History shows how designing for the average person means designing for nobody.

Most workplaces are still built around the assumption that there’s such a thing as a typical user.  

It sounds sensible. Design for the average person and most people will be reasonably well served. But the logic breaks down surprisingly quickly.  

People are not standard issue. They vary in pretty much every way imaginable. Even where two people appear similar on paper, the way they experience support and comfort are completely different.  

We’ve known since the 50s 

The notion of designing for the average should have been jettisoned in the 50s, when the US Air Force began investigating why their newfangled jet fighters were underperforming – despite being demonstrably faster and better.  

After blaming pilots, crew, even flight instructors – one canny engineer figured it out. The fighter jet cockpits were all designed around average pilot measurements.  

The problem was – that pilot didn’t actually exist.  

Unsurprisingly, once they started designing for adaptation, so jets could accommodate variation, performance improved. When you design for the average, you fit nobody. So why are workplaces still doing it?  

The cost 

It matters more than you might think. Poor fit is more than an inconvenience. It shapes work experience, engagement. It impacts how people perform.  

This is a reason workplace ergonomics is so often misunderstood. Conversations focus on whether a setup is compliant, or whether a chair has the expected features.  

What we should be asking is – does it genuinely fit the individual using it?  

Real ergonomics isn’t box ticking; it’s about reducing the mismatch between people and the environments they work in.  

Designing for the average may feel efficient. But when it comes to human performance, it’s often a false economy.  

For Ergochair, that’s the real point of ergonomics, better support begins when we make it personal. Stop expecting people to fit their surroundings, and start asking how furniture, spaces and systems can better fit people. 

Musculoskeletal disorders account for millions of lost working days in the UK each year.

These issues often develop gradually, and by the time discomfort becomes difficult to ignore, the underlying issue is well established. This is happening in every office, every workstation – amplified company-wide, nation-wide – the scale matters.  

Scale matters 

According to the Health and Safety Executive, work-related ill health and injury costs Britain around 33.7 million working days a year. Of those, around 7.8 million were linked to musculoskeletal disorders. That is a significant share of working time lost to problems affecting how people sit, move and function at work. 

The scale matters. But so do the personal stories. These problems are easy when we flatten them into statistics. But behind those figures is something more personal – people working through discomfort, fatigue and strain.  

These numbers are lived day to day in lower back pain that builds across the afternoon, in shoulders that tighten over time, in workstations that look acceptable on paper… but never quite feel right. 

Banging the drum for ergonomics  

It’s why we bang the drum about workplace ergonomics. Understanding how people and their environment interact and reducing the physical friction that makes work harder than it needs to be. 

That friction translates directly to sickness absence, reduced productivity and the slow accumulation of physical strain – even where discomfort doesn’t lead to absence, it can still affect performance. 

The way we think about ergonomics needs change. There’s no one size fits all solution. Work environments need to become more adaptable, more personal.  

Not worth making a fuss 

The biggest obstacle is cultural. Discomfort is still often treated as something people should push through – an expected side effect of desk work or a minor issue not worth mentioning.  

But many musculoskeletal problems are not inevitable. They are simply accepted too easily or noticed too late. 

Workplace ergonomics matters because the cost of getting it wrong is a cumulative burden on society. It’s measurable in the lost days nationally, but it’s also there in the day-to-day toll on people personal energy and performance.  

The numbers are significant. The human reality behind them is even more so. 

Small signs of discomfort are often a clue that your workspace, chair, or way of sitting is working against you.

A lot of the people we work with suffer musculoskeletal challenges that prevent them sitting comfortably for long periods without specialist support.  

For many, their problems didn’t start with a dramatic failure. They crept up slowly – a pressure point or a shift in posture, perhaps. They’re easy to miss, but the earlier you spot these signs, the better.  

The problem is that humans are good at adapting. We shift position, lower our expectations, and just carry on. That kind of culture is why six out of ten people in the UK today work from a chair that doesn’t properly fit them.  

Discomfort may be a minor inconvenience now – but by the time it becomes impossible to ignore, the strain may already be well established.  

Symptoms often begin with fatigue, pain and discomfort before progressing into more persistent musculoskeletal problems that affect function. 

Catch it early 

So what do the small signs usually look like? On their own, they seem minor. Together, they can point to a deeper mismatch between you, your environment and the support you rely on. 

Constantly shifting  

Frequent readjustment can be a sign that your body is searching for a position that feels more supported. On its own, that may not seem significant. But when you’re continually repositioning, it suggests an instability.  

Discomfort at the same time each day 

When pain or discomfort flares predictably, perhaps mid-morning or late afternoon, it indicates strain building over time. The issue may not be dramatic, but the pattern is important. Repetition is often what turns a minor irritation into a more entrenched problem. 

Pressure in one place 

A persistent sense of pressure in one part of the body can indicate support is uneven or weight isn’t distributed properly. Even low-level pressure can become wearing when it’s repeated day after day, especially when your body is compensating elsewhere as a result. 

Feeling unusually tired after desk work 

Tiredness isn’t always about workload. Sometimes it indicates extra effort just to stay comfortable, maintain position, or work around low-level physical strain. When a desk-based day feels more draining than it should, your setup may be asking more of you than it ought to. 

Needing to stand up more often  

Regular movement is good, but there’s a difference between stretching your legs and having to interrupt work repeatedly because you can’t stay seated too long. When standing up feels like relief, it may point to an issue worth exploring. 

None of these signs automatically mean something is seriously wrong – but they are worth noticing, and investigating, especially when they become familiar.  

The earlier people recognise that comfort is becoming harder to maintain, the easier it is to ask better questions, make better decisions and prevent a manageable issue from becoming a lasting one.