A research summary published by Herman Miller ranks the option to position a computer in a suitable location as one of the most important attributes of a comfortable workspace.

I saw this need addressed during a recent visit to a trading floor located in New York’s World Financial Center. The Herman Miller company Colebrook Bosson Saunders supplied this particular floor with Wishbone monitor arms and posts that can support up to four monitors. Most people on a trading floor work with at least two screens, although many work from four and sometimes six.

The Wishbone monitor arm fits well in this environment because anyone can reconfigure it to support a variety of needs. In fact, the monitor arms on this trading floor are reconfigured up to three times a week.

Monitor arms also carry ergonomic benefits. They allow the technology to move with the user, while contributing to an ergonomic posture and reducing eyestrain.

Unfortunately, from 2008-2009, an estimated 9.3 million working days were lost to work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Having proper ergonomic support, however, creates safer, healthier environments that help to prevent these disorders.

Whether you work on a trading floor or in an office like mine, the appropriate technology support, such as a monitor arm, is a smart investment.

In helping designers like Bill Stumpf and Jeff Weber to develop Herman Miller products—from stacking chairs, such as Caper, to high-performance work chairs, such as Embody—I’ve learned that sitting, comfort, and health are not so cut-and-dried.

In the 1990s I began using pressure map technology, which visualizes what the seat and sitter interface looks like—and how it changes depending on seat construction and the posture of the sitter. These changes translate to comfort or discomfort for the user.

More recently, in the course of our Embody chair development, I commissioned researchers at both the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Milwaukee’s Marquette University, who measured the amount of oxygen in the blood flowing to and from subjects’ lower extremities and heart rate–key health measures. It turns out, both improved when users sat in the Embody chair, versus other chairs, doing the same seated tasks in both.

So, it’s not a simple question of sitting down or standing up—but where and how you’re sitting.

This is a big deal because there’s a positive correlation between comfort and productivity. Unfortunately, it’s tough to keep everybody happy and comfortable all the time. As any facility manager will tell you, often the person complaining about the office being too hot is sitting right next to the person complaining about it being too cold.

Facility managers do the best they can, but when it’s not enough, people do what they have to do. They use space heaters (frowned upon because of the fire hazard), heating pads, personal fans, supplemental clothing and, in one case reported in the research, a small wading pool under the desk in which the worker could “paddle” his feet to cool them off.

Herman Miller has a sweet and sensible alternative that uses 90% less energy than space heaters. C2 climate control uses advanced thermal electric technology to provide heating and cooling in a single unit. Someday I’d like a C2 for my home office, but for now I use a foot warmer to stay warm. What’s your solution?

Here’s something kind of interesting, depending on how geeky you are:

The origin of the word “comfort” is the Latin “confortare,” “to strengthen.” When you’re comfortable, you’re free from pain and trouble. All’s well. You’re rejuvenated. Stronger. Physically and mentally.

Study after study finds that a comfortable working environment improves people’s productivity and makes them happy. It really doesn’t do us any good to suffer. And that’s why for Herman Miller, comfort is one of the most critical criteria in any new product design.

But comfort isn’t just stretching out with a cold one in a Barcalounger. It’s having the proper support for your body and the freedom to move naturally. It’s good lighting and temperature, views in and out, and having everything around you under control, right where you need it. Just as important, it’s the lack of stress. Of course, stress is synonymous with work, but anything you can do to reduce anxiety is a plus.

For example, Herman Miller research shows that storage is a primary factor in a person’s satisfaction with their work space. Typical comments from research participants include: “Stuff piled on my desk makes me anxious and nervous;” “I feel much less calm and creative when I’m not organized;” “When things are really cluttered or messy, I become irritable.”

These findings were part of the inspiration for Herman Miller’s Teneo storage furniture, designed by Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck. Certainly Teneo helps people be more organized and uncluttered, but there’s more. Teneo’s design helps an environment be harmonious and purposeful. It’s calming, providing consistency and control amid the chaos of fast-paced work. Says Ayse, “We put the person at the center of the problem and see how we can make them more comfortable, and their life easier.” Teneo also earned the coveted Gold award from the 2009 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in the Office and Productivity category.

Speaking of more comfortable, meet the Setu family of multipurpose chairs from Herman Miller. Multipurpose chairs, with their typically unforgiving, one-piece seat and back, aren’t very comfortable. So Setu designers, Studio 7.5, invented a way to mimic the synchronized motion of the separate seat and back used on ergonomic work chairs. And that means more comfort in all the places we use multipurpose chairs throughout the day, like meeting rooms, cafes, learning environments, lounges, and touchdown spaces.

Still, when we’re back in our offices, we want our work chairs to be able to keep us comfortable all day if we need it. That’s where Herman Miller’s newest work chair, Embody, comes in. It not only is comfortable, it is good for you, encouraging additional air movement into the lungs to feed your brain, increasing blood circulation, and decreasing the heart rate.

Intent furniture, another new Herman Miller product, was designed by Joey Ruiter with familiar residential references, because, he says, “They add beauty and trigger a feeling of comfort. You can imagine yourself in it,” he says. Check out Intent’s raised storage deck, cabinets, and sliding-door units. See if they don’t make you feel at home.

Eyes get uncomfortable at work, too, and lighting can be to blame. It’s an often-overlooked aspect of comfort and well-being in the workplace. Being able to control lighting in your workstation can help prevent Computer Vision Syndrome, an increasingly common issue resulting from glare generated on backlit surfaces. Herman Miller’s new Twist and Flute LED task lights give you the control you need for proper illumination and vision comfort.

So you might as well get as comfortable as you can at work. And if your boss thinks you don’t look miserable enough, say, “I’m getting stronger by the minute.”

By Bill Holm