Workplace movement: a qualitative study on office workers’ beliefs

ABSTRACT

Objective

Physical inactivity and long hours being sedentary are well documented as behaviours that contribute to ill health. Such behaviours are prevalent among office workers, who are at risk of diseases like metabolic dysfunction, reduced bone mineral density and heart disease. Using a theory of planned behaviour belief-based approach, the current paper qualitatively explores the behavioural, normative and control beliefs held by sedentary office workers towards physical activity within the work environment.

Method

Participants included 43 full-time office workers, who self-report as having a highly sedentary job and work from either a commercial office, home office, or a combination. The study used a semi-structured interview design following the theory of planned behaviour belief elicitation guidelines, and data analysed using a theoretical thematic analysis approach.

Results

Participants reported advantages of stress relief, improved focus and productivity and increased positive mood with moving. Disadvantages included feelings of guilt and frustration due to work disruptions from moving more. Mixed reports for others’ approval and disapproval were identified. Office layout was a commonly identified facilitator of workplace movement, with job restrictions identified as a common barrier.

Conclusions

Findings highlight the importance of workplace culture, organisational support and office layout as key considerations for future interventionalists.

KEY POINTS

What is already known about this topic:

1. Physical activity and limiting sedentary behaviour are important health behaviours.

2. Office-based employees are at risk for health conditions associated with high levels of sedentary behaviour.

3. Workplace-based physical activity interventions offer a potential solution to reducing the negative impact of sedentary behaviour.

What this topic adds:

1. Current findings fill a knowledge gap of the attitudes and beliefs held by sedentary office workers who in contemporary society have more flexible work arrangements, thus providing greater scope of findings to inform future behaviour change programs.

2. Organisational support should be demonstrated through providing information on the benefits along with corrective feedback regarding movement within the workplace.

3. Using choice architecture to design office layouts that facilitate movement is an important consideration for both organisations and individuals.

KEYWORDS:

• Sedentary behaviour
• physical activity
• qualitative
• office workplace

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Authors KJ, JB and KH contributed to the conception, design, data-collection, analysis, and writing of the manuscript; All authors participated in the drafting and finalisation of the manuscript.

Credit statement

Kailas Jenkins: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, Project Administration.

Jena Buchan: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision.

Ryan Rhodes: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision.

Kyra Hamilton: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision, Resources, Project Administration.

Data sharing

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, KJ. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions (e.g., their containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants).

Additional information

Funding

No funding to declare. Kailas Jenkins PhD is supported by the Australian Governments Research Training Program.