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Table 3 Summary: perceived feasibility and acceptability of strategies to reduce workplace sitting with illustrative quotes

From: Feasibility and acceptability of reducing workplace sitting time: a qualitative study with Australian office workers

Strategy

Feasibility and acceptability

Quote/s

Height-adjustable/standing desks

Most participants were supportive of height-adjustable desks as a strategy to reduce sitting time, however noted that cost was the main factor influencing the feasibility of providing them to all staff. Factors influencing the feasibility of existing standing or height-adjustable “hot desks” included design issues, such as configurability to suit individual ergonomic and work needs, and location.

You have to be careful because when you say reduce sitting, people immediately think about stand up desks. And I am conscious that we are a not for profit organisation, so it’s not feasible. M20: female manager, 30–39y.

There are standing desk areas but then you have to take your laptop, go and stand there and you don’t have the big monitor, you don’t have your own set up and everything. M13: female manager, 30-39y

Centralised facilities (e.g. bins, printers)

All three organisations had centralised facilities to some degree (printers and/or bins). This didn’t always seem to lead to frequent interruptions from sitting as some participants admitted to saving up jobs so they only had to make one trip.

But usually I just keep a little pile on my desk and at the end when it starts annoying me at the end of the day or at the middle I go and discard it. E7: female employee, 20–29y

Communicating face-to-face

All three organisations encouraged in-person communication to varying degrees as it was perceived to be beneficial for collaboration and relationship-building. However, time pressures and the need to have conversations recorded in writing often acted as barriers to carrying this out.

If you need to, you go and speak to the person but sometimes it’s easier to write people an email ‘cause then you’ve got a document trail as to what’s been discussed. E2: female employee, 40–49y

Standing meetings

Standing meetings occurred in parts of all three organisations, mostly for shorter, progress or catch up meetings. These were generally considered to be acceptable and feasible, although generally only if most people were standing. Standing meetings were considered by managers to also have a business benefit through encouraging shorter meetings. Office furniture (i.e. seated desks in meeting rooms) was seen as a barrier to longer standing meetings. One organisation had previously had height-adjustable meeting room tables which were perceived to have been acceptable.

The aim is if you sat around a table and had that meeting it would be 1 h of sitting versus 10 min of standing and the movement before and afterwards. Which encourages people to get straight to the point. So there’s a business, a benefit to that meeting, a business benefit and outcome, and there’s also a physical one as well. M11: male manager, 30–39y

There are some people who are a bit weirded out when a couple of people are standing in the meeting room and others aren’t. M17: male manager, 30–39y

Prompts to reduce sitting (such as a specific software program or calendar reminders)

There were mixed views about prompts to reduce sitting. While some participants thought they would be a feasible way to break up sitting, others thought they would get irritating.

That’s something easy to implement ‘cause you can literally just put it in people’s calendars and it will come up with a prompt…That’s probably sort of like a small change but could make a big difference. E6: female employee, 20–29y

Yeah well, the thing is you override it. So if I’m in the middle of trying to work out some finance numbers I’m not going to get up I’ll just override it. M20: female manager, 30–39y

Walking meetings

Walking meetings were not widely carried out, nor considered to be particularly feasible, apart from less formal, 1-on-1 catch up meetings.

One of our managers…sometimes he might walk to the shop and there’s a meeting as he walks along. But I don’t know that it’s actually, if you like, encouraged or anything like that…I think maybe it’s a time issue more than anything with him. E4: male employee, 60–69y

Knowledge and awareness raising

Some participants believed that education and awareness about the health impacts of excessive sitting and potential strategies could potentially be helpful as part of a broader intervention. Some organisational leaders thought that a broader communication campaign around excessive sitting could be considered.

Yeah, I think it’s so normal to sit down throughout your whole day that people think it’s fine. If people knew that it wasn’t as great as… if they were educated about it. A bit like smoking cigarettes, before people knew it was bad for you, everyone did it. E5: male employee, 20–29y

Activity trackers, smart phone apps, competitions

A few participants suggested that activity trackers (such as pedometers) or smart phone apps that provided real-time feedback on behaviour could be helpful in motivating people to reduce their sitting. It was also suggested that this could assist in creating a discussion around sitting less and moving more. However, the sustainability of these approaches was questioned.

I suppose the other thing with this steps [competition]… it’s okay at the beginning but sometimes it drops off. You know, once the excitement etc. is all gone by the by. E4: male employee, 60–69y