Three Optimal Office Chairs

Don’t underestimate the importance of a good work chair, for both your health and your productivity levels. Anything that you sit in for hours every day deserves serious consideration – and smart product choices.

You might be thinking that there’s not much to talk about office chairs, but that’s not exactly true: By the time you consider materials, comfort, ergonomics, back problems, castors, adjustability, and eco-friendliness, a review of the best office chairs can start to sound pretty handy. So let’s talk about what makes office chairs great purchases – specifically, these three amazing chairs.

Herman Miller Embody Chair

This Herman Miller chair is designed to be an élite office experience, and we’re not really joking about that. It boasts six “ergonomic functions” that allow you to adjust various heights and inclines to find just the right position for you, helping to reduce spine compression and provide other benefits. The material on the chair is made to be extra-smooth and help keep air circulating so you don’t get sweaty or sticky – it’s a debate as to whether this works better than mesh fabric or not, but the spine support is absolutely top-notch….which may be why the chair is so pricey. You’ll have to pay over $1,000 to get this reclining machine (the 16 color options do help lessen the sting, though).

Steelcase Leap Office Chairs

While the Embody tries hard to look alien and modernistic, the Leap looks far more like a traditional office chair, which is a big plus for some. Another big plus is that these chairs are made up to 30% recycled content and are 98% recyclable when you’re finally done with them, a great feature for eco-conscious offices. When it comes to comfort, the Leap sports has a “live back” component that basically means the chair easily tilts and conforms to your spine as you move in it, increasing support. All in all, there are good reasons why this is the top-selling Steelcase chair. The big downside is that once again the price is fairly high for a single office chair.

Herman Miller Sayl Office Chair

This Sayl, at around $500, is much more affordable than our other top office chairs, ideal for saving on office furniture costs. It’s also pretty damn good at being a chair too: The mesh fabric keeps you and your skin from being too hot, and the suspension system is based on flexible materials that naturally adjust to whoever sits down. The particularly broad base and legs allow you to just slide in and get ready for a stellar work session…if you can resist falling asleep, of course. Note that the arms of the base model are fixed, and there are fewer ergonomic adjustment options here than with our other picks.