We've Got Big Balls

The newest trend in office seating is… giant balls? That's right, at companies from Google to BMW, professionals are abandoning their $2,000 leather thrones for posture-enhancing, bright-colored exercise balls. The irony is, it's often the Zen-seeking higher ups who choose the big balls (perhaps attempting to make up for shortcomings elsewhere), looking more and more childlike while sitting on a Romper Room-esque bright blue ball instead of a commandeering CEO chair. Yet while they sit atop their plastic playroom pedestals, they still treat employees like children -- children in safer seats.

The risks of having an exercise ball as a workstation accoutrement are vast. Workers must stay on their toes all day. Some experts suggest a total lack of back support. Exercise balls are easily stolen. And at any point, a violent game of dodgeball might break out.

We prefer the old school office arrangement of workstation seating reflecting the hierarchical status of employees, wherein the top brass get the giant Darth Vader pod, those just below get am souped up Dr. Evil robotic chair, other big wigs get the stuffy English leather highbacks, mid-level managers get computer chairs with arms and wheels, those just below get random task chairs, and the drones get folding chairs. [CareerJournal]