Want to boost productivity at work? Stand up

The study examined the productivity differences between two groups of call center employees over six months

We have heard many arguments favouring standing desks. Common motivators are that standing desks are good for the body, they can help burn more calories and fight obesity.

However, new research from the Texas A&M Health Science Centre School of Public Health indicates that use of standing desks increases workplace productivity.

According to the study, published on Tuesday in the journal IIE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors productivity among employees with desks that allow them to stand or sit is 46% higher than that of their constantly seated colleagues.



The study examined the productivity differences between two groups of call centre employees over the course of six months and found that productivity increased with the use of standing desks. An employee’s productivity was measured by how many calls with clients they successfully completed per hour.

One of the authors of the study,  Mark Benden, PhD, CPE, associate professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, director of the Texas A&M Ergonomics Centre and member of the Centre for Remote Health Technologies and Systems said: “We hope this work will show companies that although there might be some costs involved in providing stand-capable workstations, increased employee productivity over time will more than offset these initial expenses.”



Lead author of the study, Gregory Garrett, MA, a public health doctoral student and said, “One interesting result of the study is that the productivity differences between the stand-capable and seated groups were not as large during the first month.”

According to him, starting with the second month, we began to see larger increases in productivity with the stand-capable groups as they became habituated to their standing desks.

Almost 75 per cent of those working at stand-capable work desks experienced decreased body discomfort after using these desks for the six-month duration.



“We believe that decreases in body discomfort may account for some of the productivity differences between the two groups,” said Garrett, adding. “However, standing desks may have an impact on cognitive performance, which is the focus of some of our research going forward.”