Office trends may come and go, but some values (such as good ergonomics) are eternal

by • Company news

In 2024, Wellworking celebrates 25 years of being in business, a milestone I’m proud of in such a competitive market. A lot has changed over that time, and I’m excited by just how much working habits will transform over the next few decades too. When I first established the company in 1999, it was called Home Working Solutions as I felt there were increasing numbers of people working from home that needed appropriate furniture to do that. It was important to me that they had access to quality ergonomic products as I felt that people working from home had very few options on offer at the time.

By harnessing emerging technology and offering these products online, we were able to provide fast, affordable access to high quality products. It was something that no other company seemed to be offering at that time. We established solid relationships with key manufacturing partners, which are still just as strong today, and this also served us well when we began to move into the workplace more.

While the company may have started looking at solutions for home working, we quickly established a reputation for expertise in wellbeing and ergonomics. Soon firms were looking to us to help with their offices and workplace wellbeing programmes, as well as their homeworking needs. It was through these relationships that we were able to develop one of our most successful campaigns, FastAeron. We were one of the earliest companies to offer this hugely popular Herman Miller chair on a very short lead time to clients.

A change of name was needed to reflect this and so we became Wellworking, focussing on ‘Everything about working well’. Our portfolio of products included not only desks and chairs, but furniture for breakout areas, dining spaces and meeting rooms.

We have been fortunate enough since then to win National Awards for our Customer Service, Website, Workplace Wellbeing programmes and marketing initiatives, all driven by our ongoing desire to help our clients work well, wherever and however they are working.

Fast-forward to the 2020s and we are certainly no longer on our own in the online furniture market, but I’m confident we are still leading the way and continuing to develop as a business. Our early involvement helping people working from home put us in an experienced and highly capable position when firms suddenly needed all their staff to WFH during the pandemic.

We already had an efficient, in-house logistics department and understood that customers prized timed delivery slots and excellent customer service over many other factors when choosing a furniture supplier. While many people may now be returning to the office full time, we see firms beginning to recognise that the office they provide for their staff must enhance the work experience not just facilitate it.

Office trends come and go but at the core of all of them is helping people work more productively and comfortably, in effect helping staff ‘work well’. With 25 years of experience of doing just that, we’re confident we can help our clients maximise their work opportunities, whatever changes occur in the workplace over the next 25 years.