Associations Between Room Function, Office Design, Workplace Spatial Layout, and Sitting Patterns During Office Work: A Field Study.

Abstract

We investigated associations between room function, office design, workplace spatial layout, and office workers' sitting behavior. We analyzed sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit transitions of 48 office workers during one work week (accelerometry), all office locations that those workers visited (end-of-day questionnaire), and physical features of those office locations (coded). Office workers sat longer in offices than in meeting rooms; stood longer in large, shared offices; stood longer in offices with two workstations compared to one; stood longer in offices that had additional chairs; and sat longer when waste paper bins were out of arm's reach. Office workers' sitting patterns are-to some extent-related to workplace design. However, workplace design may impact sitting mainly through the work tasks and/or opportunities for collegial interactions that room designs afford.