Create a healthy work environment for employees with ergonomic furniture
Startups are often birthed from an innovative idea: a solution to a pain felt by an industry. But as any startup entrepreneur knows, a great idea does not make a successful startup on its own. It must be coupled with a dedicated, hard-working team that is willing to wear many hats, go beyond the call of duty, work long hours, and often accept sub-par pay.
One of your chief goals then, becomes attracting and retaining a strong, knowledgeable, committed team. But the stats say that today’s college graduates will have a dozen or more jobs by the time they hit their 30s. And high employee turnover rates are expensive. Replacing an employee who earns $50K can cost $75K. And that is just the start. If you could add in hidden costs like lowered productivity, overworked remaining staff, lost knowledge, interviewing and training costs, recruiters, and more – the costs become astronomical.
Therefore, startups must look for ways to find the right people and keep them happy on the job. One way is by creating a healthy environment. Research shows that the work environment accounts for up to 25% of job satisfaction. Organizations need to invest in a well-designed workplace that communicates its commitment to company values and brand (CoreNet 2012).
Your employees give a large part of their day (and some nights) to your startup. To reward them, offer an environment that loudly declares that you care about them. Investing in ergonomic furniture is a great way to create a healthy workplace for these reasons:
1. Investing in your employees’ health
Sitting is the new smoking. Being sedentary at work is bad for our health. New ergonomic furniture concepts like sit/stand workstations and adjustable chairs create a workplace that fosters health and well-being and reduces stress. Investing in the health of employees has many benefits. Most importantly, of course, is healthy employees. But also, employees will notice that their health is of paramount importance to their company; this will foster job satisfaction and spark dedication.
2. Investing in efficiency
Research has pointed out that properly designed workplaces increase workers’ efficiency. Appropriate color schemes have proven to help in concentration and work productivity. Excessively bright or dull colors should be avoided. If the design can incorporate pleasant, motivating interiors with comfortable chairs and desks with proper lighting, storage and layout plan, the possibilities of better work progress is likely. Efficient employees complete more tasks in less time, with higher quality work.
3. Investing in creativity
Startups rely on creativity; healthy workplaces enhance creative thinking and prevent the aches and pains we’ve all experienced after a long and intense creative work session. Ergonomically designed workspaces can enhance creativity by giving a team the options for movement, whether sitting or standing for brainstorming [Dul, J., Ceylan, C. (2010). Work environments for employee creativity. Ergonomics]. The creativity you invest in now may be the creativity that produces the next great idea in your startup.
4. Investing in safety
When we think about on-the-job safety, we may think of factories or construction sites, but there are safety hazards in poorly designed offices too. OSHA has an entire sections devoted to computer workstations. Ergonomic furniture and accessories can help reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and carpal tunnel, while promoting good circulation, healthy posture, overall health and well-being.
5. Minimizing costs
Startups often need to scale up (or down) their workforce. By investing is adjustable, customizable ergonomic furniture, adding new team members can be done quickly, easily, and affordably.
The Most Important Reason
At the end of the day, the goal of a startup is its own success. The team is the enabler of the startup. With their hard work and dedication, a startup will rise. Ergonomic furniture, therefore, can be viewed as the enabler of the team, or the enabler of the enabler. The investment that makes your team healthy, efficient, creative, safe, and profit-conscious is the investment that is best for your startup.
