Is Work a Pain in Your Back?

Don’t let work be a pain in your back!

Poor posture is one of the biggest culprits for back injuries. Check out these 7 simple ways to improve your posture at work:

http://mashable.com/2014/05/27/posture-office-tips/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

How Well Does Your Office Chair Fit?

desk chairs fort wayne office furniture at Workspace Solutions

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We’ll also add a #8. Make sure your desk chair is comfortable, the correct size for your frame,  and provides the correct support. There are many different types and sizes of chairs. If your chair doesn’t fit your needs, contact one of the Workspace Solutions offices today in Fort Wayne, Warsaw, Indianapolis, and South Bend to find the best office chair for you.

 

WaveWorks by National Captures Your Imagination in Metal

 

Remember metal desks?  Probably not in a good way if you do, but you had to admit, they lasted forever, and were very cost effective.  What if you could combine the durability of metal with a great modern style?  Too late, it’s been done.  Take a look at WaveWorks metal furniture from National Furniture.

National Wave Works from Workspace Solutions photo 1

Let your metal imagination run wild with the flexibility of WaveWorks Metal and the unlimited options of WaveWorks Laminate surfaces to create incredibly durable, beautiful configurations. The blending of woodgrain, solid or patterned laminates with the sleeknessof metal delivers an awesome, enduring aesthetic. Combine all this with National’s extensive seating line, and you now have a single source for sustainable solutions to oblige all your metal desk and storage applications and footprints.

National Wave Works from Workspace Solutions photo 2

Enjoy the long-lasting appeal and ease of ownership of WaveWorks from National. Contact us here at Workspace Solutions to learn more about Wave Works from National, just one of the many hard working, professional lines we carry, sell, and install all over Fort Wayne, Northern Indiana, Central Indiana, and Indianapolis.

Natinal WaveWorks at Workspace Solutons showroom in downtown Fort Wayne, IN

Natinal WaveWorks at Workspace Solutons showroom in downtown Fort Wayne, IN

 

 

The Seat(ing) of Power, Gunlocke at Workspace Solutions

Here at Workspace Solutions, we’re proud to handle many fine lines of office chairs. Some, like La-Z-Boy are very well known, while others, like Gunlocke may be more famous for who’s used them. Every U.S. President from Woodrow Wilson to Jimmy Carter chose a Gunlocke chair for the Oval Office.

Truly successful workspace solutions also deliver long-term satisfaction and ongoing performance. That means building for the customer’s needs, today as well as tomorrow.
Not just anyone can make good on this promise. Delivering it requires a company that demands excellence at every level. Why settle for anything less than a furniture manufacturer who’s continually setting a higher standard on your behalf?

Since the 1920’s, Gunlocke has stayed focused on everything an office client needs to succeed: design, functionality, delivery, quality and value.
Workspace Solutions is proud to be a Gunlocke Dealer for Northern Indiana. Come see Gunlocke Quality for yourself in our downtown showroom at the corner of Main and Webster in Fort Wayne, IN

Which type of Worker is most likely to Develop Chronic Back Pain from Work?

Which of these two people are most likely to develop chronic back pain later in life?

A. Lumberjack

B. A Secretary in a modern office

The answer, of course, is B.  An office secretary, or business executive, or anyone who spends most of his or her time at work sitting, is far more likely to develop back and neck pain than a physically active worker.

Here are three of the major workplace contributors to back pain:

  • Slouching forward in your chair
  • Holding your telephone between your ear and your shoulder
  • Lack of movement during the work day

So, why are you still just sitting there. Get active now!  Here are some ideas from San Francisco State University’s Dr. Erik Peper

1.)   Support the natural curve of your spine! Office chairs should have lumbar support, a natural forward curve at belly button level. You can also put a pillow or rolled up towel behind your back to achieve this effect.

2.)   Adjust the height of your chair so you can keep your feet flat on the floor and your knees at 90-degree angles. You can also rest your feet on a prop, like a footrest or even a phone book, for extra support. Crossing your legs tightly reduces circulation in your legs and causes varicose veins, which look dark blue on your skin!

3.)   Remove or lower the armrests so your arms are at 90-degree angles. This will encourage you to hold your shoulders low, which your good for your upper back.

4.)   Keep your monitor about an arms length away and at or slightly below eye level. This will encourage you to sit back, instead of lean forward and reduces neck strain.

Stand Up and move around

Sitting (or even standing) in one position for an 8 hour workday can be very hard on your body!

1.)   Take short breaks, once every hour to use the restroom, get a glass of water, walk down the hallway, or just stretch. Sitting for long periods of time will weaken the muscles in your back. Stretching for just 60 seconds will counter the bad effects of long periods of just sitting.

2.)   Research suggests that about half your hours at work should be spent standing up. If you have a sit-stand workstation, alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day.

3.)   Strengthening your core muscles with exercise, such as yoga, pilates or sit-ups works  your stomach as well your back, which naturally improves your posture and reduces pain.

Workspace Solutions in Fort Wayne, IN, has ergonomic chairs, workstations and office desks that can help keep office workers healthy and happy.  Contact us to discuss how we can help your employees avoid the long term health issues that come from sitting all day long at work.

What ideas do you have for keeping active and not just sitting at your desk eight hours every day?

Take a Stand at Work. You’ve Got Nothing to Lose but a few Pounds

Well, it was good enough for Ernest Hemingway, but you still need more convincing.

