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Reallocating desk workers' sitting time to standing or stepping: associations with work performance
C-Y Lin1,2,3, A Shibata4, K Ishii2
1Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, 406040Taiwan.
Occupational Medicine (Oxford, England)
|December 17, 2023
Summary
Reducing occupational sitting time by standing or stepping can improve desk workers' work engagement. Replacing sitting with standing/stepping boosts engagement, but doesn't impact presenteeism or absenteeism.
Area of Science:
- Occupational health
- Workplace ergonomics
- Behavioral science
Background:
- Prolonged occupational sitting is linked to underperformance.
- Previous studies may underestimate benefits of reducing sitting time by not considering replaced activities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate work performance differences (presenteeism, absenteeism, engagement) when occupational sitting is reallocated to standing/stepping in desk workers.
- Investigate associations between occupational sitting/standing/stepping time and work performance.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from a Japan-wide online survey of middle-aged desk workers (n=2228).
- Employed partition and isotemporal substitution models to analyze self-reported sitting/standing/stepping time, work hours, and performance indicators.
- Assessed absolute and relative presenteeism, absenteeism, and work engagement dimensions.
Main Results:
- Longer sitting time correlated with lower absolute presenteeism, lower absolute absenteeism, and reduced engagement.
- Longer standing/stepping time correlated with lower absolute absenteeism and increased engagement.
- Each hour of sitting reallocated to standing/stepping favorably associated with overall work engagement (B=0.087) and its dimensions, but not presenteeism or absenteeism.
Conclusions:
- Management support and initiatives to encourage replacing sitting with standing/stepping can enhance desk workers' work engagement.
- Practical interventions focusing on activity reallocation may improve employee engagement.
