Since the early 2000s, Innovant has been manufacturing sit/stand desks and benching systems. In the early days, these products were mostly restricted to mission-critical environments like 24-hour control rooms, 911 dispatch centers, or financial trading floors. It wasn’t until 2010 that the commercial office started to show an interest. In 2012 Innovant introduced FORm_office HA, a sit/stand benching system with a particularly clean aesthetic, despite its robust design, winning gold at NeoCon for the category and shortlisted as one of the top 5 products overall. This marked the beginning of a decade of Sit/Stand workstations in the North American marketplace as major manufacturers took notice and developed their own imitations of a height-adjustable bench.
At first, height-adjustable tables were coming on the heels of recommendation letters from health care professionals, explaining that a specific user needed this feature to alleviate a health condition. At the same time, significant changes in workplace design were emerging. Density, collaboration, huddling, teaming, flexibility, and quick reconfigurations were the tenets of new office design. Out went traditional panel systems and private offices, and in came benching and freestanding desks. With workstations shrinking in size (and privacy, and cost) employers began to feel the pressure to provide “perks” like height-adjustable tasks, high-performance task seating, amenity spaces like cafes, and so forth. Everyone was watching what the offices of the fastest growing tech companies looked like. Sit/Stand became an essential offering to all employees.
So how has it all worked out?
The immediate challenges to the industry in the first half of the decade, for manufacturers and clients, were cost and quality. The per desk cost premium of electric height adjustability was so much that Facilities and Procurement professionals were handcuffed by pre-approved project budgets that had not taken this feature into consideration. Then there was the fear of reliability; what happens if these new electrified desks start to break down? Many inquisitive clients wanted to know how other companies fared with this concept before they committed to it. As with every new technology, thanks to the early investors, the data sets played out for others to see. Over time, efficiencies in engineering improved quality and reliability. As demand increased, competition drove costs down. By 2018, almost all new office projects in North America were requesting Sit/Stand desks for their employees, and the price of a height-adjustable desk was not much more than a fixed height desk 5 years earlier.
Usage
Are employees actually using the feature? Most employees will say they greatly appreciate having a Sit/Stand desk. Innovant has performed multiple audits on customers’ usage of the feature. While the data may not be perfect, we consistently see slightly less than 10% of all desks in the standing position at any given time. Some users will stand for extended periods during the day, as much as 75%, while others will never stand at all. In any case, the variability in different desk height positions in these studies indicate that most users are at least using the feature to set their desk height to their particular preference while seated.
What about the documented health benefits of standing, at least for a portion of the day, instead of sitting for prolonged periods? Companies have made the investment in giving all employees this health benefit, hopefully, to increase productivity and reduce lost workdays. Why does it seem like many employees are not taking advantage of it?
In a world that revolves around technology, employees and employers have found that “alarms”, “triggers”, “notifications”, “reminders” on an electronic level are required to help employees manage their day. Online calendars like Outlook send constant notifications to remind employees of tasks to do and meetings to attend. Perhaps one also needs a “trigger” to remind them to consider changing desk height positions. Manufacturers have recently developed smartphone Apps to do just that, but this requires a serious understanding and engagement with the feature by the employees. To achieve that, employers need to adequately train their employees on the benefits of Sit/Stand. Employees need to understand why they have been provided with a height-adjustable desk, what the benefits are, and how and when to make adjustments throughout the day.
Desk Performance
With increased competition in the supply of the lifting technology, manufacturers have had to differentiate with quality and longevity (warranty). This has led to increased quality of the desk lifts across the board, even as prices fall. In our experience, the most valued “mechanical” aspects of a Sit/Stand desk are noise, speed, lifting power, and something called “anti-collision”, or “collision avoidance.” Premium quality Sit/Stand desks have built-in mechanisms to “stop-and-reverse” when a collision is detected, but even these desks with “anti-collision” features have limits. The most common cause of damage to sit/stand desks are downward collisions caused by objects placed underneath a sit/stand desk that collide with the surface on its way down. Problems are exasperated when employees are unaware that their desk has stopped working because of a collision and continue to push the down button over and over to try and get it to work. In many products, this activity locks the system down, giving the impression that the desk is “broken”. A resulting call to the help desk triggers all sorts of lost time activity and possibly unwarranted service calls that cost time and money. Innovant has tried to alleviate these instances with our customers by supplying quick training cards and even troubleshooting videos accessed on their smartphones by QR codes located on or near the desk control switch.
Where Are We Going?
It appears Sit/Stand workstations and desks in the office are here to stay, so as long as employees will performing stationary work on computers and laptops. So, what’s trending? From our point of view, and that of many in the interior design community, the most important aspect of sit/stand desks that needs improvement is aesthetics. As more surfaces raise up, the more desk legs become glaringly visible, and that has been an undesired result of the Sit/Stand revolution. Everything under the desk also becomes visible, including shoes, bags, stacks of old files, or whatever else employees will stash given their tiny amount of personal space. The other trend is integrating increased privacy into the Sit/Stand workstation that is lightweight yet purposeful and effective. Looking forward, Innovant’s approach to aesthetics is to find a balance between cost, performance, and aesthetics. Our Sit/Stand desks will be engineered so that the lifting legs are far less pronounced while providing enhanced cable management and innovative personal storage to clear up the clutter. Our experience in developing desktop “COVID shields” for our existing customers has given us considerable insight to draw upon designing more functional and attractive privacy panels for the next generation of Sit/Stand workstations.
Lastly, with the expectations of work from home becoming a part of our lives, even if only part-time, manufacturers will face increased demand to deliver far more thoughtful Sit/Stand desks for the home. Make no mistake, the home office desks being offered in the marketplace today have had zero extra thought or design research put into them. Every home office Sit/Stand desk product being touted is just a catalog office desk being rebranded as a “desk for the home.” Better options, especially for the space-restricted urban apartment, will have to emerge.