We’re talking about standing up while your work, at least standing up for a few hours every day.  The evidence seems to keep mounting for how bad sitting all day is for your health, but now there is a little evidence that shows the benefits as well.

According to a British exercise scientist, Dr. John Buckley, as quoted in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail, staying on your feet an extra three hours daily would burn off eight pounds of fat each year.

Standing for three hours, Dr. Buckley notes, will burn 144 calories.  It’s also good for your circulation.  Sitting for long periods slows down your metabolic rate as well.

New adjustable desks and counter tops are being designed every day that allow you or your employees to spend part of the day standing while working.  Workspace Solutions works with dozens of the best office furniture companies in the world, and can help you design a work space that can help workers gain health and productivity, while losing weight at the same time.

Creating an Office Space for Collaboration with Hon’s new Flock Collaborative Solutions

Everyone today is talking about collaboration, bringing employees together to share and discuss their ideas.  It improves communications, cuts down on paperwork, and helps spark new ideas.  Collaboration is likely to happen anywhere, or not at all, depending on the layout of your work place.  It is more likely to happen if you encourage it with proper office design and layout.  Since collaboration is still a new concept for many, the nations’s top office furniture companies are just starting to offer specific products that they have designed and tested to increase the collaboration process in your office space.

The Hon Company, sold inFort  Wayne and Northern Indiana by Workspace Solutions,  has a new line entirely dedicated to collaboration.  It’s called Flock Collaborative Solutions because the idea is that workers will flock to these areas to share their best ideas.  In the same way as cubicles naturally keep people apart, collaborative areas must lure people into their spaces.  They must also facilitate the needs of the collaborators, or the desired collaboration won’t take place.  Companies like Hon, and office designers like Workspace Solutions, have been carefully studying what type of furnishings and designs not only bring people together, but help them work together to create the desired results.  At the same time, they are aware that such spaces must still fit the décor and decorum of your office.  Many companies have learned that their collaboration area is useful as a recruitment tool, since perspective employees are excited about the prospect of a strong collaborative environment, and are even already experienced these in college.

So the bottom line is, it must function properly, and it must look great, or it just won’t work at all.

With the incredible rate of change driven by technology, it shouldn’t’ be surprising to find our workspaces are changing as well.   Hon’s new Flock Collaborative Solutions, from Workspace Solutions shows how we continue to innovate to keep your work space up to date and running at maximum efficiency.

What if you designed furniture with the goal of keeping just the essential elements of function and form? You’d probably wind up with the Clarity seating series from AllSteel. Nothing extra, just what you need. The result is a chair that adapts to any space you put it into, and any type of work you are doing.

Workspace Solutions is proud to be an AllSteel dealer for Fort Wayne, South Bend, Indianapolis and most of Northern Indiana. AllSteel has been quality, innovative office furniture now for almost one hundred years.

 

When you sit on the Clarity chair, the mesh seat and back adjust immediately to you, providing instant comfort that actually anticipates your posture. Your comfortable at your desk, or anywhere you sit, and no matter which office task you are performing.

Contact us and learn more about the latest in seating, the Clarity Series Chairs from AllSteel and Workspace Solutions.

 

Ideas Flock together with new Flock line from Hon and Workspace Solutions

The current trend in office design encourages people to get up from their desks occasionally, to spend some time together collaborating and creating new concepts.  To make this work w need inviting spaces that welcome employees to work together away from their desks or workstations.  This fall, Hon Office Furniture and Workspace Solutions, your Hon dealer for Fort Wayne, and northern Indiana introduce Flock.  Flock supports collaboration and creates an environment of how people want to work and where they want to work.   Instead of making team members “make do” for group activities, Flock lets you dedicate zones where teamwork comes naturally.  As with all office furniture at Workspace Solutions, Flock from Hon is made for work.  It’s tough, hardworking, yet great loopking office furniture designed to last a long time and get the job done.    Flock by Hon becomes available this fall at Workspace Solutions in Fort Wayne, IN.

Google’s new London Office Offers us a Sneak Peak at the Future

Google has been  a trend setter in style and management over the past several years. So, when Google builds a new office (this time in London), the rest of us check it out to see if there’s any great new ideas we need to borrow, or at least to see what our office might look like in another ten years or so.  If Google’s London office is any clue, we’ll be seeing more padding on the walls, and a continuation of the trend to encourage employees to collaborate and work from many different parts of the office, technology freeing us from being tethered to our desks.

For fun, anyway, take a look at Google’s new London office in this web article by the website, digital trends.  Click here

What Google ideas would you like to see in your office?

 

Thousands of people in the office furniture business are in Chicago today at the final day of the 44th annual NeoCon — the National Exposition of Contract Furnishings show at the Merchandise Mart.

This is where we find all of the new innovations in office furniture and design that we will be including in our office plans for the coming year. In the weeks ahead, we’ll be sharing some of the new products introduced at the show that we will be carrying very soon.

In general, what’s happening this year? Well, Byron S. Morton, vice president of leasing for Merchandise Mart Properties, described the changes in the market as a move toward the collaboration of “live and work.” One of this year’s office trends is making the office feel more like home.
“What does the iPad generation need — or not need? They need connectivity and don’t need big bulky furniture,” Morton said.
We’ve seen a huge interest in hospital and medical furniture over the past years, and expect new things in this area as well. Re-visit our site in a couple of weeks, and we’ll show you what new things are heading to our showroom.