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New York, New Jersey Dealers Hit by Hurricane Sandy By the time it was over, Hurricane Sandy had carved a trail of destruction from North Carolina to Maine that killed over a hundred people in the U.S., left eight million without power and caused total damage estimated at over $50 billion. The good news for the office furniture community—and it was good news—was that there were no initial reports in the industry of fatalities or serious injuries caused by the storm. But that was where the good news ended, as business owners struggled to get back to some kind of normalcy in the wake of an unprecedented weather disaster. Dealers in New York and New Jersey were among those most affected by the hurricane. Here’s what three of them reported:
n Kevin Sturges, Vice President, Operations, Arbee Associates, Piscataway, NJ Arbee Associates made out well during the hurricane relative to many other businesses and homeowners in New Jersey and New York. We lost power at our New Jersey location for the first week and were back up and running by November 5. We worked with Steelcase and our other suppliers to hold inbound loads destined for job sites and our distribution centers until we were able to resume accepting deliveries. Until recently there were fuel shortages and rationing in New York and New Jersey. Many gas stations could not pump due to lack of power and/or sold out of fuel between deliveries. Five-six hour lines were not uncommon. We were asked to respond to several emergencies in New Jersey to support businesses that were devastated by water damage. We have received and installed several inbound loads of existing furniture from dealers around the country that were used to set up temporary office spaces being established by their local clients. Several other temporary spaces have been set up using existing furniture assets stored by Arbee. At one customer location in NJ, a 15,000 gallon water tower collapsed on the roof, flooding the offices below. The Arbee installation and move teams worked to pack and remove computers and senC O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 5
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Hurricane Sandy Hits Close to Home By Alicia Ellis, Managing Editor While OFDA is based in Alexandria, Virginia, I operate out of a home office at the Jersey Shore. Indeed, for the past 17 years, I’ve been proud to call the Jersey Shore and Brick Township my home. Today, of course, that home has been changed forever as a result of the nightmare visited on us by Hurricane Sandy. From a personal perspective, things could have been a whole lot worse. As the hurricane hit, a small creek more than 40 yards behind our house surged to flood stage and filled the crawl space before stopping just six inches short of spilling over into our first floor. We lost our air conditioner, six trees and a garden shed and went nine days without power. And we were among the lucky ones! Our friends and neighbors have lost much of their homes, their cars and their belongings. Just ten minutes from my own house, the beach roads are still full of sand and houses are barely visible behind all the trash that has piled up in front. Seawater continues to corrode and mold continues to fester. Most of the people here were evacuated for days, so by the time they were able to return, everything that the seawater touched needed to be thrown away. And there are still literally thousands of area families who are being bussed in and out of their devastated towns daily and who will not be able to return to their homes for many, many months to come. But while we all cried together in shock in the days immediately following our losses, we have come together in the wake of the storm, to help each other and we have been awed by the support that our local communities and those north of us and into New York have received from all around the United States and the world. Closer to home and as reported elsewhere in this issue, one Long Island furniture dealer has launched a grassroots fundraiser of his own (cfetta@ofw.com) and a similar effort is underway on the office supplies side of the industry, thanks to the vision and drive of two industry veterans from New Jersey . If you have already contributed to hurricane relief efforts, thank you. If you’d like to add your support to either of the two campaigns listed above, thank you for that, too. Rebuilding the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy will not be a short-term project. It will take months and even years and any support that you can give is greatly appreciated. On behalf of everyone who has been affected in some way by the hurricane...on behalf of my friends and neighbors, thank you for your help. PAGE 3
Dealer News continued from page 3 sitive documents and transport them to a backup facility in Maryland where we unloaded and staged. Generators, lanterns and a stair carry were needed to accomplish the work as the space was substantially demolished and without power. From a business perspective, things are getting back to normal. Our leadership team is discussing incorporating backup generators at our facilities as a precautionary measure against another prolonged power outage. We would like to be able to power our servers, some utility lighting and the line drivers for our order pickers. From a people perspective, many of the residents of New York and New Jersey close to the coast are dealing with substantial loss of life and property. Many of these areas are still without power and there is a long road ahead to work through recovering from the storm.
n John Callahan, President, Long Island Office Furniture, Hicksville, NY It hit the area hard and we were 11 days without power. We came in a couple of mornings just to get some desperate orders out to some of our in need clients. One of them needed a few hundred chairs and we had to get 50 more refurbished. I brought in a generator and hooked up our compressor and got that done but it was way too cold and dark to do any other refurbishing so we all basically worked from home. We have over 30,000 square feet in our Hicksville location and we offered storage to our clients if they got hit hard and lost power or lost office space or had damaged furniture. We feel we are all in this together and even though it is our business to sell furniture we don't charge anything more than a few points over our cost in these times of need.
n John Gallivan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer, Waldner’s Business Environments, New York, NY Many of our employees were affected but to varying degrees due to lack of power, gas shortages and flooding. We were forced to close our city office for the week after the storm due to no power in our section of Manhattan. Our Long Island and Rye facilities were impacted as well but many of our people worked at home or alternate sites. Thankfully, our inconvenience is nothing compared to the devastation that has occurred in the shore areas throughout the Tri-State area. Despite these challenges, our generous employees still found time to provide over 100 toys for a holiday campaign to provide gifts for children in need.
