0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

Management Strategies ● 19
• Telecommuting/transportation. Encourage your workers to carpool,
bike, or use public transportation. Try telecommuting at least one day
a week to save time and fuel. Offer transit vouchers or other incentives
to offset the cost of commuting.
GREAT
Think Ergonomically
I
’m usually the last one to urge any entrepreneur to
IDEA
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