Earnings Per Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jul. 02, 2016	Jul. 04, 2015	Jul. 02, 2016	Jul. 04, 2015
Numerators:
Numerator for both basic and diluted EPS attributable to HNI Corporation net income	$ 29,029	$ 23,879	$ 40,872	$ 32,357
Denominators:
Denominator for basic EPS weighted-average common shares outstanding (shares)	44,431,198	44,416,008	44,344,778	44,359,898
Potentially dilutive shares from stock-based compensation plans (shares)	1,201,000	1,205,000	963,000	1,214,000
Denominator for diluted EPS (shares)	45,632,284	45,620,984	45,308,306	45,573,952
Earnings per share - basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.65	$ 0.54	$ 0.92	$ 0.73
Earnings per share - diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.64	$ 0.52	$ 0.90	$ 0.71
Earnings Per Share, Diluted, Other Disclosures [Abstract]
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share (shares)	444,723	441,211	730,884	945,338