Employee and Supervisor Perceptions of a Policy Promoting Standing in the Workplace: A Qualitative Study

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Many employees have jobs that predominantly require sitting, and reducing sitting time to improve physical health has been a focus of health research. A widespread environmental design change is the incorporation of sit-stand desks. Since the workplace plays a large role in a person’s day-to-day activities, researchers and environmental designers must still assess how joint optimization can be reached to satisfy worker well-being and performance. We conducted a qualitative research study to determine how support and/or concern over a hypothetical policy to increase standing in a predominantly seated workplace would differ between those with and without job supervisory tasks. Employees saw the benefits of reducing their sitting time at work and welcomed the added autonomy. Others saw this as infringing their autonomy, uncertainty about how this would affect their tasks, if they would have appropriate equipment, and if the policy was inclusive to people with difficulty standing.