Buying one standing desk for your spare room is easy. Buying twenty for an office is a different job. You need someone who’ll deliver to the right floor, put them together, give you a VAT invoice and still be answering the phone when a motor dies in year three.
We’ve been helping people with standing desks in Ireland since 2014, and this is what we’d want an employer to know before ordering.
Do you have to provide standing desks?
No. No Irish law says an employer must give staff a standing desk.
What the law does require is an assessment. Under the display screen equipment rules, employers have to assess the workstation of anyone who works at a screen, and the Health and Safety Authority applies that to people working from home too. If an assessment finds someone needs a desk they can adjust, that’s usually when a standing desk comes up.
Are they worth it for a business?
Be realistic about what you’re buying. A 2018 Cochrane review found that staff given sit-stand desks sat about 100 minutes less per working day over the first three months. The evidence was rated low certainty, and the effect shrank over time. One small study found a small drop in aches and discomfort. The review found no clear effect on work performance and no real difference in sick days.
So don’t expect a standing desk to cut absences or lift productivity on a spreadsheet. They’re worth buying for staff with back or neck complaints, people who’ve asked for one, and shared desks used by people of very different heights. Our post on whether a standing desk is worth it covers the evidence in more detail.
What a standing desk costs per person
These are prices from suppliers delivering in Ireland, checked in October 2026. All include VAT. Delivery is extra unless the notes say otherwise.
| Desk | Size | Price | Warranty | Notes for offices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viking Realspace | 140 x 80cm | €392.37 | Not stated | Two motors. Free delivery on orders over €75 before VAT. |
| IKEA MITTZON | 120 or 140 x 80cm | €410 or €435 | 10 years | Two motors. Delivery priced by Eircode, assembly can be booked. |
| HuntOffice Core Electric | 120 or 140 x 80cm | €427.98 or €442.19 | 5 years | Irish supplier with showrooms. Assembly by their own installers. |
| HuntOffice Zoom | 120 x 80cm | €517.82 | Check listing | Two motors, four memory presets. |
A worked example: ten HuntOffice Core desks at 140 x 80cm come to €4,421.90. Their installers charge €200 for the first desk and €40 for each one after, so assembly adds €560, for a total of €4,981.90 before delivery, which they quote at checkout.
Self-assembly saves money, but each desk takes time and two people to build. If your office manager is going to lose a Friday to an Allen key, pay for the installers.
What to look for in office desks
A wide height range
A desk at home only has to suit one person. An office desk might be used by someone 155cm tall on Monday and 195cm tall on Tuesday. Many budget frames don’t go below about 72cm, which is too high for shorter people sitting down. Look for something that goes down to around 62 to 65cm and up past 125cm. The Viking and IKEA desks both do.
Memory presets
Presets let someone press one button to reach their height. They’re useful on assigned desks. On hot desks they’re less useful, because the next person resets them. Either way, show people how to use the controls. A desk nobody raises is just an expensive desk.
An 80cm-deep top
60cm-deep tops are common on cheap desks and put a big monitor too close to your face. All the desks in the table above are 80cm deep.
Cables
A desk that moves needs cables with slack. Budget for an under-desk cable tray and a cable spine for each desk, or you’ll end up with power leads pulling out of sockets every time someone stands up.
The same model throughout
Buy one model for the whole office if you can. Spare parts, handsets and warranty claims are far simpler when every desk is the same.
Try a few before you buy forty
If you’re not sure staff will use them, start small. Put three or four standing desks in a shared area, or give converters to the people who’ve asked. A desk converter sits on an existing desk and costs a fraction of a full standing desk. If they’re in use every day after a couple of months, you’ll know how many more to order.
Staff working from home
You can have desks delivered straight to staff at home. IKEA and Viking both deliver anywhere in Ireland.
On tax, Revenue’s guidance on remote working says office furniture an employer provides so staff can work from home doesn’t count as a benefit-in-kind, as long as it’s mainly for business use and private use is incidental. Check with your accountant for your own situation.
Mats and chairs
People standing on hard floors get tired quickly. An anti-fatigue mat at each standing desk costs a fraction of the desk and makes standing a lot more comfortable. A tall perching chair gives people somewhere to lean at standing height.
Get a quote
If you’re kitting out a team or a whole floor, send us the number of desks, your county and a rough budget. We’ll pass it to one Irish supplier who can quote, deliver and assemble, and we don’t share your details with anyone else.
Questions employers ask
Do we have to give staff standing desks?
No. You have to assess the workstations of staff who use screens, including those working from home. A standing desk is one possible outcome of that assessment, not a requirement.
Is a standing desk a benefit-in-kind?
Not usually, if you provide it so someone can work from home and it’s mainly used for work. See Revenue’s guidance above, and check with your accountant.
Single or dual motor for an office?
One motor is fine for a single monitor and a laptop. Choose two motors for heavy setups, monitor arms or a wider height range. In our table, the Viking and IKEA desks have two motors and cost less than the single-motor HuntOffice desk, which is the one that comes with an Irish installer.
How many standing desks does an office need?
There’s no rule. Start with the people who’ve asked and anyone whose workstation assessment recommends one, then add more if they get used.