Health & Safety
Standing in Apple’s footsteps
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Betsey Banker, Wellness Manager at Ergotron
n a recent interview, the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, let us all in on a little factoid about Apple Park, the company’s recently built state-of-the-art HQ. Every employee who works there has a standing desk – all 12,000 of them. The announcement and the reasoning behind it begs a question to facilities managers everywhere – should they be thinking about employee health when designing the workplace? For many of today’s corporate workers, working longer and longer hours, their office environment (and specifically the furniture they use), is contributing to a drastic increase in inactivity. The ripple effect of sedentary behaviour impacts engagement and performance, as well as short and long term health with the World Health Organisation citing physical inactivity as the 4th biggest threat to global mortality. By introducing standing desks, Apple is showing its employees – and the world – that it is committed to looking after employee health. Facilities managers increasingly have the ability to change the work environment to encourage increased
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Health & Safety
levels of activity, thus potentially improving employee health and maximising productivity. A workplace that is not optimised for ‘active’ working promotes forced inactivity throughout the day for employees, which leads to more inactivity after work. Think of the metabolism like a battery with movement charging that battery. Inactivity drains the battery, and if employees drain their batteries at work by sitting for 8 hours, they arrive home with no battery and feel less like doing some beneficial activity. But if the work space is changed to encourage movement and an active way of working (by introducing spaces and different seating options) employees can gradually charge their batteries, which leads to an evening of better choices. Collectively, it’s this reduction in sedentary behaviour that reduces our risk of health disorders, and this feeds back into the positive cycle. When we talk about physical activity, people automatically think about exercise, but we need to focus on non-exercise activity in the workplace. It could be as simple as standing up, stretching or walking around. This is where good office design and solutions like ‘sit-stand desks’ can make a huge difference by encouraging people away from simply sitting at a desk for hours on end. To be fair, sitting isn’t all bad; it’s a good temporary resting posture. It’s recuperative. The problem is that sitting has now become the default posture which has led to sitting for extended/ uninterrupted periods of time. If we accept the inherent dangers associated with long periods of sitting, we then have to ask if people are prepared to change how they work and use innovations like sit-stand desks? In 2016
Ergotron carried out a survey entitled the ‘Workplace Movement Assessment’ which found that: • 95% agreed that having access to sit-stand furniture led to an increased amount of time spent standing • 80% said that they got an extra 1+ hours of low level physical activity (LLPA) per day These stats are important because even one hour of reduced sitting time is enough to have a positive impact on the emotional state. Another study from the University of Minnesota found that 100% of participants felt an increase in mood after using a sit-stand desk, so we can see the impact that changing the way we use furniture in the office can make a difference. More than just a wellbeing issue, encouraging employees to move can also pay dividends back to the business. With it being one of the most productive companies out there, we can quite easily imagine that Apple really thinks about how to keep its employees happy, engaged and working hard, and understands that encouraging employees to keep active is a part of this. Over the last few years, numerous studies have proven that standing regularly during the working day improves employee success: it makes employees more productive, more engaged and makes them feel healthier. The case for changing the office environment is a clear cut one; by introducing more active working styles through good office design and innovative sit-stand desk solutions, you can drive real behaviour change in the way that you work, extending to improved productivity, wellness, and even job satisfaction. Just look at Apple – it’s been voted one of the best places to work for the last 10 years on Glassdoor! So, don’t just sit there, get up and start your own office furniture revolution; by doing so you’ll create a happier workforce and a better business. www.ergotron.com
Building & Facilities Management – August 2018