Fellowes launched Rising™ in late February, ushering in a new era for the monitor arm market, where superior product functionality and design are possible simultaneously. Rising places a higher emphasis on design and aesthetics, redefining the monitor arm as a piece of functional beauty that enhances any workspace.

Rising arrives at a pivotal time for workspace design, as companies reimagine the workspace of the future and their employees seek a superior experience that supports their maximum productivity.

We will look at three workspace trends that connect to Rising and everything it can offer to forward-thinking employers and their employees. 

Trend #1: Employers Want Products Built for the Future of Workspaces

The rapid change in workplace trends over the last three years puts a premium on any workspace product that is designed to meet present and potential future needs.

The team at Fellowes is seeing these trends, which directly impact the important and central role of monitor arms for employee workstations:

• Multi-monitor or large screen monitors are becoming the standard for employee workstations, especially with the growth in specialized applications and video conferencing that make multi-screen or large split screen usage a must for more types of employees who seek greater productivity.
• Hoteling programs result in multiple employees using the same workstation in a given week, increasing the need for adaptable products that users can reconfigure with ease.
• Design trend changes for desks and offices make monitor arms more visible, creating an opportunity to blend form and function.

Rising is the perfect response to these trends, as it provides ease and a wide range of configurability and add-ons, providing even more function and flexibility to any workspace for in the moment adaptations.

With 16 total configurations to choose from, Rising facilitates maximum adjustability with one, two or three computer monitors, along with various ranges of height and length to fit each organization’s unique needs.

Rising also offers fixed and motion configurations that allow for larger, heavier monitors.

And while Rising certainly responds well to current trends, it boasts several features that never go out of style. Rising is:

• Built to last with cast aluminum parts and designed to be reconfigurable and adaptable for future office design changes.
• Level 2 Certified and meets a furniture sustainability standard, which demonstrates that the product, the manufacturing facility, and the company have met the multi-attribute criteria requirements for certification.
• BIFMA-compliant to ensure that the product is durable, safe and meets established industry standards, making it a product that’s built to last and ready for the future.
• Comes with an industry-leading Fellowes Lifetime Warranty, along with service programs for additional peace of mind.

Trend #2: Ease of Installation and Daily Usage are Top User Needs

Employers want products that are easy to install, integrate well into workstations and put the power in the hands of each employee to use the product to produce their best work. IT professionals and facility managers are busy and need hassle-free products they can set up quickly and without complicated directions or tools.

Rising responds to this trend with SnapKinect™.  Traditional monitor arms require specialized tools and lengthy instructions for proper installation. The SnapKinect connection system allows

the arm to be assembled and installed in 3 easy steps – so teams can get to work faster than ever.

Flexibility is critical for each employee who often needs to move the position of monitors to collaborate, prioritize tasks or focus.

Rising is thoughtfully engineered with RotationStop™ — a revolutionary new feature that enables you to adjust your monitor swing between 14 distinct stop points. Designed to protect people and equipment, RotationStop can help employees keep their monitor swing under control and within a predetermined swing range.

Rising’s intuitive finger-touch adjustability allows users to easily reorient their monitors, based on preferences and to support work that happens standing up, sitting comfortably or sharing work with a colleague.

Employers want design that’s ready for whatever the future may hold.

When monitor arms can be built or transformed with a push of a button, the user has ultimate flexibility, essentially making the workspace “future proof” and saving time to be used to focus on what’s important — doing great work.

Trend #3: Rising™ Proves Monitor Arms Can Be Central to Workspace Design

While many disregard monitor arms as purely functional necessities, Fellowes recognized that the monitor arm is one of the most viewed objects of the entire office, due to its prominent placement towards the middle of the desk.

With Rising, Fellowes has transformed the monitor arm from just a utilitarian piece of office equipment into an integral part of a workspace aesthetic.

Fellowes created Rising to bring a monitor arm to the market that is not only functional, but could actually enhance the environment where it’s used.