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Dealer News continued from page 5
Long Island Dealer Launches Grassroots Relief Effort
On Long Island, Chuck Fetta and his team at Office Furniture Warehouse (OFW) were relatively unaffected by the storm themselves. Fetta lost power at his house for three days and while the office never lost power, it took over a week before normal conditions started to return to the business. Meanwhile, the full extent of the damage wrought by the hurricane was becoming clear and Fetta decided he personally needed to do something to help.
In addition, Fetta has helped several homeowners clean out flooded houses and cleared dozens of trees, so hard hit residents can begin the process of rebuilding. “A lot of neighborhoods have given up on the government and are making it happen on their own,” he says. “At the end of the day, it's not about the few big fixes but rather all the small efforts that will make the difference.”
Reaching out to friends and business colleagues through e-mail blasts and social media, Fetta launched a one-man effort targeted to help people on Staten Island and the Rockaways, two of New York’s most severely affected.
As Fetta is the first to admit, the recovery from Hurricane Sandy will be a long and costly process. “More stuff and money is still coming in,” he reports. “This problem will not go away soon although needs will change and we will be looking to determine what is most needed and where it should go to get the most efficient use out of all donations.”
Over $5,000 came in from the initial effort and in the weeks following the hurricane, Fetta made multiple deliveries to several shelters, dropping off over 30 bags of clothing, food items, cleaning supplies and equipment and more to people desperately in need of help.
If you’d like to make a contribution of your own to support this outstanding grassroots effort, please send your check to Chuck Fetta at Office Furniture Warehouse, ATTN: Hurricane Sandy Relief, 3108 Expressway Drive South, Islandia, NY 11749 (E-mail: CFetta@ofw.com; PH: 631 582-5388).
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Dealer Strategies Conference
Wins Big in Las Vegas The stakes were high but the payoff was huge for attendees at OFDAs late October 2012 Dealer Strategies Conference. The Las Vegas venue provided the perfect setting for dealers to “Go All-In to Win” with a program designed to empower dealers of all sizes and alignments with targeted educational sessions, inspirational speakers and open networking between dealers, manufacturers and service providers. All in all, more than 92% of attendees gave this year’s conference an above average rating.
“This year’s conference was the best attended in the past five years,” said Sandi Jacobs, president of SideMark and OFDA chair. “Just like the office furniture industry itself, OFDA and its conference have weathered economic turmoil, set their sights on the important dealer issues of the day and proven themselves a winner and grown the conference by 24% per year on average.” In her opening remarks to attendees, Jacobs highlighted some of the key issues facing dealers today and pointed out how OFDA is moving aggressively to help them meet those issues successfully. Those issues included industry consolidation, growing margin pressures, rising customer expectations, talent attraction challenges and a weak recognition of the value of services that dealers provide. “If all this sounds familiar to you, then you understand why dealers need to build a larger, stronger and more impactful and influential OFDA,” she told attendees. Working together, sharing insights and growing as an industry were major themes throughout the conference and would not be possible if not for the generous support of OFDA’s Platinum Sponsors – The HON Company and Global – The Total Office; Gold Sponsors – Kimball, ECi and National Office Furniture who have faithfully supported the association and the conference through the years. C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 1
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Conference Wins Big continued from page 9 “This year we were particularly fortunate to have a variety of support from INDEAL; 20-20 Technologies and Steelcase,” said Chris Bates, president of OFDA. “In addition, AIS, Haworth, the Haakenson Group, Kimball Office, National and Teknion joined together to help sponsor general session speakers and Configura, ECi, the Facilities Services Network (FSN), and Horizon Keystone Financial also contributed in a variety of ways to the success of this event.”
