Fellowes recently expanded its Lotus Sit-Stand Workstation line to fit diverse work styles. The innovative design was recognized by the international Spark Award, winning Gold for 2018 fall product launches.

Award judges noted the design distinction in RT which features dynamic Tri-Motion 180º rotation at the base and 180 º work surface rotation. This gives the user the versatility to effortlessly sit, stand, collaborate or shift the workstation aside with new inspiration.

Perfect for small work spaces, the RT standing desk uses a micro clamping system, leaving more desk space and maximized range of motion. The sturdy design of the Lotus RT securely locks into place and prevents sinking while typing. The clamp mounting system allows for minimal footprint installation and even works near cube walls and fits a variety of desk configurations.

The signature waterfall design of the Lotus Sit-Stand series enhances productivity with a distinctive flowing work space that moves with you. The cord management system also contributes to the smooth flow of motion, keeping computer cables under control with every change in direction.

The dynamic flexibility of RT is part of a greater wellness objective by Fellowes to increase opportunities for healthy physical movement throughout the work day.

The RT Offers More Than Just Sitting and Standing.

As security breaches continue to rise across many industries, security experts are advising that protection shouldn’t just exist at the digital level.  Data security has already become law in Europe as new GDPR regulations have gone into effect. Eventually, such laws will also impact the US. Micro cut shredders become an essential with the changing security environment.

Though a robust IT shield is essential for top-line security, hackers and identity thieves are using a combination of tactics to gain access to private information. The greatest misconception is that identity theft is an opportunistic crime and that thieves just so happen to stumble upon unprotected information.

In fact, identity theft rings and hackers may be specifically targeting a business for months with specific information in mind that they wish to breach. Their tactics may incorporate a complex strategy that includes identifying vulnerabilities in their computer system to infiltrating the headquarters through actual employment as company spies.

Non-Digital Approaches to Identity Theft

While many companies place an intense focus on their firewall, identity thieves may be investigating other opportunities where protection is lax. This may include dumpster diving, gaining building access through employment, or acquiring access to information as a trusted vendor.

Dumpster Diving

While dumpster diving seems like a relic of a pre-digital age, it is still an effective method used by identity thieves especially for targeting businesses. As companies dispose of records without proper destruction processes, it makes it easier for thieves to target key industries such as healthcare, financial and manufacturing that maintain and discard large volumes of confidential information on paper. Medical and dental clinics for without proper document destruction policies are low-hanging fruit.

Inside Operations

Identity theft rings are willing to go the extra mile when targeting a key business. That means acquiring employment through cleaning services or other third-party contractors that are given entry to secure work spaces. With free entry to corporate offices at night, critical documents left out on workstations because easy pickings for identity thieves.  Identity thieves will be the first to tell you that they target documents “waiting” to be shredded left in exposed piles in records rooms.

The Trojan Horse

Many businesses rely on external shredding companies to manage sensitive document destruction. But identity thieves can also easily acquire employment with these companies. Businesses unknowingly find themselves handing over confidential documents directly to unscrupulous individuals.

Businesses Manage Their Own Shredding

More and more business are taking shredding into their own hands. Security experts suggest micro-cut shredders as the best defense in document destruction on-site at the workplace.

• Micro cut shredders shred documents into particles 10 times smaller than standard cross-cut shredders. That’s approximately 2,154 particles per sheet
• With high security shredding available on-site, businesses avoid the risk of turning over sensitive information to outside sources
• Putting a strong document management plan into place also ensures that confidential information is never left exposed.

Whether managing a small business or a large corporate office, taking the necessary steps for data protection at all levels keeps your employees and customers safe. That includes the proper document destruction technology.  Choose a micro cut shredder that fits your work space.

As workplace wellness continues to become more sophisticated, new studies on the impact of sleep and sleep loss have become new critical issues for workplace performance experts. Not surprisingly, well-rested employees perform better at work. But there had never been hard numbers to prove sleep’s impact on work until recently. A 2016 study from RAND Corporation estimated that sleep deprivation costs U.S. employers roughly $411 billion annually. RAND also found that sleep deprivation leads to lower productivity levels, along with a higher risk of mortality.

The Working Tired

In addition to an increase in workplace errors, employees experience a general lack of focus on their work. Fifty-two percent of workers indicated being easily distracted because of sleep deprivation, and 47% admit that they procrastinate more because of fatigue. In general, 38% admit to being grumpier as a result of lack of sleep. Twenty-nine percent of people said they had fallen asleep or became very sleepy at work in the previous month. Twelve percent were late to work in the last month because of sleepiness.

An Exhausted Bottom Line

All these factors translate into poor productivity for the business. A corporate culture with diminished morale and more turnover all take away from a business’s success. A widely cited 2011 Harvard Medical School study published in the journal “Sleep” found that the average worker with insomnia results in 11.3 lost days of productivity each year.

