Apple’s New Standing Desks Become its Latest Employee Perk

• Apple continues its push towards greater employee health with the introduction of standing desks at its new headquarters.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook believes the desks will help employees counter the harmful long-term effects of constant sitting while working.
• The desks join a long line of perks that Apple’s Cupertino-based employees benefit from.

Apple has pulled out all of the stops to offer employees stationed in its new $5 billion office plenty of perks. Everybody working in the doughnut-shaped building already receives in-house healthcare on the company’s dime. Now, Apple has provided employees with standing desks in an effort to boost workplace health and engagement.

Apparently, these desks will improve employee health by giving them the option to sit or stand while they’re working. As Apple CEO Tim Cook puts it: “We have given all of our employees, 100%, standing desks. If you can stand for a while, then sit, and so on and so forth, it’s much better for your lifestyle.”

Indeed, it seems like standing desks do have a beneficial effect on office workers. They counter the issues that come with constant sitting, which include an increased risk of heart disease. Standing also burns calories and may even help those with back trouble.

Cook is also quick to point to the health issues associated with constant sitting while working, going so far as to quote doctors who describe a sedentary work environment as “the new cancer”. Apple’s own Apple Watch also offers regular reminders to users to get on their feet every so often.

The standing desks join a long line of perks that employees of Apple’s new Cupertino headquarters enjoy. As well as a shuttle bus service and a gym, the new offices also have plenty of greenery. There are fruit trees lining and other plants lining the pathways of its external campus for employees to enjoy.

The offices themselves are designed with employees in mind too. In addition to each employee having their own Vitra office chair – at a cost of $1,200 per chair – the common areas and cafeteria also come stocked with chairs from acclaimed designer Naoto Fukasawa.