Abstract
BackgroundOffice workers sit for more than 80% of the work day making them an important target for work site health promotion interventions to break up prolonged sitting time. Adjustable workstations are one strategy used to reduce prolonged sitting time. This study provides both an employees' and employers' perspective into the advantages, disadvantages, practicality and convenience of adjustable workstations and how movement in the office can be further supported by organisations.MethodsThis qualitative study was part of the Uprising pilot study. Employees were from the intervention arm of a two group (intervention n = 18 and control n = 18) study. Employers were the immediate line-manager of the employee. Data were collected via employee focus groups (n = 17) and employer individual interviews (n = 12). The majority of participants were female (n = 18), had healthy weight, and had a post-graduate qualification. All focus group discussions and interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and the data coded according to the content. Qualitative content analysis was conducted.ResultsEmployee data identified four concepts: enhanced general wellbeing; workability and practicality; disadvantages of the retro-fit; and triggers to stand. Most employees (n = 12) reported enhanced general well-being, workability and practicality included less email exchange and positive interaction (n = 5), while the instability of the keyboard a commonly cited disadvantage. Triggers to stand included time and task based prompts. Employer data concepts included: general health and wellbeing; work engagement; flexibility; employee morale; and injury prevention. Over half of the employers (n = 7) emphasised back care and occupational health considerations as important, as well as increased level of staff engagement and strategies to break up prolonged periods of sitting.DiscussionThe focus groups highlight the perceived general health benefits from this short intervention, including opportunity to sit less and interact in the workplace, creating an ‘energised’ work environment. The retro-fit workstation and keyboard platform provided challenges for some participants. Supervisors emphasised injury prevention and employee morale as two important by products of the adjustable workstation. These were not mentioned by employees. They called for champions to advocate for strategies to break up prolonged sitting.ImplicationsThe findings of this novel research from both the employee and employer perspective may support installation of adjustable workstations as one component of a comprehensive approach to improve the long term health of employees.
Highlights
Office based workers have become increasingly sedentary
The employees seemed to embrace the sit-to-stand workstation, which is consistent with the recent literature that indicates they are well received, have high usability and acceptability [16,19,23,25], with few employees requesting the removal of the sit-stand station once installed
The results of this study suggest sit-to-stand workstations appear to be effective in breaking up prolonged sitting time, improving work performance, improving mood, and positively influencing some health outcomes
Summary
Office based workers have become increasingly sedentary. This poses a challenge for organisations and public health alike due to the evidence linking sitting time with adverse health outcomes [1,2,3,4]. Many full-time adult office workers in Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), sit for more than 80% of their total time at work [1,4,5,6,7] This is problematic as several recent studies have demonstrated that prolonged sedentary behaviour (including sitting) is an independent risk factor for many negative health outcomes [8,9,10,11,12,13]. The importance of breaking up prolonged periods of sitting in office based workers has become increasingly recognised as a priority workplace health issue. Employer data concepts included: general health and wellbeing; work engagement; flexibility; employee morale; and injury prevention. Implications: The findings of this novel research from both the employee and employer perspective may support installation of adjustable workstations as one component of a comprehensive approach to improve the long term health of employees
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