{"id":14177,"date":"2016-06-20T14:00:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/2016-06-20-study-standing-desks-increase-productivity\/"},"modified":"2022-10-25T04:12:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T08:12:25","slug":"2016-06-20-study-standing-desks-increase-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellable.co\/blog\/2016-06-20-study-standing-desks-increase-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: Standing Desks Increase Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the popularity of standing desks in the office, there\u2019s little evidence<\/a> that workplace interventions like standing desks help individuals burn lots more calories or prevent or reverse the harm of sitting for hours on end. \u00a0However, a new study from Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health<\/a> suggests that standing desks could also boost productivity for some employees by a whopping 46%.<\/p>\n

The study, which included employees at a call center for a pharmaceutical company over a six-month period, sought to measure productivity changes in said employees after the company purchased standing desks.\u00a0 Prior to the intervention, employees spent most of their days sitting down while talking with clients on the phone about health issues.\u00a0 After installing standing desks, their productivity was graded based on metrics such as whether they delivered pertinent information and whether callers decided to continue being clients.<\/p>\n

\"Standing<\/p>\n

Within a month of getting standing desks, those employees were 23% more productive than their colleagues who continued to use traditional sitting desks. \u00a0Over the next five months, the boost in productivity rose to 53%, which may be because employees got accustomed to working while standing. \u00a0The average productivity increase over the entire half-year period was 46%. \u00a0In all fairness, some individuals have criticized the study, including Alan Hedge, professor of ergonomics at Cornell University.\u00a0 He notes that the group of employees who did not receive a standing desk was less productive than the group who did, even at the beginning of the study. \u00a0If you take that difference into account, there was probably a productivity boost of only about 14% or 15% associated with a standing desk. \u00a0“That difference would be completely in line with the 20-year history of other studies,” Hedge said.<\/p>\n

A separate\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0of the call center employees in the study found that, after several months of having standing desks, workers said they were spending about 70% of their day seated, whereas their peers who did not receive standing desks were spending 90% of their day sitting in a chair.<\/p>\n

Even critics like professor Hedge agree that the study is still an argument in favor of standing desks.\u00a0 It just might not be as strong an argument as the data would make you think.\u00a0 So should employers invest in standing desks?\u00a0 The answer is still unclear.\u00a0 The current research suggests that standing desks have little to no impact on health but do improve productivity.\u00a0 The potential to see productivity gains should consider the type of work employees are doing.\u00a0 Call center work (talking on the phone, etc.) is more conducive to a standing desk than other types of work.\u00a0 Also, in highly competitive job markets, benefits like standing desk may mean the difference in a candidate accepting a job offer, which is why standing desks are so popular in Silicon Valley. \u00a0When making this decision, employers should definitely think beyond traditional return on investment measures (ROI) and start thinking about value on investment (VOI)<\/a> that takes into consideration how benefit packages impact recruitment and retention as well as other outcomes in a company.<\/p>\n

For companies that\u00a0can\u2019t find budget to outfit traditional desks with standing ones, there are plenty of low-tech ways to\u00a0work more movement\u00a0into your day without buying new equipment or furniture.\u00a0 For example, encouraging employees to take micro-breaks in which they move around for a minute every 20 minutes. \u00a0Similar to standing desks, micro-breaks appear to increase productivity about 15%. \u00a0If an employer does upgrade to standing desks, they should make sure employees are using them with proper form<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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