Office chairs are often not adjusted by end-users

Abstract

To find out how many office workers adjust their chairs, 350 office workers in Spain and the Netherlands are observed and questioned on whether they adjust their chairs. It appears that 24% of 236 Spanish office workers and 61% of 100 Dutch subjects never adjust their chair. If the chair is adjusted, it concerns mostly the seat height. Except for the seat height, other adjustment possibilities are not used by the majority of the study population. Reasons for not adapting could be awareness, complexity of the control system and expected effects.

Do office workers adjust their chairs? End-user knowledge, use and barriers to chair adjustment

“…When provided with a new office chair, the worker may seek to make certain immediate adjustments to it to optimize it for their body size and comfort. The need to provide adequate support for the feet on the floor, for example, may promote a search for the seat height control (Vink et al, 2007). Indeed Groenesteijn et al (2009a) found that chair adjustment was more common in initial chair use compared with later use.…”

“…Individual differences and increased workforce diversity suggest that sitting in a chair previously adjusted for someone else's body size and working needs may result in physical discomfort (from an excessively high seat pan, for example) which may drive some chair adjustment behavior. Vink et al (2007) suggested that many office chairs are designed without realistic knowledge of their users, and users are presumed to possess knowledge they do not have. Indeed, the presence of a highly adjustable chair is no guarantee its user has been trained to use itor does.…”

“…Indeed, the presence of a highly adjustable chair is no guarantee its user has been trained to use itor does. Nor is the busy office worker likely to prioritize studying the 42-page chair user guide reported by Vink et al (2007). Groenesteijn et al (2009b) suggested that most users do not invest effort in learning their chair's adjustable functions.…”

“…Groenesteijn et al (2009b) suggested that most users do not invest effort in learning their chair's adjustable functions. Results of a Dutch-Spanish office chair field study by Vink et al (2007) showed that 24% of 246 Spanish office workers and 61% of 100 Dutch office workers had never adjusted their chair. A later field study by Robertson et al (2009) noted the role of chair training in significantly improving chair adjustable function use.…”

“…Many office workers spend most of their working day sitting in their chairs yet several studies have shown that a high proportion of them never make adjustments to them, nor do they know how to adjust them correctly for their comfort, body size or working tasks (Hedge, 2016;Vink et al, 2007). The reasons for this, although known to be complex, have received minimal attention in the recent literature.…”