After the Pandemic: How to Choose Healthier Office Furniture
COVID-19 has made "healthy work" an office essential. For companies looking to put healthy-work principles into practice, the first step is choosing healthier office furniture. Below, Yihang shares the key points to keep in mind when buying.
1. Check the workmanship โ don't miss the details
Healthy living is the best defense against the pandemic, and 8+N hours of work takes up at least a third of our day. So beyond choosing boards with low formaldehyde content, workmanship must be part of your scoring โ and be sure to visit the site in person.
The surfaces of furniture boards must be smooth and clean, free of burrs and cutting marks, with no glue bleed-through or surface contamination (such as localized blackening or yellowing). If a manufacturer can't even take care of the outward appearance, the inside is unlikely to escape shoddy workmanship.
Then feel the edge banding to check that it's tight. Good edge banding keeps boards from delaminating and cracking, extends service life, and to some extent seals in part of the free formaldehyde, keeping indoor air clean.
In addition, furniture testing has corresponding standards. Ask the manufacturer whether it holds relevant environmental certifications, and ask for past sales or partnership cases โ check whether industry leaders or well-known brands have chosen them, which helps you gauge the brand's production strength.
2. Set the style โ learn to make small trade-offs
As the health trend sweeps through the office furniture world, every style now carries a sense of nature: minimalist Morandi, deconstructivist aesthetics, healing Instagram styleโฆ You can't take them all!
Pin down your company's positioning first โ catering, education, financeโฆ which industry are you in? Design, service, manufacturingโฆ what's your core function? Then choose based on that positioning, so the furniture and the company's character complement each other.
3. Choose functions โ look for small joys
After returning from working at home to the office, how can workers stay productive while also feeling comfortable and happy? Buyers can look to new furniture products for inspiration.
Storage cabinets that fold out into a bed, desks with height-adjustable tops for flexible sit-stand switching, swivel chairs that rock 360 degrees, small sofas for work or semi-private restโฆ "Recharging" at work has become the post-pandemic favorite. Building small joys into the workday powerfully boosts employees' mental health.
4. Follow trends โ buy according to your needs
COVID-19 became a catalyst for China's "smart economy," and office furniture with extensive technology has emerged, freeing workers from tedious, complicated operations. How can you use furniture to unlock tech empowerment, create more efficient work, serve diverse needs, and improve your company's energy and efficiency management?
Start from three points:
Ease of use: fully consider your employees' characteristics and usage scenarios;
Human-centeredness: pay attention to ergonomic design principles and the use of novel materials;
Safety: hardware must be durable and energy-efficient โ especially for tech companies, watch out for any risk of internal data loss.
Finally, Yihang believes that in this age of highly transparent information, buyers should thoroughly research and understand furniture categories, material prices, and functional upgrades โ after all, office furniture is the most important component of any office.
