IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0076723.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does an ‘Activity-Permissive’ Workplace Change Office Workers’ Sitting and Activity Time?

Author

Listed:
  • Erin Gorman
  • Maureen C Ashe
  • David W Dunstan
  • Heather M Hanson
  • Ken Madden
  • Elisabeth A H Winkler
  • Heather A McKay
  • Genevieve N Healy

Abstract

Introduction: To describe changes in workplace physical activity, and health-, and work-related outcomes, in workers who transitioned from a conventional to an ‘activity-permissive’ workplace. Methods: A natural pre-post experiment conducted in Vancouver, Canada in 2011. A convenience sample of office-based workers (n=24, 75% women, mean [SD] age = 34.5 [8.1] years) were examined four months following relocation from a conventional workplace (pre) to a newly-constructed, purpose-built, movement-oriented physical environment (post). Workplace activity- (activPAL3-derived stepping, standing, and sitting time), health- (body composition and fasting cardio-metabolic blood profile), and work- (performance; job satisfaction) related outcomes were measured pre- and post-move and compared using paired t-tests. Results: Pre-move, on average (mean [SD]) the majority of the day was spent sitting (364 [43.0] mins/8-hr workday), followed by standing (78.2 [32.1] mins/8-hr workday) and stepping (37.7 [15.6] mins/8-hr workday). The transition to the ‘activity-permissive’ workplace resulted in a significant increase in standing time (+18.5, 95% CI: 1.8, 35.2 mins/8-hr workday), likely driven by reduced sitting time (-19.7, 95% CI: -42.1, 2.8 mins/8-hr workday) rather than increased stepping time (+1.2, 95% CI: -6.2, 8.5 mins/8-hr workday). There were no statistically significant differences observed in health- or work-related outcomes. Discussion: This novel, opportunistic study demonstrated that the broader workplace physical environment can beneficially impact on standing time in office workers. The long-term health and work-related benefits, and the influence of individual, organizational, and social factors on this change, requires further evaluation.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin Gorman & Maureen C Ashe & David W Dunstan & Heather M Hanson & Ken Madden & Elisabeth A H Winkler & Heather A McKay & Genevieve N Healy, 2013. "Does an ‘Activity-Permissive’ Workplace Change Office Workers’ Sitting and Activity Time?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-1, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0076723
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076723
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0076723
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0076723&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0076723?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Takashi Jindo & Yuko Kai & Naruki Kitano & Kyohsuke Wakaba & Mitsuru Makishima & Koji Takeda & Michitaka Iida & Kinji Igarashi & Takashi Arao, 2019. "Impact of Activity-Based Working and Height-Adjustable Desks on Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Space Utilization among Office Workers: A Natural Experiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Pankaj Sharma & Adam Pickens & Ranjana Mehta & Gang Han & Mark E. Benden, 2019. "Smart Software Can Increase Sit–Stand Desk Transitions During Active Computer Use," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-9, July.
    3. Louise Mansfield & Jennifer Hall & Lee Smith & Molly Rasch & Emily Reeves & Stephen Dewitt & Benjamin Gardner, 2018. "“Could you sit down please?” A qualitative analysis of employees’ experiences of standing in normally-seated workplace meetings," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-16, June.
    4. Lauren Arundell & Bronwyn Sudholz & Megan Teychenne & Jo Salmon & Brooke Hayward & Genevieve N. Healy & Anna Timperio, 2018. "The Impact of Activity Based Working (ABW) on Workplace Activity, Eating Behaviours, Productivity, and Satisfaction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-16, May.
    5. Jiameng Ma & Dongmei Ma & Junghoon Kim & Qiang Wang & Hyunshik Kim, 2021. "Effects of Substituting Types of Physical Activity on Body Fat Mass and Work Efficiency among Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-10, May.
    6. Bradley MacDonald & Xanne Janssen & Alison Kirk & Mhairi Patience & Ann-Marie Gibson, 2018. "An Integrative, Systematic Review Exploring the Research, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance of Interventions to Reduce Sedentary Behaviour in Office Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-29, December.
    7. Marsha L. Brierley & Lindsey R. Smith & Angel M. Chater & Daniel P. Bailey, 2022. "A-REST (Activity to Reduce Excessive Sitting Time): A Feasibility Trial to Reduce Prolonged Sitting in Police Staff," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-27, July.
    8. Lina Engelen, 2020. "Does Active Design Influence Activity, Sitting, Wellbeing and Productivity in the Workplace? A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Sara K. Rosenkranz & Emily L. Mailey & Emily Umansky & Richard R. Rosenkranz & Elizabeth Ablah, 2020. "Workplace Sedentary Behavior and Productivity: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-14, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0076723. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.