I find it incredibly interesting that companies still drill in that standing is super important. it's insane to me that the solution to cashiers being tired of standing is to provide a cushioned floor mat, as if the issue is that 'standing is uncomfortable'
of course standing is fucking uncomfortable when you do it for 8-12 hours. part of me wants to give benefit of the doubt and applaud higher ups because maybe it really is beneficial for a company to have their employees stand for “company appeal”. but in actuality I know that it's to rundown a person's energy. there's still a stigma of “if you're not in physical discomfort you're clearly not working”
I work in security and this new location is an older lobby that used to have staffing. now they want added security so here I am switching shifts to work. the rule is 'no sitting or standing behind the desk'. when I'm not supposed to be in the lobby I'm supposed to be walking around, it's basically 4 hours on 4 hours off but divided amongst the day. essentially, they want me walking for X amount of time, including outside in direct sun and with an active heatwave, and then the expectation is to return to post and stand for access control
so I walk in, sweating, in the uniform which is heavy pants, under and overshirts, and I'm just now supposed to stand for 1.5 hours until my next patrol
obviously, I find the rule to be incredibly stupid, knowing full well the whole thing was written by someone in an office who's never done any of the actual patrol duties, and so I choose to sit behind the desk and still do my job of welcoming people in and observing everything else. several employees have had pleasant discussions with me, the general consensus is that people are glad there's finally security in this lobby
then, I get caught a couple times. I get told “you have to stand in front of the desk.” like I'm some sort of Muscle put there to scare people. I go back to sitting anyways. when I DO stand, the employees who come in are shocked. I've had people tell me “oh well that's bullshit. why are you standing?”
tl;dr – companies get hard ons from making their employees stand when it's not even beneficial to the job duties. it doesn't boost performance, only creates discomfort