Northamptonshire firm experiences boom in demand for height adjustable desks

The rise in home working and employers focussing more on health and wellbeing has led to a Northamptonshire business seeing an explosion in demand for its height adjustable desks.

Furniture and interior specialist Verve Workspace has been providing the popular desks for over 18 years – making it one of the UK’s earliest advocates of the product – but during the past four years it has seen demand for them rise by 300 per cent.

The firm’s revelation coincides with the release of the largest study worldwide into programmes for overcoming sedentary behaviour in the workplace which showed height adjustable desks can help reduce workplace sitting by over an hour a day.

Verve Workplace group managing director Steve Allan, who uses a height adjustable desk in his own workplace, said: “People bought into the idea of height adjustable desks as soon as they launched but in the early days they were adjusted by a manual crank and each one cost several thousand pounds.

“Over the years the cost has come down a lot and they’re now electric which means they’re very easy to use.

“They’re growing in popularity in workplaces because businesses recognise they can improve employees’ health and performance at work.

“We’re also seeing many businesses giving employees money to invest in products like this for their own home offices.

“We’re delighted this new study bears out that these desks really make a difference to people’s health and wellbeing because we’ve been saying that for the past 18 years.”

Sales consultant Ian Lauer, of global supply chain management and sales and operation planning software company Kinaxis, used funding from his firm to invest in a height adjustable desk from Verve Workspace for his home office in Finedon, Northamptonshire.

He said: “When Covid hit I started working from home and being sat in one position all day wasn’t good for my health.

“Historically, I’d also been used to standing when I gave presentations to my clients and it didn’t feel right to be sitting when I was talking to them online. I needed to stand to bring more energy to my meetings.

“I have my adjustable desk in the standing position for all my presentations and it’s made a huge difference. My posture and back also feel much better too.

“The desk’s automation means you can adjust it at the touch of a button. I’m really pleased with it and the service from Verve Workspace was great.”

The new study which showed height adjustable desks can help reduce workplace sitting by over an hour a day has been carried out by researchers at the National Institute for Health and Care Research Leicester Biomedical Research Centre – a partnership between Leicester’s Hospitals, the University of Leicester and Loughborough University.

The researchers tested their ‘SMART Work and Life’ programme – including training for workplace champions, educational resources, ongoing behaviour change support and a set of apps and software to monitor sitting time – which has been developed for people who spend a lot of their day sitting down in six local authorities across Leicester, Greater Manchester and Liverpool.

Those using the SMART Work and Life programme sat for 22 minutes less per day.