Standing at work could boost staff performance

RESEARCH by Leicester medics has found standing at desks could boost workers’ performance.

Workers who use sit-stand desks reported improvement in work engagement, job performance and occupational fatigue, according to the research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

They also reported improvements in musculoskeletal problems and were less sedentary after using the workstations.

The research team, led by experts from Leicester, assessed 146 NHS staff who previously spent the majority of their day seated.

A total of 69 continued with their standard work routine while 77 were put in an intervention group and were given sit-stand office desks.

The intervention group also went to an education seminar on the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle and set goals for standing time.

Working time spent sitting was measured at the start of the study and three, six and 12 months later.

After a year, those who were assigned to the intervention group, sitting time was reduced by more than an hour a day.

At the start of the study, overall sitting time was 9.7 hours per day.

Sitting time was lower by 50.62 minutes per day at three months, 64.4 minutes per day at six months, and 82.39 minutes per day at 12 months in the intervention group compared with the control group.

The reduction in sitting was largely replaced by time spent standing rather than moving, as participants’ steps remained unchanged.

A questionnaire filled out by participants also revealed improvements in job performance, work engagement, occupational fatigue, daily anxiety and quality of life, but no notable changes were found for job satisfaction, cognitive function or sickness absence.

A high proportion of participants in both groups reported experiencing musculoskeletal problems in the previous 12 months, but, by the end of the study, the odds of reporting problems were less in the intervention group.