Your next performance review may address workplace health — not just accomplishments and objectives. Tech-minded designer Yves Béhar and renowned furniture manufacturer Herman Miller have created a connected workplace system, dubbed Live OS, built to optimize employee health, workplace productivity and space efficiency.
Announced at commercial design fair NeoCon, Live OS can be viewed as an outgrowth of Herman Miller’s existing Living Office series, integrating furniture with sensors that recognize individual employee preferences, like desk height, and encourage walking or standing breaks. A centralized dashboard provides real-time workplace analysis and recommendations for improved well-being and space utilization — all anonymized, presumably to discourage sit-shaming.
Through the accompanying Live OS app, individuals can set activity goals for time spent sitting, standing or walking. According to the Live OS website, the system “encourages people to be more productive, efficient, and engaged,” all with the goal of strengthening the relationship between people and place.
And while Herman Miller updated its best-selling Aeron Chair last year (an office grail and GP100 pick), a Smart Aeron is in the works. According to Quartz, the high-tech Aeron will have sensors to encourage better posture and will recognize when an employee has stood up, automatically raising the accompanying Live OS desk to a pre-set height.
