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Does the use of standing 'hot' desks change sedentary work time in an open plan office?
Nicholas D Gilson1, Alessandro Suppini, Gemma C Ryde
1The University of Queensland, School of Human Movement Studies, St Lucia Campus, Brisbane 4072, Australia. n.gilson1@uq.edu.au
Objective:
This study assessed the use of standing 'hot' desks in an open plan office and their impact on sedentary work time.
Method:
Australian employees (n=11; 46.9 [9.8] years; BMI 25.9 [3.5 kg/m(2)]) wore an armband accelerometer for two consecutive working weeks (November-December 2010). In the second week, employees were encouraged to use a pod of four standing 'hot' desks to stand and work as often as possible. Desk use was recorded using time logs. The percentages of daily work time spent in sedentary (<1.6 METs), light (1.6-3.0 METs) and moderate+ (>3 METs) intensity categories were calculated for each week, relative to the total daily time at work. Paired sample t tests were used to compare weekly differences.
Results:
Employees spent 8:09 ± 0:31h/day at work and 'hot' desk use ranged from zero to 9:35 h for the week. There were no significant changes in mean time spent in sedentary (difference of -0.1%), light (difference of 0.8%) and moderate+ (-0.7%) intensity categories. However, individual changes in sedentary work time ranged from -5.9 to 6.4%.
Conclusions:
Volitional use of standing 'hot' desks varied and while individual changes were apparent, desk use did not alter overall sedentary work time in this sample.
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