Impact Office Blog

Here are our tips to help you stay organized and make your office a place of productivity…

The sun is starting to shine and the last thing anyone wants to be doing is working, inside, away from the fresh air and vitamin D. Spring is here and now is the perfect time to tackle any mess in your office! Why? Spring-cleaning your workspace can help boost your productivity, get more work done, feel more accomplished and could even get you back outside more often!

Tip #1: Filing System

Take advantage of productivity tools to help you keep your filing organized. Whether you need to tame a mountain of paperwork or sort through digital docs, there is a system that exists to help you tackle the heap. Our traditional filing systems will help keep the necessary paperwork in its place. Also try using colour to help visually keep tasks and notes sorted.

Tip #2: Make Big Notes

When a project is big and you’ve got multiple people working together, using dry-erase boards can be a huge help. Using a board can assist you in establishing goals, keeping important tasks on your radar and maintaining a sense of urgency (even while the sun shines temptingly out the windows!). Try our glass boards for a clean, stylish, yet productive addition to your office décor.

Tip #3: Keep Your Desk (and Desktop) Clear

There’s a lot to do on the job and having a chaotic desk will do nothing to help you maintain your productivity and sanity at work. Take the time to do a desk clear out of unnecessary paper, clutter and throw out pens that no longer work. As they say, a tidy space makes for a tidy mind! Don’t forget your computer desktop too!

Tip #4: Plants

Put plants in your office and breath deeply! Plants can help bring freshness and peace of the great outdoors into your space. We wrote all about how awesome plants are in a workspace and boosting your health is just one of the benefits.

Tip #5: Plan Your Time

This may seem obvious but it’s one tip that often gets forgotten. Create a routine and try to stick to it. For example, block out specific times in your day to address emails. Constantly jumping from task to inbox and back can eat up your time. Another technique is to dedicate blocks of time to get a task done. For example, try focusing on a task for 25 minutes before taking a short mental break.

Happy Spring Cleaning and wishing you a productive season!

(Image via Pexels) 

It's a new year and might we suggest a resolution? Stay healthy at work. 

When we say healthy, we mean more than just hearty salad lunches. Eating healthy during the work week is always a good thing, but it's only a small part of your overall work health. Most likely, the majority of time during your work week is spent, not eating, but sitting at your desk. For many of us, work consists of staring at the computer screen, slouched in our chairs and with very little activity. It's this sedentary lifestyle that can cause you more health problems than you may realize.

Luckily there are solutions. From chairs and desks to smaller accessories, we've got ergonomic solutions that will help you stay healthy and minimize your risk to repetitive strain injuries. We know that a comfortable work environment is a more productive work environment. Happier and healthier employees is not only a more productive way to operate your business, but also translates to cost savings. Pretty good right?

Here are our suggestions to achieving this happy, productive and healthy workplace:

Try our Electric Sit Stand Table or Work Station. Whatever your needs are, this desk will help you continue to work while give your back relief from sitting down for too long. 

Of course, you and your team will want to sit down some of the time as well. Outfit your office with ergonomic chairs or Sit Stand chairs. We have something that will suit every taste.

Supplement your ergonomic work station with the proper keyboard trays, monitor arms for ease of screen viewing, and foot rests.

Check out this video below that shows all about the healthiest way to work and utilize your ergonomic furniture. After all, you may have all the right equipment, but without a little extra guidance, you may be missing out on the key benefits of your ergonomic furniture!

Have a healthy 2016!

Give your staff the gift of office health this holiday season!

Show your appreciation for your employees this holiday season with the gift of an office furniture overhaul. Replace old, neglected office furniture that is most likely detracting from staff focus and productivity, and is definitely not good for anyone's posture. Not sure where to start? We've got you covered. Below is our holiday gift guide, suitable for any office space that is in need of some health-inspired holiday love.

From head to toe, give your employees' workstations an ergonomic makeover!

• Head: Set monitors to the ideal height for each employee with an adjustable monitor arm, such as the HDL Single Monitor Arm, to help prevent everything from neck strain to headaches.
• Upper Body: Adding a keyboard tray to a workstation prevents office workers from hunching over their keyboard and allows them to reap the full benefits offered by ergonomic chairs.
• Back: An ergonomic office chair, such as the ObusForme Executive, offers lumbar support and contour seating that will align the user's back into a healthy posture and relieve any back strain.
• Lower Body: Avoid the health issues that are associated with sitting for excessive periods of time by replacing your workstations with Electric Sit Stand Tables, allowing easy transitions from working at a traditional sitting desk to a standing desk with just the push of a button. These convenient adjustable tables are great for the health of not only the user's lower body, but also their heart health and more.
• Toe: Take advantage of the multitude of health benefits offered by a foot machine, which encourages gentle movement of the feet while working, and can prevent health issues such as varicose veins.