No Bluffing on Education It’s the education that makes OFDA’s Dealer Strategies Conference unique and once again, OFDA stepped up to the rail, rolled the dice and won. Beginning on Sunday with three pre-conference half-day workshops, the educational offerings continued OFDA’s winning streak. Hosted by three of the industry’s most knowledgeable veteran consultants—David Solomon, Jim Heilborn and Debbie Junge—each well attended session sought to show dealers how to increase productivity, company performance and profitability. The workshops set the stage for another day-anda-half of education, including two general session speakers, one general session manufacturer panel on the future of the industry and twelve breakout sessions. With their motivational messages and humorous spin to business, general session speakers Ross Shafer and Matthew Kelly delighted attendees C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 3
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Conference Wins Big continued from page 11 “For my position in the dealership, the session on customer-facing software was of value, but all the sessions were very informative and beneficial for our business,” said Zwiener. “We brought three individuals from our company and split them up to attend as many sessions as possible. I would say OFDA did an excellent job of bringing quality presenters and information pertinent to dealerships to this conference. This was well worth the investment we made to attend and we can’t wait until the next one comes around.”
and left them with some great ideas to bring back to their businesses. “Ross was entertaining and gave me a lot of good ideas,” said Devin Bynon, partner with Accurate Corporate Services in Portland, OR. “Now I need to sit down with the information and do something with it!”
Education didn’t stop with the formal sessions, however. Eighteen displays situated in the center of the conference site featured a variety of products and services for the dealer community. Ample breaks gave attendees the chance to check out displays, talk with industry partners and network with manufacturers and dealers.
David Kiwior, general manager of AIREA Inc. in Detroit also gave Shafer’s presentation high marks. “I have already used a lot of Ross’ provoking thoughts and insights in my dealership,” he reported. “Matthew Kelly was very funny, intelligent, and came across as he had his finger on the pulse of our industry,” said Erich De Joseph, director of project management at Waldner’s Business Environments in New York City. “Ross Shafer was one of the best sessions I have ever attended in over 35 years of business! What a dynamic speaker! And Matthew Kelly was a very invigorating. His high-energy level and subject matter really gets the mind thinking about what differences your people can make,” said Dwight Zwiener, director of business development at BA Designs, LLC in Topeka, KS. Breakout sessions continued the conference’s winning streak. Particularly noteworthy were sessions on Best Practices in Leveraging Operations Technology to Raise Productivity and Profits; Applying Sales/Marketing/CRM and Customer-Facing Software to Differentiate Business; Integrating A/V Technology Products; Strategic Use of Social Media, and Implementing Digital Product Information.
What happens in Vegas… Doesn’t always stay in Vegas. Especially if you were the winner of the $1,000 cash give away by 20-20 Technologies during its Conference Treasure Hunt or held the lucky raffle ticket for one of the flat screen TVs, home theater systems or iPads that INDEAL gave away at its Casino Night Party. During its party, INDEAL was surprised to receive the OFDA Service Award for their contributions to and support of the association. “As chair, I am allowed to present a service award to any individual or organization that has gone above and beyond for OFDA,” said Jacobs during a break in the party. “This year I’m C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 5
“We are looking to move our operations forward with technology, so I found the breakout session on leveraging technology to be particularly interesting,” said De Joseph. “Just listening to other dealers and service providers explain what systems they use and what technology they have their people working with was quite helpful.” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
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Conference Wins Big continued from page 13 presenting the award to INDEAL, whose team has gone above and beyond in sponsoring the conference reception, having their annual meeting in alignment with the OFDA conference and enthusiastically engaging with OFDA as much as possible. I am pleased to honor INDEAL with the OFDA Chair’s Service Award.” In addition to the Chair’s Service Award, OFDA gave awards to the winners of its Dealer Choice Survey which were announced earlier this fall. Representatives from winning non-aligned manufacturers AIS, Global – The Total Office, National Office Furniture, Great Openings and The HON Company were on hand to accept their award and network with the dealer community.
Representatives from winning Dealer Choice Survey manufacturers received their awards during the conference.
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Best Practices Make Perfect:
A Look at Strategies and Initiatives that Position Furniture Dealers Above the Pack By Scott Cullen
When you ask a furniture dealer about the best practices that make a difference in their dealership you never know what you’ll get. Some hone in on technology, others on front- and backroom operational procedures and others on communications.
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That’s exactly what happened when we broached this topic with four dealers and a consultant. Each shared some of the best practices that have either made a difference in their business or offer the potential to make a difference if a dealership simply took the initiative.
Bacic focuses on the basics, emphasizing what every dealer ought to know—that what sells furniture is the relationship.
Bob Bacic, CFO with Furniture Marketing Group, a Haworth dealer with locations in Plano, Austin and Houston, TX, puts best practices to use in his dealership every day.
Bacic has been with Furniture Marketing Group for 22 years and remembers the time the previous owners wanted to place a billboard on a major highway after
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Although offering that opinion may seem like the equivalent of pulling out a mallet and banging readers on the head, he has found that’s not always obvious as he recalls some of the missteps he’s witnessed in relationship building over the course of his career.
