strength.
Office furniture is used constantly for a minimum of 8 hours a day, almost every day of the week throughout the year and therefore the materials used to make the furniture and its assembly must be able to withstand the wear and tear for at least a few years of almost daily use.
It is also important to examine the upholstery for especially office chair, it is crucial that the fabric is either leather or fabric that is of exceptional quality. The paddings of office chairs are also critical to comfort as they should not be too hard, too soft and must always be breathable.
These are the fundamental towards ensuring comfort for the regular office which in turn has a positive impact on the productivity levels of employees in general. In cities such as Melbourne, the problem is never about buying office furniture; it is always about choosing the right office furniture.
The number of choices and options that is available is enormous and safe to say tiring. The issue of furniture price, aesthetics, quality and design are the main focus of office managers which should never be the case – the priority should be placed on comfort – period.
