Cheap office chairs are slowly costing SMEs money every day.

The majority don’t even realize it’s occurring. Owners look at an invoice for a $99 chair and feel like they just made a great decision. In reality that poor seat is costing them thousands in productivity, sick time and turnover.

Here’s the good news:

Repairing it is simpler than most think. Ergonomic chairs can pay for themselves quickly if you know what to look for.

What’s inside this guide:

• The real price SMEs pay for bad seating
• Why small businesses feel the pain more
• Warning signs your chairs are costing money
• What ergonomic office chairs actually do
• How to upgrade without blowing the budget

The Real Price SMEs Pay For Bad Seating

Cheap seating feels like a smart saving until you do the maths.

Every hour spent by an employee getting into comfortable positions is an hour NOT spent working at full speed. Now imagine every employee doing that all day…every day of the year. Ouch.

And that’s before you even get to the sick days.

Recent Australian research puts absenteeism costs at $33 billion per year due to loss in productivity. A large portion of this is associated with musculoskeletal problems such as back pain, neck strain, and shoulder pain…you guessed it, problems that can be caused by prolonged sitting on poor chairs.

Upgrading to quality office chairs is one of the quickest ways to plug this leak. Quality ergonomic office chairs are designed to hold your spine, hips and shoulders in correct alignment. Which means less fatigue during the day and less visits to the physio on Friday afternoon. When your staff feel good they work better – it is as simple as that.

Here’s what poor seating actually costs an SME:

• Sick days from back and neck pain
• Slower work from tired, aching staff
• Higher staff turnover as people quit uncomfortable jobs
• Workers’ comp claims and rising insurance premiums
• Lower morale across the whole team

Now to explore why this affects SMEs more than Corporate Australia.

Why Small Businesses Feel The Pinch More

Big companies can absorb the cost of one sick employee.

Entrepreneurs cannot afford to be incapacitated. If one employee is down with back pain, the entire company notices immediately. Deadlines are missed, other employees are forced to cover, and the boss works late hours to make up for lost time.

Think about it this way:

Say you have 10 employees, and someone gets injured, takes off work with a strain or something. 10% of your business is out immediately. Try taking 10% of a corporation that has 1,000 people. No one notices. When you run a small crew you don’t have that privilege.

It’s why SMEs have to take ergonomic office chairs even more seriously than large corporations. There’s much less room for error and more consequences for each sick day.

An Australian survey revealed that 86.7% of employees suffered from work related musculoskeletal disorders. Approximately nine out of ten employees come to work already injured.

But if those same workers are sitting in flat, unsupported chairs for eight hours a day, that pain is only going to intensify. And when the pain intensifies, so do missed days of work.

Warning Signs Your Chairs Are Costing Money

Not sure if your seating is the real problem?

Watch out for these warning signs around the office…

The tell-tale signs to look for:

• Staff regularly complaining about back or neck pain
• More sick days than usual across the team
• People bringing in cushions or towels from home
• Staff stretching, standing or walking around constantly
• Complaints about being exhausted after work
• Productivity that drops off a cliff in the afternoon

Are any of these ringing bells? If so, maybe the chairs are to blame. Most managers point the finger at workload. Or Monday mornings. Truth hurts, and it’s probably lurking under their employee’s… you know what.

The good news? It’s one of the simplest workplace problems to solve. No need for consultants. No massive HR initiatives. Just a few nicer chairs.

What Ergonomic Office Chairs Actually Do

There’s a lot of hype around the word “ergonomic”.

But what does that mean when sitting in a chair? An ergonomic office chair supports your body in its natural position. It helps maintain the natural curve of your spine, positions your hips at the optimal angle and relieves pressure on your body’s painful pressure points.

A quality ergonomic office chair should have:

• Adjustable seat height for different body types
• Lumbar support that fits the lower back
• Adjustable armrests to reduce shoulder strain
• A proper tilt function
• Breathable mesh or fabric
• Wheels that suit the flooring in the office

Working in concert, these features allow you to sit for hours without your body suffering for it. Less pain means more concentration and tons of productivity between brews.

Budget chairs lack most of these qualities. They’re designed to meet a price point instead of meeting a human. It’s why upgrading is so important.

How To Upgrade Without Blowing The Budget

Here’s the mistake most SMEs make when they decide to upgrade…

They buy the cheapest chairs they can find (and find themselves right back where they started) or they go crazy and buy everything new all at once. Neither solution is ideal when you are a small business looking to conserve cash.

Try this smarter approach:

Begin with the employees who sit the most: Accountants, administrative assistants, developers, designers, anyone who is typically at a computer all day. Equip these employees with the best chairs you can afford. Continue upgrading chairs for the rest of your team as budget permits over the coming months.

Allows you to spread the cost out & try before you leap into purchasing a large bulk quantity. Chairs are different for different positions so you can learn along the way.

Make sure you check whether ergonomic office chairs are tax deductible. Ergonomics equipment is one of those many items that you can claim for in Australia – so the real price is often less than you think.

And don’t forget ROI. If your quality chair reduces two sick days per employee per year, most of them pay for themselves in 12 months. Anything beyond that is gravy.

The Bottom Line

One of the costliest errors SMEs make is skimping on office seating – and also one of the simplest to correct.

The numbers really don’t lie:

• Bad chairs lead to more sick days
• Aching staff work slower and make more mistakes
• Small teams feel every single absence
• Workers’ comp claims and turnover costs add up fast

Ergonomic office chairs are not a frivolous indulgence reserved for sleek corporate office spaces. They are a business investment with returns in the form of increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and employee retention.

Live in a marketplace where pennies mean everything. This WIN is yours for the taking. LOOK at your team. Calculate how many hours per week they spend in their chairs and ask yourself one question:

Does that chair help them perform at their best or is it secretly costing your company money?

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Know More About a Traditional IRA

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What is a Gold Individual Retirement Account?

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Different Types of Precious Metals Investments

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Steps to Setup an SDIRA

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Reputable Gold IRA Companies Worth Considering

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