Are Standing Office Cubicles the Future?

Sitting in an office cubicle for hours on end has negative effects on your overall health. Sitting is referred to as a “static position”, with minimal blood flow occurring in your body. Studies have even revealed that an increased amount in sitting can actually take years off your life.  Many workers are becoming privy to the fact that sitting in a static position for 8+ hours a day isn’t exactly great for your body. This shift in thought has led to the advent of the standing office cubicle design.

ReadWrite, renowned for its tech news, recently put the standing desk to the test. Their goal was to determine if the standing office desk was simply a fad of Silicon Valley, with companies like Google, AOL, Facebook and Twitter adopting them , or if it lived up to its merit of a healthy office furniture choice.

To determine if the standing desk was simply the cool thing to do, or if actually had health and productivity benefits, ReadWrite set out to put the standing desk to the test. With the help of a company called the Draugiem Group, based in Latvia, ReadWrite sought scientific evidence that the standing desk is beneficial to employee health and productivity. To help gauge these factors, they developed an app called “DeskTime”, which tracked the amount of time they spent standing and sitting. They then calculated a percentage of productivity which was total time working divided by the amount of time they spend using applications they deemed productive. The test included seven test subjects over a period of a week.

After the week concluded their results showed that the employees were 10% more productive while they stood compared to sitting. Some of the feelings that were noted by the participants included; while standing it created a sense of urgency, which helped them focus more. However, with tasks that required more creative thinking, they found the standing desk was a bit of a hindrance, because of urgent feeling. Another noted side effect of standing while working was an increase in energy levels and a higher degree of focus. Though these feelings weren’t scientifically proven, all participants noted this.

This proved to be an interesting article and has made me want to conduct my own experiment. What do you think of the standing desk, do you think it’s a good alternative to the standard office cubicle?

To read the complete article by ReadWrite, click here.