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Best Practice continued from page 16 the business had moved from its former highway location. “Spending $10,000 a month just to have people see your name is not the best way to build relationships,” opines Bacic. Today, Furniture Marketing Group spends its money more wisely, investing in educational and networking events and making sure that sales reps are making new relationships and keeping up with old ones. This strategy places them front and center with influencers as opposed to end users. They’re also participating in more IIDA events, CoreNet and work with the Chamber of Commerce—all of which are helping them build relationships with the right people. Another element of applying best practices to its sales and marketing efforts is the new look of Furniture Marketing Group’s website. Bacic understands that people first visit a website for general information. However, that visit is also an opportunity to discover more about who that company is. “When you look at our web page, you see actual employees, not just models and furniture,” says Bacic. That harkens back to the dealership’s relationship-oriented philosophy. “It’s a realization of who we are and how we generate business,” states Bacic. “It’s not just by reputation, but by seeing us.”
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How are these strategies working? “New business development is up, our win rate is higher, and we’re seeing a 25% increase in sales over last year,” responds Bacic. “I can’t attribute all of that to our new philosophy, but I think it’s going to continue to help us do well and strengthen the relationships we’re building.” Technology also plays a part in relationship building. Two years ago the dealership began using Khameleon Software, an Oraclebased program that Bacic and his team deploy to help them build and nurture those critical customer relationships. Management uses the program to monitor sales rep activity, follow prospects and track potential business opportunities. “I can log into this opportunity management program and right away know what activity is going on in any of our locations,” says Bacic. Additionally, the software is used to track business activity taking place in the markets they serve whether it’s companies moving to Dallas, those who are building new space or moving into new space, and for nurturing new and old relationships at organizations like the Chamber of Commerce. The key is keeping up with what the dealership is doing with
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Best Practice continued from page 17 influencers and tracking sales activities on prospects all the way up to when they get the win. “There are a lot of activities involved prior to getting the order that are relationship oriented,” acknowledges Bacic. Sticking with technology, Diana Gentry, principal with DG Consulting, offers some best practice observations about making the most of one’s business system no matter who the vendor is. She acknowledges that a business system is one of the biggest investments a dealer will make in their company. However, she laments that all too often when they first go live, dealers tend to learn just what they need in order to survive, but neglect to reinvest in the additional training that will allow them to maximize the potential of their system. “Many times they [end up] thinking the system they have doesn’t fit them, when what it really comes down to is that they haven’t taken the time or put the money into getting trained to find out the full capabilities of the package they purchased,” emphasizes Gentry. On the operational side, she offers a best practice recommendation for dealers who use outside installers. She recalls a conversation with a dealer who didn’t print their own delivery tickets or record when furniture had been delivered in their business system. That’s not a best practice, that’s a bad practice. “If they have a customer that objects to paying their invoice they might have to contact their installer and ask them for a copy of the delivery ticket as proof that a certain product was delivered whereas any of the business systems out there could be recording this kind of information,” she notes. “They should be keeping copies of the delivery ticket onsite whether they’re scanning it or they’re keeping a hard copy. I’m not seeing a lot of that being done.”
Why not? “A lot of times they have a hard time getting the paperwork from the installer,” responds Gentry. But it doesn’t have to be that way. “That installer is working for them,” she says. “They wouldn’t let any other vendor get away with not supplying them with the right paperwork. If I had a dealership I would want to be in charge of my own documents. I wouldn’t want to be depending on someone outside my company. They pretty much depend on that installer to have all that paperwork. What happens when the installer can’t put their hands on that paperwork when the dealer needs it down the road? They really need to insist on better communications with their install company.” Another area where Gentry says dealers can improve is acknowledgements. “Most manufacturers in the industry, especially the larger ones,
send out acknowledgements which detail the price of the product and the actual product the dealer is ordering, with ship dates and options,” says Gentry. “A lot of dealers are not cross-checking their acknowledgements from their manufacturers; they’re just depending on the manufacturer to process their purchase order and send them what they ask for.” Once again, thanks to technology, this can be done electronically. “But the dealer needs to take the time to check and make sure the product they think they ordered is what they’re going to get,” Gentry recommends. “It also offers an opportunity to be proactive by cross-checking shipping dates with lead times vs. delivery and installation promises. They could be more accommodating on the front-end by advising their customer of delays early instead of waiting until the last minute.” While most major manufacturers send acknowledgements electronically, Gentry says if she were working with a manufacturer that wasn’t sending this information electronically, she’d encourage them to offer electronic ordering and communicate with the business system the dealer is using today. “I’m sure the business systems [vendors] would be very happy to have more communication,” she points out. Whether or not we’re going to see a dramatic change in the near future