9 Tips To Get Back Into Work-Mode for 2013

We know sometimes its not easy getting back into the swing of things after a relaxing break. That’s why we’ve decided to put together some handy tips to help you beat the ‘back-to-work blues’. We hope they help!

1. Ease into the workload – Get into a working mindset by starting on a small and manageable task. As you make progress you should start to realise that it’s not as tough as you first thought.
2. Prioritise your work – Don’t get overwhelmed by the 300 emails sitting in your inbox, but rather spend 25 minutes separating your inbox into 2 files ‘Urgent and Later’. This way you can prioritise your work by importance and won’t have 300 sitting in your inbox, but rather 20 or so that need to be actioned right away.
3. Communicate – It’s easy to forget after a 2 or 3 week break. Speak with your manager and colleagues to make sure you’re still on the same page.
4. Set goals – Goals are an essential part of getting motivated. Have a think about what you want to achieve throughout the year and then plan how you can achieve it. Forecasting is a great way to set goals, this involves writing your goals in your diary on the dates you hope to achieve them by, this makes sure you always have something to work towards.
5. Stay social – Arrange after-work activities on evenings or weekends, so you can escape the daily grind and have something to look forward to throughout the working week.
6. Clean up – Pack away your Christmas decorations or any clutter from last year, it will help you get out of holiday mode.  A clean environment is also easier to work in.
7. Stay healthy – Regular exercise, eating healthy and a healthy sleeping pattern will give you the energy you need to conquer the New Year.
8. Stay positive – Be thankful for the refreshing break and think of going back to work as a fresh start. After a rejuvenating holiday, you’ll be full of great ideas and with the right attitude, you’ll be very productive as well.
9. Plan a holiday – Having something exciting to plan and look forward to can make the hard work seem worth while.

A Big 2013 in Store!

Welcome back. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas break – we certainly did and now we are keen to start the new year with a bang!

We’ve got lots in store for the upcoming months, including our soon to be released 2013 office furniture catalogue and with that the introduction of a bunch of new and exclusive products.

With a refreshed team, we are eager to hear about your office furniture needs. Let 2013 be the year that you give your office the attention it deserves!

Happy Holidays from the Krost Team

As 2012 comes to an end and we prepare for another great year we would like to thank you for your continued support.

It was an exciting year for us at Krost with the release of many new products – the Aero, Web, Kari,Ess, Chia, Duo and Kale to name a few – which have already become hits.

Apart from the new products this year, we also revamped our showroom with a whole new configuration and design. It’s looking as good as ever and we can’t wait to show you around! Be sure to pop in, just remember we will be closed from the 21st and will be reopening on the 9th.

2013 is set to be better than ever! For starters, new products and a brand new catalogue are set to be released early in the year.

Until then, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Our New LED Energy Efficient Lights

We just switched over to LED lights exclusively. This includes all the big high bays in our showroom (over 70) and all the down lights in our office (over 150).

It’s just a small change we’ve made as part of our company’s commitment to the environment. We strive to have a positive environmental impact across all areas of our operations from the products we sell to the transport we use.

We aim to sell only environmentally friendly office furniture. This includes E0 boards and only water based glues. Additionally, we are ISO 14001 certified and a large percentage of our products and fabrics feature third party environmental certifications.

These LED lights will provide us with a huge reduction in our energy consumption – and hopefully an equally large reduction in our electricity bill – as they use less than half the power of conventional lights.

They give a great colour light and show our office furniture brilliantly, take a look at the pics.

Our Xmas Lawn Bowl Party

We all had a ball at Paddo Bowls Club for our 2012 Christmas Party. The evening kicked off with a fun-filled lawn bowls tournament. Most of us had never been near a bowling green before so it was filled with laughs and good times. It was the perfect way to celebrate a fantastic year!

Our 2012 Ads

Have you seen the advertisements we’ve been running this year? It was a totally fresh approach for us and we think they’re awesome.

You might have seen them in a few design mags or across the web.

Click the picture above and the image gallery on the right to see some full size versions.

Our World Class Showroom

We’ve just updated our showroom, with a host of exciting new products and finishes which will form part of our 2013 product range.

Have a look at some new photos by clicking on the one above, and if you’ve been before, it’s definitely worth swinging by and checking out what changes we’ve made. If you’ve never been, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!

Our multilevel showroom is over 2500m2 and showcases all our products from seating to workstations, desking, storage, training and everything in between all here for you to see and try.

You don’t need to make an appointment to come past, one of our sales consultants will be more than happy to show you around. We’re also known to offer the best coffee this end of King St.

We’re at 645 King St, St Peters. Just 10 minutes from the CBD.

A Brief Look at Ergonomics

What is ergonomics?

