What is The Best Office Chair
EDMONTON - There are no "ifs" or "ands" about it. When talking office chairs, it is all about the butts.
We may work in the age of BlackBerries and laptops, but the good old chair is still the most important tool for those who toil at their desks.
"It is the base of support," ergonomics consultant Sharon Taylor says. "If you were standing all day, your shoes would be No. 1. But you're seated all day, so your chair is your No. 1."
The right chair can make employees more productive. The wrong chair can inflict pain and distract from work. That makes picking the perfect chair one of the most important decisions a workplace can make.
It also can be a costly one, as a single chair costs hundreds, even thousands, of dollars. The challenge for bosses and purchasing departments is to find the right chair in what amounts to a warehouse full of options.
At the NeoCon World's Trade Fair, one of the world's biggest commercial furniture exhibitions held every year in Chicago, there are thousands of office chairs on display. Many Edmonton architects and furniture retailers attend the annual showcase.
Virtually every manufacturer introduces a new chair or modified version of an existing product at each show, said Mark Falanga, senior vice-president of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., the company that hosts NeoCon.
"The chair is the most significant product of all office furniture," Falanga said. "It's the most personal of office furniture products. We all sit in chairs, we all spend hours and hours a day in them. We all have opinions about them. It's a product that is more often discussed than others."
With that in mind, The Journal asked four downtown office workers to give up their usual seats for three weeks and offer their opinions on five chairs loaned to us by local distributors. Some of the products were relative newcomers. Others were established favourites.
We asked testers to sit in each chair for three days. After every trial, they filled out an evaluation ranking each one on its adjustability, initial comfort, long-term comfort and look, as well as offering comments about their likes and dislikes.
Our volunteers were Lisa Holmes, a law office receptionist at Duncan & Craig LLP; Brad Schultz, the Alberta Recycling Management Authority's director of tire recycling; Bette Roehr, a litigation paralegal from Chatwin Cox Michalyshyn LLP; and Peter Schwann, a commercial real estate agent with Avison Young.
We also asked Taylor of ErgoSum Consulting to offer her opinion on each product.
We learned that the perfect office chair really is in the eye, and backside, of the sitter.
Steelcase's Leap, a top-seller of RGO Office Products, received the highest average score in our trial by a narrow margin. Teknion's Contessa, a relative newcomer to the market from Allwest, received the second-highest average score. It was followed closely by Allsteel's Sum from Corporate Express and Herman Miller's Aeron from Omega Furnishings, which tied for third.
Testers identified three different products as individual favourites. Two awarded the Contessa their highest score, while the Leap and the Aeron ranked No. 1 for the two others.
The Ikea Klappe, the most economical of our test products, did not score well with the testers. But Taylor, who works for agencies such as the Worker's Compensation Board and private clients, said she thinks it would be a good chair for petite clients.
Ultimately, Taylor said, businesses looking to buy new chairs for their staff should look for the best individual fit before they worry about price.
"What I ask my clients is, how much is a person worth to you?" Taylor said. "If you take their salary and divide it by the number of working days of the year and figure that person was away for three days because their back was sore, that would more than cover the cost of any of those chairs."
sodonnell@thejournal.canwest.com
The chair challenge: With so many office chairs to choose from, The Journal decided to go beyond the promotional brochures and put five chairs to the test. Five local furniture vendors loaned us their products to test against the competition, while four downtown office workers volunteered their time and behinds.
Each chair received a score on a scale of one to five, with five being the most favourable. Testers evaluated each product on its adjustability, initial comfort, long-term comfort and its look. Here are their comments and the results:
AERON
Average score: Rating 3 1/2
Maker: Herman Miller
Local vendor: Omega Business Furnishings
Price: $1,050 and up
Warranty: 12 years
Neat feature: Mesh material lets air pass through, preventing sweaty-back feel
REVIEWS:
- Bette: "I thought it was a great chair. It was comfortable and had great back support." 3.5
- Peter: "I'd definitely switch from my normal chair to this one. It sat higher for me, which was great. The tilt on it was relatively easy and it felt natural." 4.5
- Lisa: "I did not like that it was very light, much like a lawn chair. I found it uncomfortable." 3.25
- Brad: "A middle-of-the-road chair. Don't think it would be high on my short list." 2.75
- Taylor's view: "This chair is one at the top of my list. It comes in three sizes: small, medium and large. But I find it doesn't work for tall and very skinny people because of the length of the armrests."
