Search Results for: sedentary

Working environment, not time of the year has most negative effect on staff wellbeing

Working environment, not time of the year has most negative effect on staff wellbeing

by • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Working environment, not time of the year has most negative effect on staffHalf of employees say that their working environment has a negative effect on their mental health (51 percent) and wellbeing (49 percent) and two-thirds (67 percent) say that they only ‘sometimes, rarely or never’ feel valued at work. The research by Peldon Rose shows that two-thirds of employees (64 percent) currently have poor or below average mental wellbeing and that the majority (56 percent) claim increasing workloads, followed by a lack of time to focus on wellbeing and exercise (46 percent) are the leading causes of their stress.  While half of employees think introducing exercise facilities will help them to better tackle their workplace stress (50 percent) – less than a fifth of workplaces (16 percent) currently provide these facilities, something employers should consider when looking to boost the morale of their workforce.

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The meaning of life, the Black Mirror of Beijing, standing desks not a silver bullet and some other stuff

The meaning of life, the Black Mirror of Beijing, standing desks not a silver bullet and some other stuff

by • Features

So, what is the meaning of life? According to a study by Pew, the gold standard US based researchers, it’s spending time with family and friends, reading, listening to music and going for a walk in the open air. Work comes somewhere down the list. Just one-third of the survey’s respondents mentioned their career or job as a source of meaning, and only a quarter cite finances or money. This, it turns out, is not too far off Monty Python’s conclusion in their eponymous film:  Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations. That’s that sorted then.

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Two new studies set out business case for contemporary office design

Two new studies set out business case for contemporary office design

by • News, Workplace design

A brace of new reports sets out to identify the challenges organisations set themselves by inhabiting dated offices and how modern office design principles could address them. According to the Meeting Expectations report, released by K2 Space, workplace productivity is being impeded as a direct result of dated office design. The second study from Saracen Interiors focuses more on the role of office design as a recruitment tool. The reports follow the recent publication of a major report on similar themes from Worktech Academy and Fourfront Group.

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Employees call for radical new approach to address stress at work

Employees call for radical new approach to address stress at work

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Employees call for radical new approach to address stress at work

Today marks the start of International Stress Awareness Week, 5th – 9th November 2018, and new research claims that two-thirds of employees (64 percent) have ‘poor’ or ‘below average’ mental wellbeing according to the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). The research, conducted by The Stress Management Society and commissioned by workplace consultants, Peldon Rose found that over a third (36 percent) of people say their workplace stress has been on-going for the past five years.

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The death of desks, the truth about smart cities and a long list of things architects should know

The death of desks, the truth about smart cities and a long list of things architects should know

by • Features

You can’t judge an international marketplace by wandering around an exhibition of its products for a day or two. This is a simple fact overlooked by a new piece in Dezeen which declares that desks are finished. This notion is based on a trip to the Orgatec furniture fair in Cologne. Our own review of the show will appear tomorrow, with the hysteria dialled down to a dull roar and with some added facts about what organisations actually buy most from office furniture companies (spoiler: desks and chairs) compared to what makes the sector more interesting.

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Majority of UK workers sit at their desk between four and nine hours a day

Majority of UK workers sit at their desk between four and nine hours a day

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

UK office workers may sit at their desk for up to nine hours a day

The majority (81 percent) of UK office workers spend between four and nine hours each day sitting at their desk, equating to an average of 67 sedentary days per person each year, claims a new survey from Fellowes. Nearly half (45 percent) of office workers polled said they sat at their desk for between six and nine hours daily with 36 percent claiming they spent four to six hours seated. On top of this, a huge 64 percent claimed their office environment also had a negative impact on their health.

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How the media oversold standing desks as a fix for inactivity at work

by • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Sitting is so culturally ingrained at work, at the wheel, in front of the TV and at the movies, it takes a great effort to imagine doing these things standing up, let alone pedalling as you work at a bike desk. So, when the world’s first specific guidelines on sitting and moving at work were published, they generated headlines such as: Abandon your chair for four hours to stay healthy, office workers are told and: Stand up at your desk for two hours a day, new guidelines say. But what many media reports did not mention was the guidelines were based on limited evidence. They were also co-authored by someone with commercial links to standing desks (desks you raise and lower to work at standing or sitting), a link not declared when the guidelines were first published in a journal. Media reports also overplayed the dangers of sitting at work, incorrectly saying it wiped out the benefits of exercise. Our new study reveals the nature of this media coverage and its role in overselling standing desks as a solution to inactivity at work.

