We spend close to eight hours a day, forty hours a week, sitting in chairs that hold us through our work lives. Yet how often do we pause thinking about them? Chairs blend so seamlessly into our routines that we forget how important they are for our comfort, productivity, and even our health. There’s a phrase in ergonomics that really stayed with me:
“The best posture is your next posture.”
But posture is only as good as the chair that supports it.
A session that shifted my perspective
Today, I joined an inspiring session on chair ergonomics with Alison Heller-Ono, PT, MSPT, CPE, President of Worksite International, Inc., and Greg Laffen, Principal at Cal Ergonomics. The workshop made me look at ergonomic chairs in a completely new light. It wasn’t just about chairs; it was about our bodies, our work, and the role design plays in our everyday well-being. The truth is, no matter how passionate we are about our jobs, it’s hard to be truly productive if the chair beneath us works against us. Over time, something as small as a poorly designed or faulty chair can lead to serious issues — from everyday aches to long-term injuries. And that’s when it hit me: chairs aren’t just quiet companions in our work lives; they can either be silent supporters or hidden risks.
Why chairs feel so complicated
Buying a chair can feel overwhelming because there really isn’t a “one size fits all.” Everybody is unique; our height, weight, posture, and daily habits all affect what kind of support we need. The wrong chair doesn’t just make us uncomfortable; it slowly chips away at our focus, health, and energy. And that’s where chair assessment becomes so important.
Enter CAT: The Chair Assessment Tool
One of the highlights of the session was learning about CAT — the Chair Assessment Tool®. It’s a framework to help organizations evaluate the health of their chairs, from the cushioning to the mechanics. The idea is simple: if a chair isn’t doing its job, it either needs repair, replacement, or reassessment. It made me think — why do we regularly service our cars, update our laptops, but almost never check the chair we sit on for over 2,000 hours a year?
Chairs as Human-centered design
What I loved most about the session with Alison was how this tied back to design. A good chair is human-centered; it moves with us, aligns with us, and supports us. A bad chair forces us into postures that drain us. One line really stayed with me: “Chair cushions and pads are a sign that the chair isn’t fitting correctly.” It’s so true when we start adding temporary fixes, we’re often ignoring the bigger problem.
The hierarchy of chairs
Something that made me smile (and also made me think) was the idea of a social hierarchy of chairs. The higher you go in an organization, the fancier your chair tends to be. Leaders sit on state-of-the-art ergonomic chairs, while frontline employees often are assigned to the older, worn-out ones with limited support and adjustability. But if you really think about it, shouldn’t comfort and support be equal for everyone?
Why it matters for organizations
Chair ergonomics isn’t just about comfort; it’s about health, sustainability, productivity, and even cost. Broken chairs lead to injuries, absenteeism, and higher medical expenses. And without proper systems like Chair Assessment System® (CAS), organizations delay chair replacement, end up replacing chairs unnecessarily, wasting money instead of managing them like assets.
A Little Reminder
So, the next time you sit down, take a moment. Notice your chair. Is it supporting you, or are you adjusting yourself to make it work? As Alison stated early on in her workshop, “If the chair isn’t right, the workstation ergonomics will never be correct!” Alison and Greg said something I won’t forget: “A chair should fit the person and not the other way around.” We deserve to feel supported in the spaces where we spend most of our day. Don’t just sit. Sit well!