Jonathan Dodd‘s latest column. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
I’m not a regular newspaper reader. Mainly because I’m interested in the news, and so many so-called newspapers don’t actually carry any. It’s just a personal prejudice of mine. If you can skim the whole thing in less than five minutes and not learn anything apart from gossip about unimportant slebs then that‘s a wasted five minutes as far as I’m concerned.
If I had more time I would happily sit down and read the real newspapers, but I don’t, so I tend to get my news from the BBC website et al, in chunks. I know a lot of people who say they would like to do a whole list of things but they don’t have the time, and I wickedly ask them what they’re doing during all that time instead. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t resist it.
Something that gets your imagination going
Anyway, my wife drew my attention to an article she saw in the “i” newspaper this week, so I read it. The joy of newspapers is that you can read a whole slew of stuff and it’s just information, but then you find something that gets your imagination going and can even change your thinking.
This article was about a man who got himself a new job, which is a good news story. Before he started, they phoned him up and explained that they don’t use desks, they all stand up instead. He was told that it would be painful at first, but after the first week everyone got used to it and now they actually preferred standing. And apparently it’s very good for you too.
They genuinely seemed surprised to agree
Cynics might protest that the workers would say that, because they might not want to express disagreement in the current employment situation, but in the article they genuinely seemed surprised to agree, rather than saying what they were told to. Apparently there are desks for occasional use, and they can lounge on beanbags during their breaks if they want.
As a person who conducts the vast majority of my working life at a desk, I found the whole idea intriguing. Currently there is a requirement, presumably in law, for a company to accommodate a person’s needs in the positioning and height of their desk, and to provide an orthopaedic chair if they have a bad back.
They wouldn’t be there long enough
I’ve always been surprised how few people take this up, and have felt that they worry about making a fuss. So far I haven’t needed to ask for this myself, but I’ve heard stories from other contractors that companies have refused them this service because they wouldn’t be there long enough for it to be worthwhile.
So the first thing I thought about when I read this article was how you would accommodate a standing workforce. Presumably they would have some kind of platform for their keyboard and phone, at the right height for them to write or lean their elbows on or whatever. And they would need their monitor to be at eye level. This would require much more flexibility than a row of desks. I wondered if any companies actually manufacture such things.
Scenes in their fictitious television station
Then I thought about accessibility. A wheelchair user is on level ground in an office while sitting at a desk. How would the standing thing work for them? I have heard wheelchair users complaining that they spend much of the day seeing nothing but people’s trousers or having to crane their necks when having conversations. This wouldn’t work for them.
Then I thought about one of my favourite things at offices – stand-up meetings. Anyone who’s a fan of Borgen, the wonderful Danish political drama series now running towards the end of its third season, will be familiar with the scenes in their fictitious television station, in which everyone stands up in the studio and at meetings.
Waffle on for ages while standing up
I’ve always thought that all meetings should be standing up and never more than ten minutes long. My reasons for this are simple. Nobody is going to waffle on for ages while standing up. Meetings should be to make decisions after everyone’s thought about the agenda, rather than doing their thinking during the meeting itself.
The whole thing about making them stand is to make it uncomfortable. How’s that going to work when they’re used to standing all day anyway? And besides, it disadvantages those with accessibility requirements. Perhaps if we change to standing offices we could have sitting-down meetings, and people would feel uncomfortable in chairs. No. I know, that’s a non-starter.
Lolling tongue and all
I know I’m weird, but I find this kind of idea very stimulating, and I love watching my mind whizzing and fizzing all over the place when a new idea pops up. A bit like taking the dog for a walk and letting it off the lead for a run. Lolling tongue and all.
My last thought in this series was about obesity and laziness and how so many people resist anything that may be seen to be difficult or painful in any way, because we live in a culture where easiness is god. Why stand when you can sit? Why sit when you can lie down? Why exercise when doing nothing is so much more pleasant, why cook when the supermarket does it for you? Why think when you’ve got the Sun?
As someone said to me recently – “If God had wanted us to cook, why would He have given us Iceland?”
If you have been, thank you for reading this.
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