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Ask HN: Does your employer consider ergonomic workstations important?

1 points by jrwoodruff ↗ HN
I've seen ergonomic/repetitive stress issues like carpal-tunnel syndrome affect many co-workers, from having to wear special braces, undergoing surgery, to even forcing one co-worker into retirement.

I've also noticed that some employers place more importance on ergonomics in the workplace than others - for instance, most required doctors notes for special equipment, like ergonomic keyboards and mice. Others offered services like an ergonomic study of your workspace, ergonomics training and simple desk height adjustments (in a cubicle) as normal fare; still others didn't even have height-adjustable desks and seemed fairly unaware of ergonomics.

What's your workplace like, and is ergonomics something you consider or place importance on?

1 comment

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techjuice
For my previous employers most were not aware of the benefits of having ergonomic hardware, those that were already had a pretty nice and adjustable setup for employees before they started working with the company. For those that were not aware, normally had no issues purchasing ergonomic hardware after reviewing the benefits after bringing it up to them. Some have even made changes to their own executive office hardware due to it and some have even seen back or neck problems reduced or completely gone over time due to it.

For me it is pretty important to have good ergonomic hardware as it makes working more comfortable and easier to concentrate. I have not seen height-adjustable desks probably due to the added strength requirements to actually adjust the high quality heavy desks versus having height adjustable chairs. As most of the cubicle desks are fixed height but allow for the storage cabinets above to be adjusted or completely removed.