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New study claims to confirm the benefits of sit-stand workstations

New study claims to confirm the benefits of sit-stand workstations

by • News

A new study suggests that height adjustable or sit-stand workstations may be beneficial in reducing sedentary behaviour and supporting health outside the workplace. The study’s results have been published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management. Funded by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Foundation’s Transform grant, interim study results were announced on the ASID website last year. The final study, “Stand Up to Work: Assessing the Health Impacts of Adjustable Workstations,” found that sit-stand workstations are linked to increased productivity, better mental concentration, and improved overall health in employees who used sit-stand desks over a 12-month period. Most employees reported that the sit-stand desks had a positive impact on their health outside the workplace.

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Ten demonstrable truths about the workplace you may not know

Ten demonstrable truths about the workplace you may not know

by • Comment, Facilities management, Features, Workplace design

workplace designThe science of the workplace has gained a lot of interest over the last few years, highlighting recurring patterns of human behaviour as well as how organisational behaviour relates to office design. In theory, knowledge from this growing body of research could be used to inform design. In practice, this is rarely the case. A survey of 420 architects and designers highlighted a large gap between research and practice: while 80 percent of respondents agreed that more evidence was needed on the impact of design, 68 percent admitted they never reviewed literature and 71 percent said they never engaged in any sort of post-occupancy evaluation. Only 5 percent undertake a formal POE and just 1 percent do so in a rigorous fashion. Not a single practitioner reported a report on the occupied scheme, despite its importance in understanding the impact of a design.

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Nearly a quarter of workers claim work is biggest barrier to being more physically active

Nearly a quarter of workers claim work is biggest barrier to being more physically active

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Work is the biggest barrier to taking regular exercise a new survey suggests, with 20 percent of people citing being too busy with work as the reason why they are not more physically active. The research, which is published by not-for-profit health body ukactive to mark today’s National Fitness Day 2017 also reveals that only 1 in 10 adults (12 percent) know NHS recommended physical activity guidelines and well over half of Brits spend at least six hours each day sitting down. In addition to shunning exercise, more than 64 percent of adults spend at least six hours each day sitting, be it at work, in front of the TV, commuting or on social media. The average UK adult also spends more than twice as much time sitting on the toilet as they do exercising, with the study of 2,004 British adults by ComRes reveals that British adults say they are on the loo for an average of 3 hours and 9 minutes each week, compared to just 1 hour and 30 minutes spent doing moderate exercise such as fast walking or riding a bike.

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Growing concerns about staff wellbeing will transform real estate over coming years, claims study

Growing concerns about staff wellbeing will transform real estate over coming years, claims study

by • News, Property, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The UK commercial property market will be transformed over the next few years as a growing number of firms use their workplaces to address the physical and mental wellbeing of staff, claims a new report from law firm CMS. The report, Smart Healthy Agile, is based around the findings of a survey of 1,000 office workers and 350 real estate firms. It claims that the most common problems associated with office life and sedentary lifestyles, such as weight gain, stress, depression and musculoskeletal disorders are encouraging employers to adopt a different approach to working culture and office design.

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The most productive thing you may do today is go for a walk

The most productive thing you may do today is go for a walk

by • Features, Wellbeing

According to a widely reported government study in today’s news, 40 percent of middle aged English adults do not even manage a ten minute walk each month. The report from Public Health England says that so many people are sedentary that official activity guidelines are so unrealistic and people should be encouraged to walk ten minutes a day – half the current guidance – to improve general levels of health and mental wellbeing. Little steps, in other words. We can confidently say that the underlying problem here is cultural, including the amount of time people spend on their backsides at work. This is in spite of all the evidence that shows that we may not only be fitter and happier by moving more but more creative too.

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