Reimagined and designed with unparalleled sophistication from the inside out, Rising redefines the monitor arm as a piece of functional beauty.

With nine finish options, ranging from standard to in-trend and premium, there’s an option that can elevate any workspace design aesthetic and budget.

These finish options coordinate well with workspace walls, flooring and furniture, making monitor arms an integral part of the office design process.

Learn More About Rising

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The centerpiece of any office workstation are their monitors, where employees focus their attention the majority of the day. According to a study in 2018 by contact lens maker Acuvue, American office workers spend more than 1,700 hours per year in front of a computer screen.

And that has likely only increased, with the shift from phone-based conference calls to video conferencing during the last three years.

That’s why it’s critical for all office employees to feel empowered to set up their monitors to help them maximize their comfort and productivity.

The Trend: More Employees Are Back in Offices

More employees are back in offices than at any other time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Kastle Systems, a leading office keycard provider, offices in 10 top American cities surpassed 50% occupancy during the last full week of January 2023 — a first for any week since the shift to remote work in March 2020. Hybrid work is likely here to stay, but for the first time, the balance of that model, on a national level, tips in favor of on-site office work.

Employers can make on-site office work more appealing to hybrid workers by investing in intentional workspace design choices that help employees feel productive and efficient.

The best way to achieve this goal? Invest in adaptable monitor arms.

At-home office setups may lack monitor arms or multiple screens, with employees instead using their company-issued laptops without a docking station. As a result, employees may be compromising their health, with potential neck and shoulder pain, due to an improperly positioned screen that causes them to bend their neck downward for an extended period of time.

Employers who seek to make office workstations superior to at home options should offer a multi-monitor setup that puts control in the hands of employees to do their best work, especially for tasks that require comparisons of data or information and those that would normally require switching between applications and/or tabs on a single monitor.

Case Study of the Trend: Baxter Credit Union

One employer that recognized the importance of adaptable monitor arms is Baxter Credit Union (BCU). With more than 300,000 members, BCU is one of the country’s fastest growing credit unions, and it needed its corporate headquarters to keep up with its recent growth.

In 2020, BCU expanded its main offices in Vernon Hills, Illinois, into the adjacent building to create a full corporate campus. For the next two years amid the global pandemic and construction and supply delays, BCU worked to build out the new three-floor office space to house more than 260 employees.

In the new space, BCU sought to create more comfortable workstations with greater employee autonomy over the space in which they work. The credit union chose to move away from the typical 8×8 workstations with high-panel walls to a more open floor plan that prioritized comfortable, height-adjustable workstations.

To meet the needs of employees at these various workspaces, BCU decided to invest in Fellowes’ Edge2-MS monitor arms that balanced sufficient adjustability for employee preferences with simple, seamless installation. BCU’s monitor arm investment allowed employees to easily transition their workstations from sit to stand, and users of hoteling stations can easily adjust their monitors based on their individual preferences.

In the post-pandemic work environment where workers demand a more customized and adaptable workspace to differentiate in-office work from remote work, this kind of in-the-moment adjustability is key to keeping them productive, efficient and “in the zone.”

What to Look for in Adaptable Monitor Arms

The vast number of monitor arm options can feel overwhelming for the purchaser, for such a seemingly straightforward workspace accessory. To help, we’ve created this list of the top five features to look for in monitor arms when working with a dealer.

1. Seek out options that offer fast, intuitive installation with no special tools or disassembly required. These options should also offer maximum adjustability to change the angle, height and orientation of monitors to meet the preferences of any employee.
   
   
2. The most adaptable products offer a range of motion and slider capabilities to avoid overlap or gaps between monitors and ensure that screens are the proper distance away from the user.
   
   
3. Monitor arms should match the style and aesthetics of the workspace, without compromising functionality. Look for elevated design and finish options, including standard, in-trend and premium finishes.

4. Any product that is BIFMA compliant will ensure it is durable, safe and meets established industry standards.
   
   
5. Get peace of mind when you buy from a dependable company with a strong warranty and service programs.