Sleep is usually the first sacrifice made to personal health when work gets busy. And as the boundaries between time away from work and time at work blur, the question of how much sleep is needed to perform well and be healthy becomes less clear.

Solutions for the Sleep-Deprived

1. 1. Balancing Deadlines with Down Time. Companies can offer definitive time away from work that isn’t necessarily vacation time. Personal health days can help employees catch up on their ZZZ’s.
   2. Sleep tracking. Employees who suffer from chronic insomnia can benefit from sleep tracking apps that can monitor how much actual sleep they are getting. This technology can help identify a more significant health issue like sleep apnea.
   3. Solving Stress to Cure Insomnia. In many cases of sleeplessness reported to physicians, it is the daytime stresses that cause nighttime restlessness. Offering meditation and stress-relief sessions at the workplace, coupled with other sleep-friendly approaches, can create a better worker and a rested productive workplace.

For more wellness solutions visit: Fellowes Healthy Productivity Resources. 

Fellowes Brands wins the Excellence in Design Silver Award for the AeraMax™ Professional Air Purifier featuring new PureView™ technology.

The judges of Appliance Design Magazine’s annual award recognized AeraMax Professional for its user-friendly PureView air monitoring, an innovation that sets the Pro apart in the commercial air treatment sector.  Now occupants can see for themselves—simply, and in plain sight—how seriously facility managers take indoor air quality and the need for a truly clean environment. PureView™ shows the status of the current room air quality including the percentage of particles captured and removed from the air by the unit.

The displays also detect harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odors in the adjacent air, providing a visual readout to determine the presence of the obnoxious—and noxious— pollutants. The PureView™ units offer two viewing modes: PM2.5 and PM10. In PM2.5 mode, the unit measures the PM2.5 particles, like viruses, germs, and smoke, in the air, as well as the amounts outputted by the unit. In PM10 mode, the unit measures the larger PM10 particles coming in and out of the unit.

The AeraMax Professional is available in two models for purifying the air in areas of 300-700 square feet, and 600 to 1200 square feet. A floor stand model is also available.

See the Professional in action: Demo Video

The 2018 Platinum Adex Award went to the Fellowes Lotus Sit-Stand Workstation, continuing the successful award accomplishments of the innovative new standing desk.

The honor comes on the heels of other high profile design awards as the Lotus offers benchmark features to a growing sit-stand workstation market.

Most highlighted among  the outstanding design features noted by the Adex panel of industrial designers was the  Smooth Lift Technology™ which allows the sit-stand workstation to rise and fall effortlessly from sitting to standing positions.

A signature waterfall work surface creates more space, seamlessly connecting the keyboard tray with the monitor riser and provides easy access to phones and digital devices, documents and reminder notes. The Fellowes design team made a point to consider the user’s point of view when creating the design.  All the lines were sculpted so the movement would be seen from multiple points of view. The comprehensive design fully integrates into any office environment. Nothing like it exists in the market today.

Learn more about the award-winning Lotus.

Features 22 different height settings and 17” of vertical adjustment.

About Adex

ADEX stands for Awards for Design Excellence and is the largest and most prestigious awards program for product & project design in the A&D industry.

Designjournalmag.com is the international trade resource for interior designers, architects and facility managers since 1988 and the proud sponsor of the ADEX Awards.

ADEX Judging

An anonymous panel of professionals representing a cross section of the design industry conducts all voting for the ADEX Awards.

ADEX judges are among the A&D industry’s most respected in their respective areas of expertise. The ADEX Award represents the best product and project designs of the year in the opinion of those who matter the most.

Each category has potential for three award levels of platinum, gold or silver. Judges award points in several categories for each entry. Total points earned determine each product’s score. Minimum scores are needed to qualify for each award level. Winners are announced each April in Design Publications.

Competing with thousands of companies within the office products category, the Fellowes Brands Lotus™ Sit-Stand Workstation won the GOOD DESIGN® Award for 2017. A panel of professionals in the product design field noted the Lotus for its distinctive Smooth Lift Technology™ that transitions the workstation effortlessly from sitting to standing positions—a feature that set the Lotus apart from other standing desks. The innovative cord management and device charging slot, which allows the entire workspace to move freely with the user, was another remarkable benefit that earned the Lotus recognition from this respected design program.

Learn more about the award-winning Lotus.

About the GOOD DESIGN®  Awards

Founded in Chicago in 1950, GOOD DESIGN® remains the oldest, prestigious, and most recognized programs for design excellence worldwide. For 2017, the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design received submissions from leading manufacturers and industrial design firms in 55 countries, representing the critical mass of influential corporations worldwide in the design industry.