I have been in role for a few months, company is small ish and we have 20 people working in our section. It’s just had a refurb with all new carpets furniture etc. The company is in a male dominated industry but our section is all admin based and mostly female. The desks that have arrived are not standard desks from an office furniture supplier but are from one of our customers and aimed at our industry. They are too tall!
The desk is too high to get a proper seating posture. If we raise our chair height then feet don’t touch the ground. I’m average height 5’6” and it’s too tall for me. I have ladies in my team who are much shorter than me. I am manger of 8 people, 1 male 7 female. All 7 women have said they are getting neck, shoulder and back pain due to desks.
I’ve raised it informally with HR assistant who is in charge of desk assessments. She said she would come to our building and complete new assessments after my request. She said she would come last week but no day specified. She didn’t come. Informally, I’ve been told the M.D. is aware and just passed it off as moaning.
Reality check. I know how much we spent on this refurb and how tight the company finances are. We’re on a knife edge and simply can not afford to replace them. There is no way to make them smaller. They are simply designed by men. For men. It’s ridiculous but don’t know how to navigate this delicate issue. I can’t simply say the same thing louder and louder until someone listens, I need a different way to handle this. I’m new and don’t want to lose this job by being seen as negative or unable to manage my team. What do I do?!