Desks that read your needs
Sensors learn habits
Office desks of the future will know you — perhaps all too well.
Workstations will soon be outfitted with sensors that learn your habits and preferences through constant monitoring.
When you’ve been sitting too long, a gentle vibration reminds you to stand. Your chair, also lined with sensors, tells the desk you stood up; the desk, which knows your height, adjusts accordingly.
All the while, it monitors your keystrokes and mouse clicks, offering you (and your boss) helpful advice on ergonomics — and productivity.
Soon enough it knows whether you need a desk at all — a real question at $10,000 per desk per year — or if you can be consigned to the hot-desking pool, where employees are allotted workspace depending on their demands that week, that day or that hour.
In other words, say goodbye to your last shred of dignity in the modern, open office.
“We’re collecting a lot of objective data about every employee,” said Mark Benden, director of ergonomics at Texas A&M University.
His standing-desk stations are equipped with 120 sensors that measure any move you could make at your desk, short of an eye roll at your boss.
“It’s kind of Orwellian,” Benden said. “You think: ‘Wow, they are tracking all this stuff on me. Does that mean I’m going to get fired?’ ” It’s a “normal human response,” he added reassuringly.
Now, Herman Miller, the second-largest office furniture maker, after Steelcase, has planted a ball bearing in this future.
The Zeeland, Mich., company plans to launch this month its Live OS Smart line, whose sensors link up with its standing desks and famous Aeron office chairs. The sensors and the software that goes along with them will sell for $136. The app, which syncs up the new desks, will go for $60 annually.
Live OS will offer an optional app in which users enter their height and targets for how much they’d like to stand throughout the day. It also helps any con- nected desk recognize the user the moment he or she arrives, for instant ergonomic adjustment. The sensors help encourage healthier behaviors. They also measure space utilization — how often you spend at any given workspace and how you use it.
Sensors have found their way into every nook of the office, as companies push to learn more about a workforce to improve employee health, office design and productivity.
Gensler, an office design firm, has 1,000 sensors in the lights in its own Manhattan office space.
“We’ve been looking at sensors in the work environment since 1999,” said Ryan Anderson, director of commercialization and business development for the internet of things at Herman Miller. “What could sensorbased technology do to create a more interesting experience?”
Standing desks, for one, are no longer a fringe perk of the trendiest workplaces, but are offered by almost half of US companies, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 HR managers by the Society for Human Resource Management.
This year, 44 percent of organizations said they offer their employees sit-or-stand desks, up from 13 percent just four years ago.
Studies suggest that sitting all day poses health risks. Standingdesk enthusiasts report improved productivity.