July 29, 2009 at 7:58 am
At my last company, I used chairs as a recruitment/retention tool. I gave each new employee up to $100 reimbursement to go purchase the chair that they preferred and submit a receipt. Since we were a small company, it was one less item that I had to procure, one less argument with the employee about what was a good, comfortable chair, and if the employee wanted more than $100 spent, they could chip in the difference.
It was a small thing to me, but it was huge to the employees to finally have a comfortable chair that they liked. The morale builder was worth way more than $100.
July 29, 2009 at 7:59 am
At my office in Mpls, the purchasers saw fit to buy "Herman Miller" chairs for everyone, and I have to say that the money has been well spent. I've had mine for nearly 9 years now, and day in, day out, it is absolutely the most comfortable chair I've ever had. If you are going to spend 8, 9, 10 hours a day sitting, a Herman Miller chair is well worth the money, IMHO...
July 29, 2009 at 8:22 am
Just ask for a new chair. I've spoken to several accounting higher ups about stuff like this and the overall attitude is that it's not a big deal. Yeah, it's $500 or so, but really, in the grand scheme of the budget that's not much money. If you gain 5 minutes of productivity a day the chair more than pays for itself in a year.
I had one CFO tell me that for small purchases like desktop printers and chairs and such going through a justification process costs the company more than just buying it.
While I understand the "but everyone will want one" argument I don't really think it's true. Some people like their chair, some people won't notice or care, some people will complain and not do anything about it and a few will ask for a new chair.
--
JimFive
P.S. I tried to spell check this but there seem to be no words in the dictionary.
July 29, 2009 at 8:23 am
In my last job we all had serious, and I mean serious, office chairs. In fact, they came with a training DVD and we actually had to attend half an hour of chair training. I kid you not. Why, you may ask, would a company shell out roughly $800 per chair and buy in the neighborhood of 10,000 of them? You guessed it - the combination of Workers Comp claims and the company's insurance carrier. Seems there were lots of repetitive motion injuries. Enough so that the company had to do big league damage control.
Fast forward to my current job. During the process of deciding if this job was a good fit for me I noticed that the chair I would be using was horrible. OK, maybe it was tolerable for someone with no arthritis, back issues or rotator cuff problems. But it didn't even have arms. Regardless, I made a proper office chair a condition of employment. Then, when reporting for my first day the boss told me to go speak with purchasing and pick out a chair. Purchasing had a fit! I mentioned condition of employment and the Purchasing Manager acquiesced with a comment that everybody was going to request a good chair once they saw mine. Ya think? I became the chair snob. That was good with me. Needless to say, there are far less repetitive motion injuries around here. That saves everybody money. That keeps people at their desks working. If a company is going to make a profit they need to look at the whole picture, not just the upfront costs.
July 29, 2009 at 8:28 am
As a young buck (judging by your picture) you may not appreciate this, but after several years, these stresses take their toll on our bodies.
Steve Tahan
Let's just say I'm not a 20-something anymore. 🙂
As I'm reading these comments, I'm reminded of the "mind over matter" addage. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Some people however, like Steve, refuse to just accept working conditions as they are, or now regret accepting them earlier on and now multiple carpel tunnel surgeries later, are here to tell others coming up in the industry to take a stand - or a seat - if you will.
Yet those like Steve are likely to be received by much of the younger crowd similar to the wedding guest who was halted by the ancient mariner in Coleridge's "Ryme of the Ancient Mariner" who had his story of warning to tell - that ultimately fell on deaf ears.
I also can't wait to get on to the wedding feast and have my adventures, but when I get there, there'd better be some decent chairs. I've had it with these pieces of rubbish.
Bill Nicolich: www.SQLFave.com.
Daily tweet of what's new and interesting: AppendNow
July 29, 2009 at 8:33 am
July 29, 2009 at 8:45 am
I'm with Gus. Go test them out, take a book, spend 15 minutes (at least) in each one you like. Maybe bring a laptop, type a little, get a feel for the chair.
chairs don't much matter to me. I've got expensive ones and cheap ones, all seem to work OK for me. Maybe it's because I'm up and down all day, moving around, but they matter to my wife, and make a difference to you.
