Desks Play an Important Role in People's Effectiveness

Desks obviously come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They have a long and varied history and they are an absolutely indispensable part of most offices, both at home and at the job. A desk, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. Rather, it is just a thing that people use in different ways, and for different reasons. What I find most intriguing about desks is the role they play for most workers, and the various ways that desk use enhances, or detracts, from a worker's job.

Unfortunately, for many a desk is simply a place for them to plop down next to and veg the day away. It can help facilitate the appearance of a worker being busy just by the nature of it. Think about it for a minute. If a worker has a desk then they must have important things to do there, right? Lots of papers shuffled or stacked around on it, maybe a haphazard array of writing utensils, a stapler, some tape, a half eaten sandwich, maybe even a big fancy name placard. The boss walks in, and there the worker is behind his or her desk all "busy" and focused. For all the boss knows, the worker is hard at it, applying all their energy and creativity to the tasks they are assigned to perform. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. If you are one of these people then you know exactly what I am talking about. If you know someone like this then you also understand this dynamic. And if you are the boss, you not only understand this reality, but you probably wish there was something you could do about it. When it comes right down to it there may not actually be much you can do about it, but identifying the problem is often the first step to being able to rectify it.

However, for others, desks are more than just a place to pretend they are busy and effective. For these people, a desk is where a lot of the magic happens. They actually do have a system of organization for all those stacks of papers, notes, and files. In fact, without a desk their lives would be completely unorganized and ineffective. I recently walked into an attorney's office who I happen to know quite well. On his desk were piles of legal memoranda, briefs, notes, and other assorted files and papers. Knowing this person, I didn't doubt for a second that there was a rhyme and a reason for the way the desks in his office looked. In this persons office, desks were the unsung heroes that made everything possible.

A few months ago I did some research on the effectiveness of people who use different sorts of desks. At the top of the list were those who use a stand up desk. You may have seen these. They come in different configurations, but the basic idea is that the work surface is high enough to stand at. The computer is equally elevated and there is no chair. Users of this design report an unusually high degree of discomfort and ineffectiveness during the first few days and even weeks of use. However, after the initial adjustment period, the satisfaction and effectiveness went through the roof. One employer who initiated use of these sorts of desks for all employees reported that once the people got used to them, a full 99.9% did not want to go back to their old desks. This is just one example, but a powerful one to demonstrate that desks really do play an important role in how effective we are in our work. Something worth thinking about.