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Post by BillH on Jun 22, 2018 18:04:14 GMT -8
Appropriate beginning for a weekend thread I think. Perhaps the majority of AFB'ers made an early get-away for a summer weekend today, so permit me to raise a topic that may very well have little to do with the performance of AAPL. What are the feelings about all Apple Park employees being given standing desks? I am certainly willing to believe that they may be entirely appropriate, or even perhaps a boon, for many employees. I just know that I would not have been happy to have that decision made for me. Every story I read about them extolls the benefits, but I would certainly want to make the decision for myself. Tim may be running a little behind on the research. Reports of late show little difference between sitting and standing. Different story for movement. The question was re: employee choice though. Given that they have both the ability to sit OR stand I'm not sure where the choice lies. Employees really respond to a sense of fairness and equality regardless of role. For me the larger question at Apple park is how well the (apparently) universal solution serves the varying roles. One thing I learned early on in my design days was that developing workstation standards didn't often reflect the needs of the user. The entry level accountant often needed the largest footprint due to their need for access and utilization of paper files but were given an 8x8 station (later to become 6x8 and later still 6x6). You then solved for proximity to file banks, some of which rightfully belonged in the station for their active status. The controller had the 15x15 office with the sofa and the storage wall which was often empty as they had the paper brought to them and removed upon completion. Second thing I learned was that if one role was given a pencil tray based on need and another was not, people would notice and get visibly upset with the slight regardless of need. Sooner than later a bunch of pencil trays would go missing. You can guess where they ended up. It wasn't really the sale of workstations that kept me interested for 20 some years. It was the sociology (and implementation) of the workplace as a reflection of corporate values.
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chinacat
Moderator
AAPL Long since 2006
Posts: 4,438
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Post by chinacat on Jun 23, 2018 5:04:47 GMT -8
Appropriate beginning for a weekend thread I think. ... Given that they have both the ability to sit OR stand I'm not sure where the choice lies. Thank you BillH and tuffett for curing my ignorance on this topic. I did not understand that so-called "standing" desks are in fact convertible between sitting and standing positions. Now that I have done a bit of reading, the whole thing makes a lot more sense. I think it was Tim's quote that "sitting is the new cancer" that gave me the impression that they were standing-only.
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Post by bud777 on Jun 23, 2018 11:43:33 GMT -8
I think I got out of the workplace just in time. I did my best work with my feet up on my desk, leaning back, preferably with my eyes closed. The PC (Political Correctness) movement always left me euphemistically challenged and I am pretty sure that somewhere along the line I must have harassed someone. Not sure of the last one because it is so broadly defined and things were different 40 years ago.
I applaud the changes if people are happier and more productive, but I know that I could not adapt to the current norms. Now get off my lawn
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JDSoCal
Member
Aspiring oligarch
Posts: 4,241
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Post by JDSoCal on Jun 23, 2018 16:15:36 GMT -8
I think I got out of the workplace just in time. I did my best work with my feet up on my desk, leaning back, preferably with my eyes closed. The PC (Political Correctness) movement always left me euphemistically challenged and I am pretty sure that somewhere along the line I must have harassed someone. Not sure of the last one because it is so broadly defined and things were different 40 years ago. I applaud the changes if people are happier and more productive, but I know that I could not adapt to the current norms. Now get off my lawn Yeah, it's sad how Orwellian the workplace is getting. Even in STEM, pseudo-science is infesting like roaches. It isn't standing or sitting, it's being immobile. Such junk science, like the corn syrup scare. "OMG kids are getting fat because of too much corn syrup in their drinks!" Well, yes, too much sugar in general is the problem, partly. That and the fat little blobs just sit and play video games and Instagram all day. But companies only use corn syrup because it's cheaper. So of course it's more ubiquitous in drinks, so it gets the fat blame. Replace it with cane sugar, equivalent grams of sugar in their Sunny Delight = same fat blob type 2 diabetes kids. Just more expensive drinks. Same with these desks at Apple that I don't even want to know the cost of. Yes sitting all day is bad, not because of the position, but because of the indolence. Force me to stand all day, and I'll still have Type 2 diabetes, I'll just have sore knees to go along with it; and now I can't go hike with my dog after work because my knees hurt. Tim is smart though. I think he's going overboard on the Get Off Your Fat Asses (GOYFAs) thing at Apple because he sees the Diabetes Police coming for chubby kids sitting on couches with crooked necks playing on their iPads. So he can say, "well, yeah, buy your fat kid an Apple Watch and go do some stairs, parents! Like we do at Apple HQ!" For years I've thought about how cool it would be if you could get some kind of 360-degree treadmill for AR gaming. You would literally run around a game map and get exercise. Looks like someone built one. There goes my get rich patent idea! At least I could partially justify getting back into gaming if I could get some exercise doing it.
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Post by Luckychoices on Jun 23, 2018 19:28:29 GMT -8
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Since84
Moderator
To infinity and beyond!
Posts: 3,933
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Post by Since84 on Jun 24, 2018 10:28:18 GMT -8
Does anyone know how to get in touch with Lovemyipad?
According to the Board member roster she is the only individual with administrative access. She was last online in January 2014...
I was recently contacted by a member who is having access issues. Unfortunately I cannot help.
It would be nice if we could get additional administrator(s) for the Board. Volunteers?
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Post by Luckychoices on Jun 24, 2018 10:43:42 GMT -8
Perhaps the majority of AFB'ers made an early get-away for a summer weekend today, so permit me to raise a topic that may very well have little to do with the performance of AAPL. What are the feelings about all Apple Park employees being given standing desks? I am certainly willing to believe that they may be entirely appropriate, or even perhaps a boon, for many employees. I just know that I would not have been happy to have that decision made for me. Every story I read about them extolls the benefits, but I would certainly want to make the decision for myself. As already mentioned by others, standing desks accommodate both sitting *and* standing and since I'm sometimes at my computer for hours at a time, I'd really like to be able to sometimes stand while continuing to work. I've photographed birds and other wildlife for years now and the combination of using digital (free) instead of film ($) and having a burst mode in modern cameras means I have an *extraordinary* number of photos to process, sorting the keepers from the rejects. In my case, hours on the computer sometimes results a poor posture for much of the time and that would be alleviated/eliminated by being able to stand occasionally. My younger son works at Amazon, was provided a standing desk, and he loves the desk_in fact, he's the one who recommended it to me. It's not movement/weight gain on my mind but instead comfort and better posture while working.
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