when it comes to raising the bar on this best practice, Gentry has a sense of optimism when asked what she expects the electronic communications between dealers and manufacturers to look like five years from now. “I hope to see more than 90% of the manufacturers interfacing electronically with the dealer business systems and the dealers communicating better with their installers.” Annette Gerrow, director of sales with Systems Furniture Gallery in Chantilly, VA, also focuses on technology when talking about best practices. At Systems Furniture Gallery the new program, at least for the past two years, that’s been helpful in getting the dealership’s ducks in a row is e-manage, a program designed for various vertical markets, including contract furniture. “There’s so much technology out there and trying to encapsulate it into a program that’s going to help you facilitate, and move everything from one step to the next [isn’t easy],” opines Gerrow. “One of the reasons we took on e-manage is because it really does help you do that from the point of where you’re prospecting.” For example, Gerrow can type a category like “pediatricians” into a grid and the program will pull up all of the pediatricians in a specific zip code. The dealership can then drill down based on specific streets or buildings and target pediatricians in those locations. C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 9
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Best Practice continued from page 18 Systems Furniture Gallery reps will then send marketing materials out to them and the program will then track return calls, who’s been turned into a customer, and what they ordered. “The program helps you manage your time,” states Gerrow. “It tracks it all from soup to nuts—no matter how much time you spend on them or how many revisions were made, it can track your time. You can send action items to your designer to do layouts and it will track that time as well, so if you bill for design time it’s been tracked. It helps put it all together so you’re not going from screen to screen and asking, ‘What did I do today and where’s my note on this?’ All of that can be tracked in one program.” For Mark St. Clair, vice president with Creative Office Pavilion in Portland, ME, best practices focus on branding and marketing and raising the dealership’s profile as a thought leader in the market. “We try to tie that into our messaging for everything we do,” he explains. These days ‘that messaging’ involves all forms of social media, including the obligatory Facebook page, Twitter posts, and LinkedIn. A perfect example of how COP positions itself as a thought leader is their weekly “Design Inspiration of the Week,” which is posted every Friday by one of the dealership’s 16 designers.
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Additionally, Creative’s healthcare team writes blogs about healthcare trends, which are posted on one of the social media outlets. “We’re trying to have a conversation with clients about thought leadership, trends in the workplace in the different markets we’re in, and push that out to our followers, networks and contacts in social media,” explains St. Clair. “We also try to do that in our proposals,” he adds. “We have a proposal process with someone in each location responsible for putting proposals together. They’re supposed to be consistent, and also differentiate us in the market as to who we are, what we’re doing, and set the tone for thought leadership as well.” The dealership’s social media efforts supplement its quarterly newsletters that target specific markets—corporate, healthcare, higher education, K-12, government and A&D. The purpose is to update clients on what the company is working on and often includes discussions of workplace trends and case studies geared to that specific vertical. “We think it’s important to show how we’re able to solve problems and help clients,” notes St. Clair. Asked about any lessons learned regarding social media best practices, St. Clair says, “It needs to be relevant to what people are looking for and entertaining as well. You need to give them
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Best Practice continued from page 19 information on something of interest rather than something that’s self serving or that we think is important.” Kris Vandierendonck, principal with KV Workspace with locations in New Orleans and Mandeville, LA, zeroes in on operational and procedural best practices. “There are a lot of things in this industry that can go wrong and are completely beyond your control,” she acknowledges. “Without set standards for procedures and operational back of the house [procedures] you leave yourself open for error and margin erosion.You can sell it all day long, but if you can’t execute, then you either lose money on the individual sales or lose your reputation.” At KV Workspace procedures are broken down department by department, focusing on specific segments of the business such as design, project management, sales and accounting. “We’ve created a strong handoff between all of those departments so information doesn’t get lost or interpreted differently between those different handoffs,” explains Vandierendonck. “And we have a clear delineation of roles so when a project is handed off from one department to another we don’t have situations where the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.”
a new person comes on board, whether it’s sales, design or operations, we immerse them in our processes,” reports Vandierendonck. “It’s a little daunting for some.” A KV Workspace best practice is to constantly revisit jobs that went well and jobs that did not go well, allowing them to replicate or avoid those issues on future jobs. When things don’t go well or things don’t match up with what was quoted, they’ll pull out the pink slips and begin drilling down until they identify the source of the problem. An outside consultant was instrumental in helping KV Workspace fine tune their procedures. “If you want to take that square block and turn it into a round wheel, bring in a consultant versus trying to do it by yourself, especially if you are not process minded,” says Vandierendonck. “I tweaked everything she did, but foundationally you want to hit every department to help you see the tie in from design, to project management, to HR, to accounting, and how all those pieces interconnect.” Scott Cullen has been writing about office technology and the office furniture industry since 1986.
