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- Effective inflatable lumbar support
- Wide, comfortable seat
- Supremely easy to assemble and use
- Limited back tilt
- Upholstered foam can get warm
Posturite is a brand specialising in ergonomic office equipment and furniture. It stocks office chairs, standing desks, mice, keyboards and more from brands such as HÅG and Logitech, while also manufacturing its own ranges.
The Homeworker Plus, part of the Positiv range, is one of Posturite’s own. It’s an unassuming office chair, comfortable and supportive, with all the necessary adjustable features.
But what really surprised me about the Homeworker Plus was its inflatable lumbar support. I’ve never come across something like this on an office chair before, but does the Homeworker Plus’ unique design translate to good ergonomics?
Posturite Homeworker Plus office chair: What do you get for the money?
The Homeworker Plus is an ergonomic office chair with a fabric-upholstered foam seat and backrest. In terms of adjustable features, you’ve got everything we normally look for in a good chair: adjustable seat height and depth, lockable backrest tilt and backrest height adjustment, adjustable arms (height, width and depth), and seat tilt.
The standout feature, though, is the inflatable lumbar support. Integrated into the base of the backrest, this is inflated via a rubber pump on the end of a tube (imagine one of those vintage perfume atomisers, and you’ve got a pretty accurate picture) and deflated via a small release valve. Very few office chairs have a lumbar support that functions in this way; I’ve not come across one in the four years that I’ve been reviewing office chairs. I’ll discuss how well it works further down.
The Homeworker Plus costs £474. Posturite’s Positiv lineup ranges from £224 to £1,251, so this is very much a mid-range option. In fact, in the context of the other chairs I’ve reviewed for Expert Reviews, it’s pretty bang average: pricier than value options such as the Sihoo M57 and the Slouch Task One, but nowhere near as dear as designer chairs from the likes of Herman Miller.
If you were to view the price of the chair purely in terms of the adjustable features it offers, you’re looking at £64 per feature. If you compare that to some of our favourite office chairs, such as the Slouch Task One (£41/feature), the Orangebox Do Better (£83/feature), the Herman Miller Aeron (£194/feature) and the Herman Miller Sayl (£148/feature), then the Homeworker Plus is a good value option.
What did we like about it?
I found the Posturite Homeworker Plus extremely easy to put together. The simple self-assembly process consists of slotting the gas lift into the base, then the seat, followed by the backrest. No screwing is required, the arms are already attached to the seat – as are the castor wheels to the base – and you even get a spare set of castors in the box. This was the easiest setup experience I’ve ever had with an office chair, just short of it arriving pre-assembled. And while I personally love putting furniture together, those who dread the experience will have a field day here.
The Homeworker Plus’ cushioned foam construction is comfortable, and its 53cm wide seat is the most spacious I’ve tested. It took me a little while to get comfy when I first started reviewing it, but I quickly found the sweet spot after some adjusting.
Adjustability is also very simple, and I love how clearly labelled – with images and text – the key levers are. Likewise, the backrest (adjustable via a ratchet mechanism) is easy to lift or lower when you’re seated, and the inflatable lumbar support also works really well: I’ll confess I rather enjoyed the sensation of pumping this up and feeling it inflate against my lower back. Taller users will appreciate how high the seat goes. I’m 5ft 9in and at the seat’s max height (59cm according to Posturite’s specs), I was sitting with my feet off the floor.
What could be improved?
Given how wide the seat is, I would have appreciated being able to adjust the armrest width inwards a little more. However, more striking was how limited the backrest tilt is: it’s almost upright at its extreme recline position, though the forward tilt is much more pronounced. This meagre recline may well be a design choice on Posturite’s behalf (Posturite = posture right), but I found you can compensate for it by adjusting the seat, which can tilt back by up to 8°, in tandem with the backrest.
If I’m nitpicking, I could complain that the Homeworker Plus looks rather uninspiring. Its design and choice of fabric colours (black or dark grey) are certainly sensible enough for the home office and by no means ugly. But if you’re looking for something with visual flair, this isn’t it. Instead, you could perhaps consider the Slouch Task One’s attractive selection of muted pastel shades. Then again, the Homework Plus is an office chair primarily designed with workplace ergonomics in mind, and in that respect, it very much looks the part. Not every office chair needs to look as outlandish as the Herman Miller Sayl.
Lastly, while I found it comfortable, upholstered foam won’t be to everyone’s taste. A mesh design might be preferred, especially when trying to keep cool in a hot office. The Homeworker Plus can get warm, and I find the golden mean is a chair with a foam seat and a mesh back (again, see the Slouch Task One). Oddly, I was also prone to sliding down the seat, though this may have been down to my choice of work trousers rather than slippery upholstery.
Should you buy the Posturite Homeworker Plus office chair?
Most of my criticisms of the Homeworker Plus are little more than minor grumbles. While the recline limit and all-foam construction are obstacles to a Best Buy award, the small niggles don’t get close to outweighing all the things this office chair gets right. It’s comfortable, supremely easy to assemble, and its adjustability is near-faultless.
And if you’re sceptical about an inflatable lumbar support, don’t be. It’s far from a novelty.
