Daily Buzz: Your Standing Desk Is Overrated

Standing desks might not have the health benefits you think they do. Sure, we all know that sitting for long periods of time is not good for our health—but standing desks don’t promote physical activity. They promote standing, which is not exercise.

“Well-meaning safety professionals and some office furniture manufacturers are pushing sit-stand workstations as a way of improving cardiovascular health—but there is no scientific evidence to support this recommendation,” says Dr. David Rempel, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who has written on this issue  (opens in a new tab), in an interview with The New York Times  (opens in a new tab).

Rempel says standing desks can be helpful in relieving body aches for those with lower back or neck pain, but replacing sitting with standing ultimately doesn’t make a person more active. (And with that, I will lower the standing desk I am currently writing from and take a seat.)

Keep Employees Accountable to the Process

How do you help your employees #worksmart  (opens in a new tab)? @FastCompany  (opens in a new tab) gives you 4 reasons why employees may be ignoring processes: https://t.co/e3k5OKqk0P  (opens in a new tab) #leadership  (opens in a new tab)

— Paul Struthers (@StruthersPaul) November 20, 2018  (opens in a new tab)

Every organization has processes in place to get work done efficiently. But let’s face it: Sometimes people cut corners. Gwen Moran writes for Fast Company that employees might skip over steps  (opens in a new tab) because they don’t understand the process, want to get it done faster, or think they know better.

“When employees are on the front lines, they usually develop a good understanding of how to do their jobs,” Moran says. “And when processes are redundant or inefficient, they may skip or change steps because they think they know how to do the job better.” If adherence to processes is a chronic problem, it might be time for leadership to step in to keep everyone accountable.

Other Links of Note

Is gamification the key to increased video engagement? The HubSpot blog explains  (opens in a new tab).

Here’s how Apple CEO Tim Cook starts his workday, from Quartz at Work  (opens in a new tab).

The five reports every association should pull data from, according to the MemberClicks blog  (opens in a new tab).

(Aleutie/iStock/Getty Images Plus)