KV Workspace begins indoctrinating employees on the company’s processes from the moment they walk in the door. “When
HTTP://VIMEO.COM/50292612
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This is No Time to Take Workplace Wellness Issues Sitting Down by Stephen Witte Office furniture dealers who think they are not in the workplace wellness business should think again. As wellness programs expand to improve worker health, the sit/stand work style is becoming a viable go-to option. When end users, facility managers and interior designers need ideas for these active workstations they will turn to their dealers. Responding to the call means understanding the art and science of the sit/stand approach. What is sit/stand? In a sit/stand workstation or office, the worker has the choice to work while seated or while standing.
with the decrease in jobs that require moderate/light physical activity. The first link between more active workers having fewer health issues was established in the 1950s in a study of drivers and conductors on London’s double-decker buses. The sedentary drivers, forced to sit behind the wheel, had more heart disease than the mobile conductors, moving constantly and using the stairs.
Aside from raising the furniture on cinder blocks, this can be accomplished two basic ways. One is to raise and lower the mouse, keyboard and monitor using an articulating arm attached to a fixed height desk or work surface. The other is moving the desktop or work surface up and down using an electric motor, hand crank or pneumatic action. Treadmills and stationery bicycles are sometimes added.
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Sit/stand might also be called the active workstation, active office or active workplace. How does sit/stand improve worker health? Work has become less physically engaging. Weight gain has been associated
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Workplace Wellness continued from page 21
Workers with lower back pain report that standing while working is more comfortable and productive than sitting. Results show how switching workers to a sit/stand work style assists weight loss, thus reducing risk factors for coronary, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and premature death. Sitting too much increases risk factors, especially obesity. “When people think of obesity they always think of food first, and that’s one side of it, but it is time to look at the amount of time we spend inactive at work,” said Dr. Barbara Ainsworth, an exercise researcher at Arizona State University. “Even 30 to 60 minutes of jogging a day won’t undo eight hours of sitting,” said Dr. Elizabeth Joy at the University of Utah’s Health Sciences Center. What is the payback for sit/stand workstations? Using an online calculator designed for finding payback periods on this sort of investment returned paybacks of under one year. The variables entered were four hours of daily computer use and average annual compensation of $81,500. That formula was then applied to three hypothetical purchases of sit/stand equipment. The calculator projected a payback period of 73 days for a $160,000 investment in 100 treadmill desks. Next, it projected an 18-day payback period on a $40,000 outlay for 100 desk-mounted arms. Finally, the payback period was 55 days for 100 adjustableheight desks for $120,000. Another way to measure savings comes from a study of 6,200 American Express workers. Those in fixed, non-adjustable workstations had work-related musculoskeletal disorder rates 20 times higher than workers in adjustable workstations. How does selling sit/stand affect chair sales? As the term implies, sitting remains part of the sit/stand formula. Chairs that adapt to seated work and to leaning against when standing become useful.
ure for reducing risks of work-related musculoskeletal disorders,” she contends. Payfer adds, “At times these features have been considered ‘prescriptive’ for a worker with a particular condition or doing a certain kind of work, but the benefits sit/stand provides should be available to all workers.” Reporting from the government helps make the case. “More activity in a person’s day may offset certain factors linked with too much sitting that contribute to four of seven diseases the Centers for Disease Control lists as leading causes of death in the United States, “ she said. Payfer and her team operate JustStand.org, an online information hub for all subjects connected with getting workers on their feet during the workday. In July JustStand sponsored the second annual Workplace Wellness Summit where expert panels discussed implementation of active workplace concepts and leading researchers presented their newest findings. Among these researchers was Dr. James Levine of the Mayo Clinic’s Endocrinology department. His breakthrough was linking a reduced risk of obesity with non-exercise activity while working. Reducing this risk also reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and deep vein thrombosis. Being seated too much causes the body to consume fewer calories. The metabolism slows down and cellular processes shift from burning fat to storing it. Research has shown that the metabolism of a physically-fit individual will change from burning fat to storing fat after just two weeks of sitting eight hours a day, even when that individual continues physical activity outside of work. Standing while working offers the simplest solution. Nobody stands perfectly still in a statue-like pose. There are constant minor movements while standing.
Neutral Posture has developed a chair that includes a unique footrest system for sit/stand workstations. HÅG offers Capisco that complements sit/stand with a variety of sizes, models and accessories.
