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by analog31 3993 days ago
Thanks for the nice post. I'm already a convert. I was suffering from some neck pain issues, which have gone away. In fact I'm kinda the "standing desk guy" at my workplace.

Here's the remaining problem. I work in an open-plan office area, I've got a desk that can be raised and lowered. But my desk is next to a hallway with a lot of traffic.

When I'm standing to work, I'm face to face with a colleague who is very curious about what I do, and likes to get into conversations. And I think that because I'm standing up, everybody who walks buy thinks that I am the receptionist for my entire work group: "Is Bill here today? Do you know if Steve went to his meeting? When does Chris usually come in?"

And when someone comes to ask me a legitimate question, all of my colleagues feel free to join the discussion, sometimes answering my question -- wrong -- before I can get a word in edgewise.

These are more open-office issues than standing-desk issues, but I'm just offering a warning that y'all in open plan offices may have some additional issues to contend with when you switch to a standing desk.

Style-wise, I'd love to have one of those gray metal foreman's desks that they had in old the fashioned factories.

4 comments

Does your office culture respect headphones as a request to not be interrupted? Hunting earmuffs are useful if you don't want to actually listen to music. I've used http://smile.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-H10A-Optime-Earmuff/dp/B00... off and on for almost 3.5 years and they're comfortable for hours at a time and block most noise very effectively.
Right now my office culture respects pretty much nothing. Mine is the second work group to have an open plan, ever. The open plan was chosen for us because Collaboration [1]. So, we are the pioneers. My boss is sympathetic about this, but we are both treading the political waters carefully. When the entourage of managers brings an Executive through the facility on the obligatory inspection tour, they always come down my hallway and are shown the Open Collaboration Area. It has been declared to be a success, by default.

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy about my job, and have places where I can go when I need to think. I use my "office" as a lab.

[1] The open plan seems to work for some kinds of collaboration and not other kinds. It's great for social interaction, brainstorming, and quickly getting help. I think it's helped the newer employees come up to speed and develop internal networks more quickly.

It doesn't work for more substantive collaboration, especially crossing multiple departments and work sites, because many kinds of discussions can't be conducted in front of an audience.

Chatting with managers, I've noticed a strong misconception, that manager work needs private offices, and engineer work doesn't.

Have you thought about getting a screen (like one for changing clothes) to put between your desk and the hallway?
Very sad that this is a measure employees need to consider in the modern workplace.
My neck pain went away when I lowered my chair and uppered my screen so the line of eyes is in the middle of screen space.
Do you wear headphones? That might help.
They are a distraction for me. I'm a musician, and if I hear music, I analyze it. Also, I don't want to damage my hearing.

Safety ear muffs might be an alternative, especially since their purpose would be obvious.

Have you considered wearing some and not listening to anything? Just as a purely signaling device?