For more health conscious office solutions, take a look at the rest of our ergonomic products. Please do not hesitate to get in contact with our Sales Team should you have any questions.

Have a safe and happy holidays!

(Image via Pixabay)

A Saskatchewan teacher has his students standing up for their health.

Plants in the office should not be overlooked when you are building a workspace…

Office design is essential to creating an atmosphere that inspires creativity and productivity. There’s no doubt about that. Smart design can also make the office a healthy space by incorporating height adjustable desks and ergonomic options to help your team produce their best, while minimizing the risk of injury and muscle strains.

One accessory that makes a huge difference, not only in creativity and productivity, but also in your employee’s health and work satisfaction is greenery.

Here are the top three benefits of having plants in your office:

1. Plants create a calm environment.

Plants and green features can help to reduce your team’s stress levels. It is not uncommon for people to feel more at ease in their surroundings when they are close to greenery. Studies have shown that people in environments that contain plants experience less stress, better focus and take fewer sick days.

Plants also look beautiful and contribute to a more positive visual perception of the space to both employees and clients.

2. Cleaner air.

Plants do what plants do best and that is purify the air. Plants can improve the air quality inside buildings and can also contribute to stabilizing the humidity levels. Greenery reduces the carbon dioxide levels, as well as certain pollutants and airborne dusts.

3. Reduced noise.

Plants in a space can affect the acoustics of a room, muffling sound and reducing noise. How? Greenery can reduce the reverberation time of sound and, when placed strategically (such as in concrete areas, wood floors or marble walls), plants can absorb the noise and minimize the distraction to your employees.

So there you have it! Don’t forget to bring nature into your office, especially now that the weather is changing!

(Image via Pexels)

Five problems that may be contributing to a lower output of office productivity and the solutions that will help you solve them.

In the majority of offices across the world there are often many distractions that prevent employees from producing work at an optimal level. These distractions can range from mild problems to larger issues; everything from poor lighting at a person's desk, to severe bodily discomfort that an employee may be experiencing due to their workstation, can prevent a person from being their most productive self.

Below, you will find some of the most common problems office workers experience that often contribute to a lack of productivity, along with the simple solutions that can help you fix them. By implementing the below solutions, with any luck, your office should be producing its best work in no time!

PROBLEM #1:

Clutter and a lack of space can be a major distraction and contribute to a slower output of work.

SOLUTION #1:

Try clearing and organizing your desk first. If you find that there is still not enough space to lay out your daily work, consider upgrading your office's desks and cubicles to workstations and/or systems that have been designed for optimal workflow and ease of use.

PROBLEM #2:

Tired eyes caused by bad lighting.

SOLUTION #2:

If you have the ability to move your desk in your office, position your table by the window to take advantage of the natural light. If moving towards a window is not an option, or you find that you require more light, a correctly positioned desk lamp with a bright bulb is sure to help shine a light on this issue. (Pun intended!)

PROBLEM #3:

Have you noticed that you or your employees have issues sitting still throughout the work day? Many of us that work in an office environment feel the need to get up from our desks to escape the monotony of being seated for eight or more hours every day. What's more, office workers are now being encouraged to take breaks from sitting and stretch throughout the day for health reasons.

SOLUTION #3:

Height adjustable desks allow office workers the freedom to continue to work while standing, while also enabling the user to sit back down again, should they get tired of being on their feet.

PROBLEM #4:

Bodily aches and pains that result from poorly set up workstations, including neck, back and wrist pain.

SOLUTION #4:

Proper ergonomic solutions that address poor seating and workstation set ups. Solutions can range from ergonomic chairs, to keyboard trays and foot rests, to monitor arms that can be positioned to hold a monitor at the ideal height, distance and slant for each person.

PROBLEM #5:

Office paper work inefficiencies that lead to the same work being done more than once.

SOLUTION #5:

A proper filing system can prevent oversights in communication and multiple employees from completing the same work.

For general office solutions, please do not hesitate to contact us and our experienced sales team would be happy to assist you in finding the best office furniture for your needs.

(Image via Pixabay)

British health experts strongly urge office workers to stand for at least two hours of every workday.

While it's not news that siting for prolonged periods of time is bad for your health, the idea that daily activity outside of the office cannot offset these health risks is. 

In a recent article published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a panel of health experts have stated that even if you are active before or after work, you may still be at risk of developing the associated health risks of sitting for long periods of time, such as heart disease, obesity, cancer and early mortality rates. In an effort to reduce these office related health risks, the panel has also provided a set of guidelines to help counteract the negative effects of sitting for prolonged periods of time. The guidelines include encouraging office workers to try to be on their feet for at least two hours of the workday, eventually leading up to four hours. More than ever, it is crucial that workplaces begin to actively encourage their employees to stand for a portion of their office hours. 

