GREAT 11 IDEA: Think Ergonomically

I'm usually the last one to urge any entrepreneur to spend money on fancy office furniture. In my previous life as a white-collar crime reporter, I quickly learned the glitzier the office, the worse the criminal who owned the company.

But with repetitive-motion injuries costing U.S. business owners hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity and millions more in workers' comp claims each year, it's important to make sure you and your employees are sitting on good chairs behind the right kind of desk. (Every year, there are more than 500,000 cases of repeated trauma disorders, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, affecting workers from white-collar executives to meatpackers.)

Providing a safe and comfortable workplace will boost morale as well as help you avoid lawsuits and complaints filed with state labor officials. So don't be cheap when it comes to outfitting your office.

“The most important investment you can make is in a chair with adjustable lumbar support and height features,” said Mark Dutka, founder of a San Francisco design firm specializing in office furniture.

Rebecca Boenigk, chief executive officer and chairman of Neutral Posture Inc. in Bryan, Texas, is very familiar with comfortable, adjustable office chairs. Her father, Dr. Jerome Congleton, is a professor, national expert on ergonomics, and the person who designs most of the company's popular chairs.

“If you don't have proper support, you'll go home hurting every day,” said Boenigk. “We want you to change the position of your chair all day long and make it easy to do so.”

Recognizing that too many expensive chairs are not properly used, her company produces online videos and includes instruction booklets with every chair. “Some people think a $200 chair is expensive,” she said. “But the chair is the most important part of the workstation.”

Boenigk said treating a minor carpal tunnel injury, caused by too much typing or repetitive wrist movement can cost a company thousands of dollars in medical treatment and physical therapy. A serious injury can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and may result in a lawsuit.

The market for comfortable office chairs is fueling the industry. There are about 100 ergonomic chair makers, with big companies like Steelcase selling more than $500 million worth of furniture and equipment a year.

“We are never going to be as cheap as chairs from China,” said Boenigk. “If you go to a big box store and buy a $99 chair, six months later you are going to be throwing it in the trash can. We have 7,000 chairs that have been at UPS for 16 years. We wish they would replace them.”

Being small and nimble helped Neutral Posture weather a 50 percent drop in industry sales during the 2008 recession. They cut costs and worked smarter but, rather than hunker down, hired a consultant to craft a three-year marketing and growth plan. “We rebranded the company with a new logo, new web site and new products,” said Boenigk.

It worked. At a major industry trade show, the company's booth was mobbed with customers. Neutral Posture, with offices in Bryan, Texas, and Ontario, Canada, is a small player, but is considered a leader in its field.