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I work with a medium sized company. The workplace is good till now.

However, our sitting chairs are not good. These hurts sometimes. I seen many colleagues are not comfortable in these chairs. I read somewhere sitting chairs are most important in the workplace. Such chairs can introduce bad behavior or physical problem of an employee.

I am one month fresher in the company. If my colleagues are not comfortable with these chairs, then why are not complaining with Manager or MD.

I also suffer with this problem. But, unable to tell others because colleagues are not saying to change these chairs with Manager or MD.

Should I complain about these chairs with MD? Actually, I wont complain about anything with anyone here because they may blame me to change their infrastructure. This may create bad impression.

How should I approach getting better chairs with management?

Someone voted down without leaving certain reason, I am not asking for your chair ;)

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    We don't really answer "what are your ideas" questions here. Do you have a concrete question? (Maybe "How can I convince my colleague's to speak up about this?", or "How should I approach getting better chairs with management?")
    – Erik
    Jul 6, 2017 at 5:37
  • @Erik, I edited question.
    – Newbie
    Jul 6, 2017 at 5:58
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    MD means in that case? Medical doctor? Yours or a specific company doctor? Because that would be an option, if they are not ergonomic enough for workplace health then you could have chances to get better ones.
    – skymningen
    Jul 6, 2017 at 6:57
  • @skymningen, MD = Managing Director, of that company.
    – Newbie
    Jul 6, 2017 at 7:01
  • @Newbie I suggest you put that acrnoym explanation in the text of the question directly (edit).
    – Puzzled
    Jul 6, 2017 at 14:58

4 Answers 4

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As an employee that has been working for only one month for the company, I would not directly ask for getting a better chair. They would anyway need to renew all chairs at once, which may them cost some considerable amount of money.

I would first raise this point very tentatively in informal conversations with my colleagues to find out how they actually feel about it and how important this topic is for them. Maybe some colleague who has been working for the company for many years will assumed the responsibility and ask the management for better equipment. If this is not the case, I would probably wait for a couple of months to avoid a bad impression an then raise the issues on my own.

Keep in mind that in many countries, companies are legally responsible for creating working conditions that avoid detrimental impact on the health of its employee's. Bigger companies have a medical and a workplace safety officer, who are also persons that you may approach.

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  • Don't wait months if your chair hurts. You'll ruin your health.
    – Roland
    Jul 6, 2017 at 9:38
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    My impression was that the conditions are suboptimal but not unbearable. If nobody has ever complained about it and you as a newcomer complain, this may leave a bad smell. Of course, it depends on the degree of severity of the issue.
    – NoBackingDown
    Jul 6, 2017 at 11:42
  • I have always asked early on for a new chair when I start with a company, if I am suffering. I think this makes more sense as a) I should not have to suffer and b) they can't say "well you've been here for 9 months already, why is this suddenly a problem?" You can simply explain the chairs cannot be adjusted in x or y way, and this is out of line with basic seating ergonomics, and it hurts your body. In the worst case, buy your own chair (but protect it as someone is likely to snag it if the suffering is wide spread)
    – user73310
    Jul 6, 2017 at 13:41
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Throwing in a different point of view: depending on how the company works, it's not necessarily the case that they would have to replace all the chairs at once. I have spent time at more than one company that had a mix of chairs.

I agree that feeling it out casually with your colleagues first is a good idea. Maybe ask if they've ever tried to get new chairs - maybe they've all asked and been turned down for whatever reason.

But if it turns out people are not fussed enough about it, I would not hesitate to find someone friendly in administration/HR/etc and ask how possible it might be to get a different chair, especially if you think there's a risk of developing health problems down the line.

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    The last paragraph is on point. I would go to my manager and tell them that sitting in my chair hurts and ask about the procedure for getting a new one. Working months or years in a chair that hurts is just not a sane option. If management isn't sane enough to agree I'd prefer to find out immediately and act accordingly.
    – Roland
    Jul 6, 2017 at 9:37
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If you are new in the company and arrived at an empty desk, then it's quite likely that everyone who had problems with their chair tried out the chairs at empty desks and swapped, so your chair is quite possibly the worst in the company.

Try out what chairs others have, and if they work better. If the problem is your particular chair, and not the chair model, that makes it a lot easier to get a replacement. And sometimes a chair can be improved a lot, just by using a screwdriver. (And if you are not up to that job, every company has someone who loves playing around with things like that and will gladly help you).

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  • Wow! I was waiting for such answer(s). Very good! I'll change it with neighbor colleague, then I'll enjoy his pain ;). Also, I am going to order skewdriver online ;) Thanks.
    – Newbie
    Jul 6, 2017 at 11:06
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The very fact that your other colleagues are also facing the problem and no action has been taken so far shows how caring the company is. I hope the MD would be aware of this and is unable to do anything. You complaining can make not much difference in this scenario. We cannot change this, so change ourselves. I had faced similar issues and the solution i have adopted is to do exercises based on Doctor's advice, get up and walk inside the floor at regular intervals.

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    I am quite short, and if a chair is not sufficiently adjustable it will literally damage my body to sit in it day after day, no matter how many breaks I take. I cannot change my self in this respect. Management is never unable to do something about a situation like this, the question is, are they willing?
    – user73310
    Jul 6, 2017 at 13:29

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