Ergonomics is the study of the interactions between people and their environment. Ergonomics is neither a positive or negative term but rather it describes the relationship between employees and their workspace.

Why is ergonomics important in the office?

When you can spend up to 12 hours a day at your desk, making sure that you have positive and healthy ergonomic relationship is crucial. Providing the right office setup will be the best investment in yourself or your staff you can make. Recent scientific studies indicate that not only will employees be more comfortable and have increased morale, but they will also work more effectively.

Additionally, designing more suitable work environments is extremely important in safeguarding ourselves against the development of painful musculoskeletal injuries and other physical discomforts associated with prolonged work periods.

What can you to do improve the ergonomic situation in your office?

To make sure you have the most positive relationship with your surroundings, it’s important you carefully consider your office furniture. It’s essential that your office chair offers proper alignment and support to the upper body, shoulders and back. Back support is a crucial ergonomic element as it aids breathing, provides comfort and promotes the ‘ideal’ posture.

Important things to keep a look out for when making chair purchases include; chairs that allow for natural body movement and offer custom fit support to the lower and upper back. Tension adjustable controls and height adjustable lumbers are also important. Chairs with these characteristics will offer you the most benefits.

It’s also important to remember that different body shapes will be suited to different chairs. Krost offers a full selection of high quality office seating, that is designed to offer support for extended periods of office work.

What else?

In addition to choosing the right office furniture, users must know how to use and configure their workspace appropriately. There are a number of handy tricks that can instantly make your workspace more user friendly. For a quick and general guideline of these ‘rules’ please refer to the ergonomics section of our website.

It’s also important to remember that even though you should aim to be in the most ergonomically correct position for the majority of the time seated, it is not healthy to maintain the same position for too long. You should temporarily change positions, stretch or allow the chair to be in free-recline to relieve some muscles and activate others.

More detailed tips on workplace ergonomics can be found here.

Product Spotlight – Time Executive Desking

Time executive desking is our modern take of a timeless classic desk design. We introduced Time in 2010 and since then it has become one of our top selling ranges.

Time is available with either veneer or melamine construction or in 2 variations:

• Pole Legs: four 125mm thick rectangular legs or
• Panel Legs: two 33mm panel end legs.

Both styles have the option of including a 6mm glass inlay in the desktop and the range also features aluminium laminate detailing. Height adjustable feet are standard across the range.

The four-leg variant features screw-in legs that are easy to remove, making it ideal for installations into sites with difficult access and allowing for easy office relocations.

The Time 4 leg desk is also available as a boardroom table. The boardroom variation has a linking piece allowing tables of any length to be made – creating a striking visual in any office landscape.

The Time features in many of our office fitouts and is locally manufactured and available in a wide range of finishes and sizes. Custom sizes and configurations can be made upon request.

Click on the image above to see more pictures.

Our Best Selling Future Chair Features on InDesignLive.com

Krost’s Future Chair hit the market running in 2008, since then it’s proven to be one of the most versatile and best performing office chairs around – but is that really saying much?

What’s really made the Future so successful are its aesthetics, comfort and functionality. It’s sleek, stylish, slim, has a big family of options with different colour mesh backs and numerous options for seat upholstery (mesh, fabric, leather. vinyl…). But the hidden features like its braille inscribed adjustment controls and advanced synchronised mechanism are the attention to detail touches that are hallmarks of Krost office furniture.

Anyway, see what InDesignLive.com have to say about it here.

Vast and Axis Workstations – 3D Models Now Available

We’ve just uploaded 3D models of our Vast and Axis workstations to our website in Sketchup format. Using different scenes we show how the systems fit together from individual components into all sorts of different configurations.

The models gives a great overview of how versatile the workstation systems are.

You can download the files directly from here:

• Vast 3D Models
• Axis 3D Models

Don’t forget that all our office furniture is available in either 2D CAD blocks or 3D models from the Design section on our website.

What’s the difference between melamine and laminate?

Actually, melamine is a type of laminate and there are a few different variations of laminate.

Direct-pressure laminate, otherwise known as low-pressure laminate is what is commonly referred to as melamine. It is manufactured under 2 to 3.5 meganewtons of pressure per square metre and the final product is a sheet of melamine resin – a highly durable type of thermosetting plastic bonded with a phenolic resin glue and a melamine resin plastic facing.

Whereas the final product with low-pressure laminate is attached to a substrate of board, attaching high-pressure laminate to board is usually an entirely different process.

We have found ‘melamine’ to be the material most suited to the manufacturing of office furniture for most work settings. It is highly durable, extremely cost effective and an excellent surface to work on. We also make sure to use a moisture-resistant substrate board which adds to the durability of the surface.