Dr. Levine’s key finding was that these minor muscle movements keep the body’s metabolism active and consequently standing consumes more calories than sitting.
Seating has a role, but the specification criteria will change and it may entice manufacturers to develop lower cost models with sit/stand versatility.
The effects of too much sitting are preventable as Payfer suggests and as Dr. Levine’s research shows. “If those making the decisions about furniture are not asking for active workplace solutions, then offer it to them,” advises Dr. Levine.
Offering the sit/stand choice Jane Payfer is fluent in the language of the workplace wellness culture. As chief marketing officer at Ergotron, Payfer’s reasoning makes it seem a logical and necessary choice. “A workstation or office with features for sit/stand adjustability should be viewed as a preventive measNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
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Additionally, there is plenty of evidence that says being more active through the workday just plain feels better. Carrie Schmitz, Ergotron’s manager of human factors and engineering publications, has been working C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 3
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Workplace Wellness continued from page 22 at a sit/stand desk since the onset of arthritis in her lower back made sitting too painful. Her standing regimen has been successful enough to cause a one-half inch gain in height. She stays with it because it works and gives her a better day at the office.
Building the sit/stand workstation Height-adjustable work surfaces have been available for years. From drafting tables with more adjustments than a barber’s chair to those awkward, motorized contraptions and grindingly slow hand-cranked models of the 1980s, this has been a sleeper product category with a long history. Now a new chapter is writing itself that gives adjustability a new reason for being. Gone are nearly all of the bulky CRT monitors that forced the use of heavy machinery for motion. The change to flat panel displays has made a huge difference in mechanisms available for adjustable height desks. Coupled with the observation that younger workers often use paper and hardcopies sparingly, the work surface area for some applications can be much smaller. Finally, more intensive use of laptops, tablets, cellular phones and VoIP is clearing the work surface of the typical clutter of devices and wires. For many workers, a few duplex receptacles and WiFi access are all they need to operate. This is especially true as businesses reduce the number of on-site workers through work-at-home programs and other programs to shed real estate.
A rectangular shape desk and a desk/return unit ended up being good directions for the series, backed with a wall unit for storage, filing and personal item. The target market is financial and banking, but the furniture has application anywhere that executives want to join the sit/stand revolution. This might be the first workplace revolution without serious opposition. At least not from Fred Poisson or Greg Saul. That is because both of these product designers work at adjustable height desks: thirty-five years for Poisson and ever since he learned that standing relieved his lower back pain for Saul.
A ready-made market While few people would downplay the idea of healthier, more productive work environments, tasking office furniture and ergonomics with helping to reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes breaks new ground. As convincing as the science might be, it is not the only reason doctors, lawyers, bankers, financiers and executives want sit/stand furniture in their offices. They want more ways to personalize and individualize the place where they spend so much of their time. Christine Woodard, national sales manager for Harden Contract, hears requests for standing height desks or adjustable height
None of this is the real driver for the surging interest in sit/stand workstations. The driver is wellness in the workplace. Fred Poisson saw it coming. “When the first stories appeared in the media about standing being a healthier way to work, I began concepting what I thought we could do,” he said. As vice president of design for Halcon and the designer of Halcon’s Millennia executive office series, Poisson set out to incorporate a sit/stand desk into the offering. “From the onset, this height adjustable desk had to meet design community expectations for functionality and aesthetic compatibility,” said Poisson. “We are presenting this design to designers in the financial and legal niches. They tell us it is exactly what they need.” Product design in wood for financial, banking and legal niches is a specialized endeavor, one that gets more complex when attempting to create a complete series of height-adjustable furniture. Greg Saul, IDSA, took on the challenge of designing a wood series around the sit/stand concept for his client, Harden Contract. His firm, Tolleson + Saul Design, commenced the project knowing that sit/stand was not limited to a specific task or group of workers. The wellness initiatives being applied inside corporations apply equally to all workers. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
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Workplace Wellness continued from page 23 desks from the A&D community on a weekly basis. “There has been a void in adjustable furniture with the right look and feel for executives and professionals,” Woodard said. “Office furniture dealers have the background in ergonomics to quickly pick up on the sit/stand potential. Hardly a week goes by without a newspaper, magazine or TV report about the benefits.”
Moving forward from here Greg Saul believes that sit/stand is the last big hurdle in office ergonomics as related to the physical design of the office.
Jane Payfer Chief Marketing Officer Ergotron
Fred Poisson works standing up every day as he has done for 35 years, saying that he sits less than 20 minutes in a work week. Christine Woodard fields a growing number of requests for sit/stand furniture from the A&D community, as Jane Payfer, Carrie Schmitz and others give part of their time to JustStand.org, the non-profit clearinghouse of sit/stand information, research and news. All this suggests that sit/stand is in the mainstream now. It could well be the trend that sells new furniture to help create a healthier workforce through wellness management programs.