CONTESSA
Average score: Rating 3 3/4
Maker: Teknion
Local vendor: Allwest Commercial Furnishings
Price: $700 and up
Warranty: Lifetime except seating mechanism, pneumatic cylinder
Neat feature: Seat height and tilt controls built into armrests for easy access
REVIEWS:
- Bette: "It had very comfortable back support. I didn't like that the arms move too easily when you lean on them." 4.25
- Peter: "It looked very sleek and professional. But I didn't find it overly comfortable in terms of its height and ability to tilt." 3.5
- Lisa: "I liked the look and how easy it was to adjust the settings. I disliked how the chair made you sit so upright, almost pushing you forward." 3.5
- Brad: "I found the chair very easy to adjust and the levers are accessible. The look was fine. It was a good fit for my size and build. Very modern." 3.75
- Taylor's view: "It fits into the lumbar spine well and the fabric breathes. There are mechanisms built into the armrests of this chair. This is a little bit of a drawback. While it makes the mechanism more accessible, you can't remove the armrests if they interfere with the desk."
KLAPPE
Average score: Rating 1 3/4
Maker: Ikea
Local vendor: Ikea
Price: $489
Warranty: 10 years
Neat feature: Armrests can be moved out of the way with a push
REVIEWS:
- Bette: "If I leaned into the left arm, it clicked out of place. It looked cheap and uncomfortable. I didn't like much about this chair." 1.5
- Peter: "It looked like a basic office chair, not overly fancy, but practical. The tilt function wasn't very smooth and it didn't sit high enough for a taller user." 2.25
- Lisa: "After a day, I could not stand it any longer. When you sat in the chair, it made you lean forward, giving you both a back- and neck-ache." 1.25
- Brad: "It looked OK, a little different from a conventional office chair. It was like sitting on a rock, however. Not a chair I would be able to sit in for a long period of time." 2
- Taylor's view: "This chair is really nice for smaller bodies. I haven't used it before, but I think I will in the future. It's got moderate lumbar support, which for smaller bodies might be better. The only thing I don't like about it is the armrests felt wobbly."
LEAP
Average score: Rating 3 4/5
Maker: Steelcase
Local vendor: RGO Office Products
Price: $900 and up
Warranty: Lifetime on service and parts, except pneumatic cylinder
Neat feature: Instructions printed under armrests
REVIEWS:
- Bette: "It had good back support and good seat movement. The arms were good; the only problem was that they kept catching on my drawer." 4
- Peter: "It was relatively easy to adjust and kept me in a stable upright position I found comfortable. But the instructions on the arm looked a little tacky after a while." 3
- Lisa: "This chair was fabulous. It is the only one of the five I would have traded mine for. It had wonderful back support and the seat cushion was very comfortable." 4.75
- Brad: "I enjoyed sitting in this chair. It felt comfortable and was a sharp-looking chair. I disliked the different locations that the adjustments were placed." 3.5
- Taylor's view: "In most chairs, the armrests move from the seat pan outward to accommodate larger bodies, but the Leap will actually move the armrests in over the seat to accommodate smaller shoulders, so the arms can hang comfortably."
SUM
Average score: Rating 3 1/2
Maker: Allsteel
Local vendor: Corporate Express
Price: $550 and up
Warranty: Lifetime
Neat feature: The back-support and seat-tension control automatically adjust to the user's size, weight and shape.
REVIEWS:
- Bette: "I liked the back support. It moulds into your back and it was great. I didn't have to adjust it at all. The seat, that you can pull out, that's really good too." 4
- Peter: "The arms and height were easy to adjust. The tilt adjustment and lock was not. I found it comfortable and the height was great." 3.25
- Lisa: "I liked how easy this chair was (to adjust) and it was so easy to move around. The only thing I would change would be to add a padded, moulded seat pad." 4
- Brad: "It was an OK chair to sit in for a short time frame, but if I sat in there for several hours at a time I found it bothering my back. I didn't enjoy it on a long-term basis." 2.75
- Taylor's view: "It's a good multipurpose chair, and if the body weight is right for it, it will fit the person. The disadvantage is that the lumbar support is at a fixed height. For the very small and very large, it's not going to work."
CHAIR TIPS
You can buy the fanciest chair on the market, but if you don't sit properly you may still end up suffering from aches and pains. These are some of Taylor's tips for sitting properly at your desk:
- The feet: Keep them supported on the floor or a foot rest.
- The ankles: Keep them in front of the knees.
- The knees: Sit so that there is a gap the width of three fingers between your knees and the front edge of the seat.
- The hips: Keep your thighs in line with your hips or slightly angled down.
- The back: Lean back so the middle of your shoulders is aligned behind the middle of your hips.
- The shoulders: Keep them relaxed.
- The arms: Let them hang comfortably at your side, which might mean getting rid of your arm rests.
- The forearms: Keep them parallel to the ground when you are typing.
- The wrists: Keep them flat and straight.
Source: ErgoSum Consulting
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