What Is Productivity?

What is your opinion of quality design and proper ergonomic furniture, chairs, etc relative to workforce productivity, happiness, and ability to be creative/execute?

• My post pertains to Knoll. Interested in opinions on their new stuff and how startup entrepreneurs perceive this category as "investment in people" or "basic expense"? Many startups go the IKEA or used route for desks, chairs, etc. Eventually some find that what they get from these sources or Office Depot/Staples are less than ideal. In many cases "saving money" is important but then founders and the team come to hate crappy chairs, office, the overall environment - bad chairs hurt the body/long hours, etc. reducing productivity (maybe speaking more Series A not seed but at any level of stage is the investment worth it like a good laptop? If you care about Design (note the big D) overall and in your product should you be supported by well designed stuff throughout? One body. One Mind.). More specifically what is the potential due to better quality design, manufacturing, and affordability that perhaps these new product approaches by Knoll (or others) are either equally/better priced and more functional than other alternatives that startups have traditionally gone for. Is a mindset reset needed in this important but overlooked area? Can a bring-your-own-chair culture develop like people changed IT's lockdown of cell phones with the iPhone? How much of this stuff (design, workability, functionality) in your opinions goes toward empowering culture, productivity, etc. Lastly, have any of you actually tried out some of these next generation products (chairs specifically) to calculate out if the better quality and design (!) makes enough of a difference to consider this route (see their web site for Antenna line, Generation chairs, etc.). I know that the Aeron chair back in the day was both loved and reviled. I believe that there might be validity if one is really investing in people to carry though the thinking as much to the office environment as we can (and to try to support it in budget as "people first product second", e.g. if you kill your people in your environment you have no product). Thoughts? Not taking a stand here one way or another just seeking some input on the topic. Thanks.

• Answer:

  Commercial interiors from online resources, are not the best way to go. The hands on approach with local service providers that are adequately insured, know ergonomics, capable of helping the decision maker through the quality issue, space planning, special accommodations, natural lighting, acoustics and all things ergonomic - will save headaches, revenue and the complaints!