A lot is made, and rightfully so, about the health and wellness benefits of an active workplace. Sitting for long periods is not good. Standing-height desks aren't going to make you skinny on their own, although standing can help you burn about 400 more calories a day.
For Louis Chen, general manager of ERGOCHIEF, an active work product company based in California, the need for a non-static desk went well beyond simple fitness. Chen has always dealt with ADHD. He's the kind of person who simply can't sit still behind a desk.
There was one product that helped, the FitDesk, a stationary bicycle with a small desktop attached, but it is designed for the home office market, not the rigors of eight-hours-a-day work. So Chen decided to team up with FitDesk and create the FitDesk Pro and other products to make work easier and healthier.
The company behind the products is ERGOCHIEF, and it made its debut at NeoCon, carving out a niche on the seventh floor and exciting designers (and their customers) who also might have trouble concentrating at work.
“The whole idea behind the company is to make furniture better overall,” Chen said. “The FitDesk was for household wellness. We wanted to take that to the office space.”
The company's goal is to design and make office furniture adapted to the modern world, with the belief that “your workspace should improve your life not burn you out.” The first job was to take the success of the FitDesk and make it more comfortable and robust for use in the office.
The FitDesk Pro is the latest result of a long-standing partnership between FitDesk and ERGOCHIEF. FitDesk Pro features a quiet and reliable twin belt, high-velocity, flywheel bike and ERGOCHIEF's signature SNAP Technology height-adjustable desk designed exclusively for FitDesk Pro.
FitDesk Pro, like the latest FitDesk's bikes, comes built with full aluminum and steel gears to provide reliability. The “whisper” belts provide smooth and quiet operation while making it feel like you are on an actual bike. The FitDesk Pro Desk is created from the same aluminum, single-column, height-adjustable desk found in ERGOCHIEF's Bouge Original. The single column, gas-spring powered, height-adjustment mechanism allows a fast and silent transition from sit to stand and any bike positions. The bike can integrate and separate from the desk in a matter of seconds, allowing you to change your work style between sitting, standing and biking.
Bouge Original is a single column, non-electrical, height-adjustable desk. Sizes include a 60-inch by 30-inch model or a 40-inch by 28-inch model with custom sizes, shapes and materials available.
Infinity is a new height-adjustable desk that uses PET acoustic walls. The PET walls are made of 100 percent recycled PET bottles, and the walls themselves can be recycled. The geometry of the walls allow for the product to be shipped flat, which saves on transportation costs and storage. The design allows for the Infinity system to grow and shrink along with the size of the work team.
None of the ERGOCHIEF products are for working out. There is no race in the office. But the products do get you moving, which is helpful from a physical, mental and wellness standpoint. “The tension control should not have major force that you are fighting against,” Chen said. “We are looking for lower body movement, not whole body movement. You can still do regular work (while using FitDesk Pro).”
That movement has made all the difference in the world for Chen, who says he can get distracted at work while sitting for long periods. “I have an issue,” he said. “If I sit still, I start to get really uncomfortable. So before this, I would walk around the office and distract everyone else. I didn't do it because I wanted to. I did it because I had to.”
After 15 minutes of sitting, no matter how much he concentrated, Chen could not stay on task. So he tried a bike that sat under his desk. It was distracting and didn't work well. He tried a treadmill, but he had trouble concentrating on his work while walking. With the FitDesk Pro, he found he could move his lower body while keeping his head still. That allowed him to sit down and get work done for several hours straight. His productivity went way up.
FitDesk was not designed with ADHD in mind, said Eva Lin, brand manager. “Still, I was shocked by the amount of people who came to us at NeoCon and explained the mental issues they have and how this product would help,” she said. “This is a big population of people.”
To create the FitDesk Pro, they made the product more sturdy and the desktop slightly larger. A lot of thought went into the desktop. It had to be larger, but couldn't be so large that the user could not reach the surface. They also added accessories like monitor arms, laptop holders and a cup holder.
Though the company wants to make products for the future of healthy work, so far, they have stayed away from electric height-adjustable surfaces, instead working on a “snap” height adjustability feature using a gas spring mechanism. That allows the company's products to stay independent from power outlets. “It is probably one of the fastest height-adjustable mechanisms that is sold,” Chen said.
ERGOCHIEF is looking for distribution through dealers throughout the country.
“We don't want people to say, 'Wow, that's an active workstation,' ” Lin said. “We want this to be the normal way people work. I want them to be surprised to see a static desk and not accept that as a norm. You should be actively moving around. That's how your body was designed. For us, we don't want to just make furniture; we want to impact way people work.”