Fred Poisson Vice President of Design Halcon
As Jane Payfer observed, “Corporations have been inadvertently contributing to the poor heath of their employees…I honestly believe that most corporations don’t want to do that. They want healthy, productive employees.” Stephen Witte has a following as a commentator on design, technology and marketing in the commercial interiors industry. He was a panelist at the JustStand summit where he presented conceptual designs for the active workplace. Watch video from the event at JustStand.org/summit. You can reach him at 812.457.1297 or switte@stephenwitte.com.
Greg Saul, IDSA President Tolleson Saul Design
Christine Woodard National Sales Manager Harden Contract
Contemporary style without the traditional cost! A new Vision from HPFI.
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Visual Networking for a Visual Industry: The Secret is Out By Alicia Ellis, Managing Editor
I am so excited by this new tool and believe so whole-heartedly that Pinterest will change the way dealers sell their business and their furnishings that I had to tell you about it. Pinterest. Maybe you have heard of it and maybe you haven’t. It’s considered a form of social networking but to me it’s visual marketing and in a visual world such as office furniture, the more the client sees, the happier the client is.
Different corkboards allow you to organize, separate and stockpile images for any category you can dream up including:
Board button. Once done you can fill the board with your company’s own images by using the Upload a Pin or Add a Pin options.
n Company Boards—Highlight your company’s services with boards about delivery, installation, refurbishing, etc.
The office furniture industry is a visual industry. We show our clients samples; we specify our client’s spaces to show samples of what their space will look like; we are constantly looking to see what the latest design concept is and how space is being utilized. Seeing is believing and Pinterest gives you a place see and store ideas, products, samples and examples for you and your clients.
n Product Boards—General product boards can be divided into categories including casegoods, storage, seating, etc.
Upload a pin works on websites so you type in your website or your manufacturer’s website and Pinterest will go there and show you any pinnable images located on that site.
Here’s how it works. Imagine a corkboard. Now imagine a bunch of corkboards filled with categorized images. Images that come from the Internet, from your company website, from your manufacturers and your service providers. Images that can contain brief descriptions, links to websites, twitter accounts and more. Imagine that all you had to do to put something on your corkboard is to click a button. Or if you like someone else’s boards, you can click simply click the “follow” button and you’re done. Nothing more complicated than a quick download to get the ball rolling. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
n Market Boards—Divide boards into different vertical markets and highlight products in each of those markets including healthcare, K-12 and higher education. n Project Boards—Fill boards with samples of your project work. Each project can have its own board of images. n Inspirational Boards—Pinterest has tons of inspirational ideas for offices from all over the world.
Follow or Lead Ideally, a dealership would host a Pinterest account that is maintained by the on-staff designer who has the most to contribute in terms of design preferences and ideas. There are two steps to getting started: making boards and following boards. Creating a board is easy. Simply click the +Add button and choose the Create a
Simply choose the image, type any information you want, including web address and Pin It. The Add a Pin option allows you to locate images on your own computer and upload them to whatever board you want. Have you ever searched the web and come across a great image or product that you wanted to remember? Well Pinterest users have a feature that’s located in the Internet Favorites section. See an image on a web page? Go to Favorites, select “Pin It” and you can pin the image directly to your boards. Stocking your boards with images can also be done by re-pinning images that have been pinned to other boards. Typing in a search term such as office furniture, office design, interior office space, workspaces will provide the user with boards from manufacturers, other dealerships, designers and architectural firms. C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 6
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Pinterest continued from page 25 Typing in a specific manufacturer’s name will show whether there are boards from or about that particular company or typing in a particular product like office lighting will produce boards for the same. When you find a board of interest, follow it.
Imagine if your sales team could have access to on-the-fly images of all of your projects, product images for every conceivable product your company offers and images of design spaces that your company can emulate and replicate...
Following a board gives you access to all the images and each image gives you the option to simply “like” an image comment on an image or even better, re-pin an image to your own boards.
Seeing is believing when it comes to Pinterest.
Using Pinterest So now you know how to create boards and pin images to them. What are the practical uses of these boards and how are they going to help you grow your business? In addition to the obvious—which is to provide inspiration and promote creativity in space planning—the best reason to have Pinterest is for the potential sales. The simplicity of how Pinterest works makes it a great tool that your salesforce can use to showcase your company’s projects, products, services and applications. Many of today’s brightest salespeople have iPads, tablets, laptops etc. that they use as a part of their sales pitch.
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