What I Learned at Jury Duty

There is a saying that goes: the brain can only absorb what the butt can endure. I experienced this first hand during my recent stretch on jury duty. Some people are thrilled when they get this love letter in the mail; they see it as a chance to catch up on a pile of magazines they have yet to read. For others, it’s a day wasted they will never get back. For me, I’ll remember sitting on the hard church-pew-type seating counting down the minutes until the end of the day.

After about an hour or so of repetitive questioning by the judge, our group was entirely zoned out, nodding heads in rhythm to appear as if we were still paying attention. Everyone that is, except the guy at the end of my row who had nodded his head right off to sleep. Yes, I realize I can’t blame his napping strictly on the type of seating. I can attest that the subject matter wasn’t all that exhilarating and who knows how much sleep he had the night before. What I can point out is the type of seating does have a major impact on how productive and attentive we are.

A simple example of this concept is a restaurant. One of the reasons fast food type companies have hard seating is for a quick turnaround. Because the food is priced lower, they rely on having many customers come in and out quickly. On the opposite spectrum, higher priced restaurants usually have padded upholstered seating. Along with the look, they want you to linger longer, buy another drink or two, and then find room to finish off with an overpriced dessert.  They certainly don’t want an uncomfortable chair to be the reason you had to leave.

This same concept applies to the workplace as well. How many task chairs are on the market with a hard seat? How many conference rooms have hard seating? I’m sure most of us can relate to being stuck in a meeting that went a bit longer than anticipated. When you are creating an environment to foster productivity, provide seating for your employees and guests that allow them to focus on their tasks.  

Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly some very nice chairs and stools in this market segment that are great for short term use. One of my top picks that is surprisingly comfortable and has a good price point is Kimball’s Bingo chair and stool. Another favorite around our office is Haworth’s Very chair which comes in a fun assortment of colors. These types of chairs are most commonly found in kitchen areas or break rooms where employees may spend an hour or so eating their lunch. These areas are not meant to be highly attentive spaces, instead used as a quick touchdown area for employees and guests.

Never underestimate the importance of using the correct seating. As my jury duty experience taught me, no matter how important the subject matter, if your butt can’t last your brain certainly won’t either.

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