Remember how your mother always told you to stand up straight, lest you wind up a dateless wallflower? As it turns out, slouching will cost you more than just an invitation to prom. It may cost you your job.
At least, so say the ergonomic specialists at Fellowes, who note that slouching at work indicates that workers don’t care or aren’t interested. Projecting a lack of interest can mean being passed over for a promotion or even booted out the door. Slouching on the edge of your seat? You’re clearly ready to bolt the moment a better job comes along. Sprawled out in your chair? You don’t take your work seriously. Sitting with your chin in your hand? Too much partying, not enough punching the clock.
With the average office worker spending most of the day behind the desk, Fellowes warns, the physical toll of regular slouching is also high: chronic pain, repetitive stress injuries, etc. Those who don’t heed Mom’s call to “stand up straight!” are surely doomed to a life of chronic pain and lingering death. Or they’ll be fired. Whichever scares you more.
Slouching probably isn’t healthy, but as workplace offenses go, it seems a minor one. Still, it’s tempting to chalk being fired up to bad posture. It’s a bad habit, but it’s one you can control. It’s harder to face the idea that a firing was based on the company’s desire to get the same job done elsewhere for pennies – especially when the new employees are probably allowed to slouch while doing it.
