There is plenty of research out there telling you that sitting too long is bad for your health, In fact, if we think about it… doing too much of anything tends to be bad for you.
The key to retaining a healthy body in the workplace or wherever you choose to work in general is variation and movement. This is why a good ergonomic office chair will have extensive adjustability, to support, fit and to move with your body. I mean who can’t say after a year-long slog working from home that they wouldn’t want some variation in their working routine?
Height adjustable desks provide employees with the tools and assets they need in order to be productive. They allow employees to work in either a traditional sitting position or a standing position. Thus offering variation and movement – A solution that is proven to increase productivity, foster wellness and promote flexibility with the ability to adjust your working position throughout the day.
Standing at work also adds some health benefits of getting the blood flowing, avoiding back pains from sitting too long and helps you feel energised and more productive.
Should I buy sit-stand workstations for all my staff?
In the UK it is not a legal requirement to provide Sit/Stand workstations for each member of staff. However, you do have a legal obligation to provide office furniture, equipment and tools to ensure employee comfort and wellbeing at work so they can work effectively and efficiently.
If you have a company culture where everyone has their own desk and computer, then perhaps having a sit/stand workstation for everyone could be a suitable solution, giving each individual the freedom to choose how they work. Seated or standing.
If your workforce operates in a more flexible style of working then you can equally encourage variation and movement throughout the working day by providing different spaces and incentives within the workplace for employees to move around. Often referred to as an Activity Based Working environment, this is a workplace style that involves creating shared spaces for your teams to interact and work together depending on the task/ activity taking place.
At Sagal Group we often install a mixture of height-adjustable desks and fixed desks for our customers’ workplaces so employees can choose how they work depending on the nature of their current activity. Choosing to either stand or sit is as important as offering quiet areas, meeting rooms and collaboration space. From our experience, most customers who adopt some sit-stand adjustable height workstations find more employees prefer to use them than not. In some cases offering a mixture of desks gives employees that chance to test and trial standing working to see if it’s something they like.