Poor posture at your desk can, over time, lead to a plethora of back problems, hip complaints and even neck and shoulder strain. According to Unison, 12 million working days a year are lost due to back pain, so one of the best ways to save your company money, in the long run, is to ensure everyone is sitting comfortably and that your staff have a comfortable seating position while at work.

While desk height is a key component of a comfortable workstation, it isn’t the only thing that matters.

The user’s eyes should be in line with the top of the screen. If not, consider a monitor riser to get their screen to the right level to avoid neck or eye strain.

They should be able to reach everything they might need whilst at their desk, easily and without overstretching. Whilst any overstretching can cause pulled muscles, repeated overstretching can lead to back strain and even sciatica which are painful, debilitating and long-term.

A keyboard should be positioned low, enabling the user to rest their wrists at the base of the keyboard, with their elbows bent at less than 90 degrees and their wrists sloping downwards towards the keyboard.

Let’s talk about desk height…

Most desks average 29 inches tall (approx. 73.5 cm). And this is the perfect height … for people around 6 feet tall. However, for those employees who are shorter than 6 feet, who need a lower, this can be easily remedied by raising the height of the chair and adding a foot support or footrest to provide support and remove the temptation to leave legs dangling which can put stress on the spine.

However, for those who are taller than 6 feet, which according to the Office for National Statistics is around 30% of men in just the under 25s, a really simple attachment to the legs of a desk or table can help raise the table height up to the optimum height to enable the user to achieve the correct seating position. For literally pennies, desk height adjusters can be bought and fitted to the legs of a desk or table and adjusted upwards or downwards according to each individual’s requirements.

Desk height adjusters or table height adjusters can increase the height of the desk or table by up to a further 7cm which enables most people to achieve an ergonomically optimal desk height.

Your legs should be at a 90-degree angle from your upper body with your feet flat on the floor. Whatever height you set a desk at, when seated there should be ample space for your knees, thighs and feet.

How high should a desk be?

If you want to learn more about how high your desk should be, you can find all manner of desk height calculators online, however, as a quick guide you can find the best height for any individual’s office desk and workstation by:

• Measuring in inches the height of the desk user when wearing the shoes or trainers they are likely to wear whilst working.
• Divide their height in inches by 2.
• Subtract 8.5 inches from the result of the previous step to find their minimum desk height.
• Subtract 6 inches from the result of Step 2 to get your maximum desk height.

This will give you a rough guide as to how high the desk should be positioned to provide the optimal seating environment for your employees and office staff.

Need more advice?

Desk height adjusters come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes to match your desk or table legs. To find out more about exactly what table height adjusters you need for your office workstations, you can check out this handy guide to desk height adjusters. However, if you have any more questions about how to create an ergonomic workstation within the office, you can chat with our friendly advisors online or call us on 0844 7766800.