Get to know George Kordaris, president of Humanscale – producers of ergonomic office furniture in Dubai.
My wish is to see people sitting in a relaxed, healthy and comfortable workspace with good light and air quality.
I feel that an employee – wherever he/she is – is entitled to this basic right at work.
I come from a working class American family.
Both my parents were Greek immigrants and they had to work very hard to make a life for my siblings and me in the US. My dad was a truck driver and my mum worked in a store.
They made tremendous sacrifices in order to raise their children well. At the age of 21, both my parents passed away and I found myself all alone in the world.
I had always been an easy-going boy, but adulthood and its accompanying responsibilities brought with it a new perspective on reality. There could be no looking back after that.
My first job directed me to entering the furniture industry.
At the age of 24, I worked part-time as a sales and repairman for a furniture company called Knoll.
Beyond selling the products, I was intrigued by their design and often imagined the mechanics behind the products.
This fascination guided me to entering this industry. I never feel as though I have had to work very hard during my career because I just love what I do!
I was not formally trained to work in this industry.
I went to the University of California and studied history, which was hardly related to the commercial world.
To get a job in those days, you did not have to have a college degree. I was flat broke and had to stay afloat, so I dropped out of college and never got the opportunity to complete the course later on.
I was forced to choose between wanting a degree or having a pair of shoes on my feet and being able to pay my rent. Naturally I chose the latter.
Education is very important but I do not think it is the only factor that determines achievement. I went from becoming a repair boy to a manager at Knoll, managing director at Vitra – another furniture company– and now to the position of president of Humanscale, which I've held since 2002.
Ergonomics is the science of the workplace.
Equipment is designed to maximise productivity and to promote a healthy working environment.
Today, any person who works in an office does so in a space that has a table, chair, monitor, keyboard, mouse and a telephone.
Despite different countries, cultures, languages, weather and food across the globe, the way people work is exactly the same.
Our company helps people work in a healthier environment. A good working environment means less stress and this can be achieved by simply choosing good furniture designs.
Our designs are known to reduce the risk of work-related hazards associated with poor quality furniture, such as poor posture, inappropriate level of vision and the like.
Numerous scientific studies support the fact that working in a space where the furniture is ergonomically designed maximises productivity and minimises health hazards.
We lose thousands of hours of our lives to the office we work in, so isn't it important that we do it with good quality goods that ensure good health in order to maximise output?
Adjust your chair to suit your posture and not the other way round. Our furniture can be adjusted so as to the suit the user's needs.
No person can use the same chair, say, in the same way that someone else does. When I see young people at offices today slumped at their desks, I feel the urge to promote our products more aggressively.
I believe in teamwork. I expect to get my uniform as dirty as my employees do. We win together and we lose together. I expect my team to be honest in their views towards the company. To this date I insist on interviewing every potential employee personally before recruitment.
I am concerned about our current economic situation.
What has happened or is happening at the moment with regard to layoffs is well outside the managers' control. But I have not given up. I will continue to do everything in my power to take the measures necessary to counteract retrenchments.
I am trying my best to retain my employees by calculating pay as opposed to sending them packing. I feel that wherever possible, employers should try to do this.
Taking someone's job away is a huge mental blow to the individual and their families. My heart goes out to the young people of today whose future will suffer as well as the older people across the world, who may not be able to retire peacefully.
It's a good idea to make your office desk smaller, now that there is an economic recession. We can help companies go from bulky desks to minimalising their desks' size, which will prove to be more efficient – especially now that many are working with a reduced number of employees.
Hundreds of acres of office space can be saved and the costs that go with buying and maintaining them will lessen as a result.
We at Humanscale are not a fashion statement – we are
a functional statement. It is our way of giving back to society in a small, humble way.
My two daughters and their partners are my family today.
I have been divorced for a while now but my ex-wife remains one of my best friends, despite our marriage having failed.
Dubai displays tremendous optimism. I think that people here are very optimistic. The city's buildings grow taller every day, and I see a significant similarity between Dubai and Los Angeles, where I was born.
