Stand up if you want to be healthier and more productive!
Quite literally, thousands of employers across the nation are helping employees stand up to be more productive and health aware by transforming the workplace with standing and height-adjustable desks. Much more than a trend, height-adjustable desks are sweeping workplaces not only because of the potential increases in work-related outputs, but for the health benefits and significant longer-term employer cost savings in health claims and employee assistance devices for their sedentary workforce.
With 86 percent of Americans employed in desk-bound office settings — often spending up to 15 hours per day seated — productivity, wellness and cost savings are and will remain top of mind for employers.
A recent six-month study by Texas A&M University’s Health Science Center School of Public Health of 167 call center employees revealed that employees using stand-capable desks were more productive than colleagues in standard, seated desks. In the first month of the change, standing employees had 23 percent more successful calls than seated peers; by month six, that had increased to 53 percent.
Recently, Phoenix-based Vertical Measures, a digital marketing agency, transitioned its workforce to height-adjustable desks. “One year after converting 60 desks, employees are significantly happier and continue to reap the rewards of having height-adjustable desks,” says Arnie Kuenn, CEO of Vertical Measures. “Our workforce has embraced our new way of working and routinely boasts about the effectiveness of their workspaces.”
Standing desks also allow employees to be more physically active. “Height-adjustable desks do a body good, especially a sedentary one,” says Steven Sorr, N.M.D., medical director of Source of Health in Scottsdale. “People who stand tend to burn 15 percent more calories, have improved attention spans and greater engagement, and increased cognitive function.”
With the obesity epidemic, and correlating physical and psychological ailments such as high blood pressure, diabetes and depression, showing no signs of slowing down, Dr. Sorr also notes that giving employees the option of standing may help companies potentially save millions of dollars in health and wellness claims.
Small changes, such as giving employees more control over their immediate work environment, can make a world of difference as employers look for ways to increase productivity while maintaining happy, healthy workforces.
Drew de Weerd is the president of Phoenix-based MultiTable®, one of the nation’s leading height-adjustable standing desk and ergonomic accessories manufacturers, producing products that help modern professionals maximize their working lifestyle.
