Developed by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fitwel, a new workplace design standard seeks to improve office health and productivity through improvements in design and policy. The government certification analyzes and assesses facilities designed for work for well-being and health benefits including indoor air quality, well-being enhancements for employees, such as implementing sit stand workstations, and even evaluating the overall design of the building itself. Fitwel will be used as a standard for new federal government construction projects.
The Reason for the Sit Stand Focus: Office Workers Spend 5 Hours a Day at Their Desks
New evidence shows that alternating between standing and sitting at your desk throughout the work day improves circulation and energy. The design of the Lotus Sit-Stand allows for easier transition from sitting to standing positions.
In a recent poll by American City & County, 53% of government office workers agreed that standing desks boost productivity.
How Experts View the Value of Sit Stand Desks
Workplace Trends expert Jonathan Webb sees sit-stand technology as a practical and healthy part of the new standard. “The cost of sit-stand desks continues to drop as the product becomes more popular worldwide. The cost delta between sit-stand and static desks has dropped over 50 percent in recent years. Secondly, organizations see the benefits of allowing workers the ability to sit and stand throughout the day. For one, keeping knowledge workers at their most productive place – their computer – makes for a more productive employee. In addition, there are significant health benefits to altering postures throughout the day, including improved metabolism and heart rates, and reduced blood pressure.” Fitwel hopes to provide a definitive outline of the essential characteristics of a healthy workplace more clearly for business owners, human resource departments and facility managers.
Learn more about the Fitwel standard.
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