1. The Gallup Organization recently polled US home-office computer-users to learn where and how they work. For a home office to be maximally productive, their survey verified that, having a professional office-like work area is just as vital as having the correct computer equipment. Gallup reported that surveyed computer owners acquire specialized home-office furniture because:
2. Six of every ten surveyed did not have a separate room to use as an office. They had to solve the problem of how to fit their office into conventional living spaces. Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed use a separate room devoted to an office. Ten percent use the master bedroom, ten percent use the living room, and ten percent use a family room. The other thirty-one percent located their computer-based offices in the dining room, basement, bathroom, or in a closet.
3. Working at or from a home office requires a higher degree of task organization than can be achieved with computer and peripheral components strung together on a card table. Correctly organized work areas are critical to business productivity.("Custom" office installations are costly and designers' lack of computer-use experience often results in less-then-functional work areas).
4. Conventional desks lack desk-top and storage space and don't protect computer equipment.. Conventional desks were designed for hand-writing - not for computer use. Office desks are too large for homes, and "scaled-down" home-version desks are not adequate.
5. RTA furnishings don't meet their requirements. Ready-to-assemble (RTA) computer work stations are generally of poor quality, short-lived particle-board construction, non-ergonomic design, and are difficult to assemble.
6. To be effective, a home-office must pay close attention to ergonomic details. (Compromised monitor-viewing height, non-adjustable chair or improper keyboard rest lowered productivity and caused aches and pains.)

To work well, a virtual/home office has to combine form, quality and function in minimal space. It must provide an attractive, comfortable task area suitable for working long hours. There must be space for files, drawings, manuals, references and more. It must be secure. It has to be organized. The computer office area must be an attractive part of home decor; compatible with total home space use. Computer-based office furniture must enhance its user's productivity.

Cost vs. Productivity: Productivity time-study measurement is routinely performed for a machine tool operation, assembly-line task, data entry and the like but, measurement of creativity, paperwork and integrated office functions are far more subjective. However, a reliable standard remains the relationship between salary and value of output.

If, for example, an employee earns $50,000 per year, the employing organization may expect the "value" of the work performed to be as much as ten times that amount. Assuming 20% of that employee's efforts are required to be performed in a computer-based office, then each year, "office" task work represents $100,000 in value to the employer.

Working in a non-standard office without correct work and task area layouts can be costly . If, because of an inadequate task area, office task productivity is reduced by even as little as ten percent, for an employee working ten hours each day, that ten percent represents 6 minutes each hour - - one extra hour per day - - every day.

It adds up. One hour per day at just five days per week, comes to five hours per week, 21.5 hours per month, 258 hours per year. That's an extra six and one-half work weeks each year - - the employee's direct time cost is an extra $6.250 per year - - for the employer, as much as $62.500 as cost for only a ten percent productivity loss.

Where is productivity lost? Time-study measurements showed for example that working with a computer on a dining room table for six hours during a day resulted in a performance drop of more than seven percent vs. an office workstation simply because of increased fatigue caused by working in an improper chair and desk plus a lack of proper lighting; an additional drop of 6 percent because of a lack of access to files, supplies; and eight more percent was lost in setting up and cleaning up. All told, a twenty-one percent loss in productivity was measured - - representing a need to spend one-full extra working day per week to produce only the same amount that could have been performed in a conventional office.

At that rate, the home office worker has to expend more than 500 extra hours per year just to maintain an output level. At one and one-half hours per day commuting (saved by working at home) the employee saves 1.5 hours commuting per day x 5 days x 52 weeks = 390 hours per year. An improper work station at home wiped out the commuting-time saved and then some.

Performing the same measurements utilizing an off-the-shelf RTA "computer desk" yielded a productivity performance improvement of only five percent. Task area design of the selected unit had not taken into account adequate space for peripheral components nor provided adequate space facility. The "flimsy -feel" and lack of ergonomic features offset most of the time saved in setting-up and cleaning.

The OFFICE™ performance is guaranteed. Working productivity is the same as in a conventional office and it has the additional benefits of appearance, mobility and quality of construction. Informed buyer's recognize that it makes perfect business sense to have an idealized home-office task environment that will perform for many years - accepting the two to three computer system changes and upgrades likely to be added during the next ten years.

The OFFICE™ is the only fully equipped, fully capable, totally mobile, ergonomically correct, patented, professional business office appliance which closes and locks with its full-size ergonomic chair inside.