I recently started working for a phone company in my area in their IT support department. When I arrived I had half of a half size desk because I was sharing it with a laser printer I had a paper thin mousepad and my chair was a cheap office chair that didn’t even have armrests on it. Coming from a company that provided a leather seat for me with a full size wrap around desk (I guess I was spoiled) I felt as though the company wasn’t interetsed in taking care of their employees needs as far as comfort goes in the workplace. After dealing with the situation for about a month, mind you my desk is about 5 inches higher than my armrests on my chair, I went and purchased a keyboard wrist rest, an ergonomically correct mousepad that would move with my wrist when using a mouse, and a foot stand for my feet. Although the desk situation still doesn’t help I felt that this would greatly improve my comfort level. In doing so I also thought that my company would reimburse me for these items as I did purchase them for WORK, and it wasn’t a 5.00 purchase. They told me that I would have to bring in a doctor’s note in order to get reimbursed for the items. All along I thought these items were to PREVENT problems. I guess I was wrong. :>
In any event, I wanted to get people’s opinion’s as far as a workplace providing a user with these tools to work comfortably, and also to get their opinion’s on whether or not the majority of people working in IT feel that I should have been reimbursed for these items without a doctors note. I thank you for your time in advance….