If you need one to fit you, go get it.
July 29, 2009 at 9:06 am
I bought a office chair from a second-hand office supplier about 8 years ago. Other than the seat getting a little hard (I bought a cushion) and my cats using the back as a scratching post, it's still in fine condition.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
July 29, 2009 at 9:26 am
$250 of my own money at Office Depot. Mesh seat and back, adjustable in all directions. Got tired of pleading, arguing and a sore back
July 29, 2009 at 9:30 am
Having been a consultant sence 19xx I have sat in 174 different chairs. From NEW to OLD, Cheep to Expensive, Mondain to Exotic.. I have never found a perfict chair, .....however I have have always been able to sleep in any of them...
July 29, 2009 at 9:35 am
Bill Nicolich (7/29/2009)
So cancel this afternoon's massage and spa treatment and do a little local shopping - there are great deals to be had.
Blandry: The spa treatment comment had me rolling. Thanks. I should explain the irony. About every morning all the IT folks including myself go help pull products out of our sweaty warehouse for half hour to an hour to fulfill orders. Around here, we're not exactly what you could call pampered prima donnas.
But I get it. In these tough economic times...
Every time you hear that intro, you know you're in for it. In these tough economic times, I maybe shouldn't complain about sitting on a glorified plank of wood all day. But then if I go out, buy a chair, that will stimulate the economy ever so slightly and maybe speed the recovery.
Definitely, if you can afford to buy your own chair and you are allowed to bring it into the office, buy the best chair you can find after personally checking it out, cheek to cheek (so to speak).
But I agree it may not be the best time to ask your company to buy you a chair when people are losing their jobs. If they are losing their jobs at your business. Say, you're not hiring, are you??
😛
July 29, 2009 at 9:35 am
i'm fine with whatever chair you'd like to get, as long as its not made of nauga...please "Save the Nauga" (http://www.gwinslow.com/gw/naugas.html)
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July 29, 2009 at 9:37 am
Chris Harshman (7/29/2009)
blandry (7/29/2009)
Buy a new chair??? With hundreds of companies going out of business and still more laying off workers, you are going out and buying a new chair?... but think of all the poor chair salespeople who need those commissions from new chair sales so they can afford to get their kids the GI-Joe with the Kung-Fu grip! (OK, I've watched the movie Trading Places too many times in the past month)
Seriously, What I've found typically to be a bigger problem than the chair is the proper keyboard placement. Every place I've ever worked at either doesn't have keyboard trays so the keyboard is a bit too high sitting on the desk, or they have improperly placed keyboard trays that sit too low and you have to adjust the chair so it's sitting on the floor making the rest of me uncomfortable. Chairs haven't bothered me much.
I agree with you. I found myself getting carpal tunnel in both wrists, which miraculously cured itself after a few days with the keyboard moved to the correct height.
July 29, 2009 at 9:37 am
At a former job, I requested purchasing to find me a chair that was built to take a lot more abuse because I had managed to wear out 2 chairs in 2 years.
They found a close-out on a chair that was meant to be super-heavy duty for places like nurses workstations where they are in use 24x7. I never had a more comfortable chair.
When I left that company there was quite a bit of contention over who was getting “the chair”, until my boss stepped in and took it for himself.
I don’t miss that job, but sometimes think about that chair…:crying:
July 29, 2009 at 9:39 am
rob.nickolaus (7/29/2009)
At my last company, I used chairs as a recruitment/retention tool. I gave each new employee up to $100 reimbursement to go purchase the chair that they preferred and submit a receipt. Since we were a small company, it was one less item that I had to procure, one less argument with the employee about what was a good, comfortable chair, and if the employee wanted more than $100 spent, they could chip in the difference.It was a small thing to me, but it was huge to the employees to finally have a comfortable chair that they liked. The morale builder was worth way more than $100.
This is a great idea. I wish all businesses had this policy. I would much rather choose my own chair than depend on someone else to select it for me. The only problem might be with front office or customer side staff, where you might want consistency in the office furniture for aesthetics.
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