Learn more about the expert advice provided in the guidelines by reading the following article from The Vancouver Sun: Don't take a seat: Panel says workers should stand for about 2 hours a day, even with exercise.

Frightening though the health risks may be, there are a few things that every office can do to assist in preventing their employees from being at risk of the aforementioned health conditions. With the initiative and leadership of office management, solutions as simple as walking meetings can help employees reach that two hour per day minimum of standing time. The most effective way to get your office standing, however, is to offer the option of standing throughout the workday. Ideally, each employee would have the option to stand at a time that works best with their schedule and physical needs. The perfect solution for this is, of course, an adjustable desk.

Height adjustable desks and electric sit stand workstations offer every office worker the choice of working while sitting or standing, with the option of adjusting the desk throughout the day. The Electric Sit Stand Desks, in particular, are easily adjustable and offer the choice of adjusting one's desk multiple times a day to the user's content.

Browse our entire selection of height adjustable tables, desks and workstations. For more information or assistance in choosing the right adjustable tables for your office space, please contact us and our team would be happy to help!

(Image via Juhan Sonin/CC BY 2.0) 

With people spending so much time at work, how can you make the work place a more engaging and energizing place to be?

 When employees work long hours in environments that are dull and boring can take a toll on their productivity and their health. We try and create engaging environments for schools and places for people to learn, so why don’t we do the same for where people work? Here are some easy ways to make your work place more exciting and dynamic to keep employees stimulated throughout their day.

1. Get rid of fluorescent and bad lighting: lighting is one of the most important things in a work environment, fluorescent lights can cause headaches and other annoyances get as much natural light as possible and use pot lighting instead.

2.Create Open Space: if the office is full of cubicles create an open area where people can leave their desks to work, chat, or take a break. Eating, working, relaxing all in the same place becomes repetitive and dull.

3. Create private space: if your office is extremely open concept with everyone working in close proximity, make a quiet area or room where people can go to get some peace and quiet and work alone when needed.

4. Keep Employees Comfortable:  making employees comfortable in their work setting is one of the most important things an employer can do, make sure they have proper ergonomic seating, that they have access to good drinking water, coffee or tea, and even some snacks to keep them going throughout the day. Also make sure the office temperature is neither too hot nor too cold making people extremely uncomfortable and distracted.

5. Encourage Breaks: if your employees are working long hours in their chairs looking at computer screens encouraging them to take short breaks can make a huge difference. A quick walk around the block or coffee break can re-energize workers and make them more productive, it is also very good for their overall health.

The Pros & Cons of Open Concept Work Spaces

There has been a lot of talk lately about how open concept offices are transforming the work place for the better. Open concept workplaces can be great, they maximize the amount of space a company has, they facilitate better communication, and they make it easy to get groups of people together for informal meetings and discussions. But what about the drawback of open concept work spaces?

After a lot of research the results of employee opinions of completely open concept work places are not entirely positive. Many employees feel that they have less privacy in open concept work places making them uncomfortable in certain situations thinking their co-workers can hear and see everything they are doing. Some also reported that it can lead to less focus due to the many distractions around them. Sound is a huge one, how are you supposed to get that report done when your co-worker is trying to make a sale right beside you? Sometimes employees don’t get along and that is ok but open concept environments can increase employee problems due to people not being able to escape when they are over whelmed, annoyed, or frustrated.

 We aren’t saying that offices shouldn’t convert to open concept work places but we are saying people should listen to their employees. Give them privacy with dividers between cubicles, have noise and music restrictions and give people head phones, and have spaces in the office where they can go and focus on their work in private if they need to. This will give employees the best of both worlds and increase employee satisfaction in the workplace!

Make 2015 your healthiest yet by making some small and easy changes to your work environment!

It’s the start of a new year and many people have made their resolutions and are trying to stick to them! One of the biggest resolutions is for people to live a healthier life. Impact Office has a variety of products that can help you get healthier, happier, and even lose some weight while you work! These products can help create a healthier office environment for employees reducing body aches and pains and increasing energy and focus.

Sit Stand Desks can be life changing, being able to change positions throughout your day and take weight of your lower body is great for your overall health and wellness. It helps increase your blood flow and increases focus and energy while ridding your body of those aches and pains that come from sitting all day.

Using an evolution ball chair for a small amount of time during your day allows your back the flex and move and strengthens your core to prevent strain and lower back injuries.

Any ergonomic accessories such as monitor arms, keyboard trays, foot machines, or a proper ergonomic chair can make the world of difference on your body at work! Try any of these products out and make 2015 you healthiest yet!