Treadmill workstations: the effects of walking while working on physical activity and work performance.

We conducted a 12-month-long experiment in a financial services company to study how the availability of treadmill workstations affects employees' physical activity and work performance. We enlisted sedentary volunteers, half of whom received treadmill workstations during the first two months of the study and the rest in the seventh month of the study. Participants could operate the treadmills at speeds of 0-2 mph and could use a standard chair-desk arrangement at will. (a) Weekly online performance surveys were administered to participants and their supervisors, as well as to all other sedentary employees and their supervisors. Using within-person statistical analyses, we find that overall work performance, quality and quantity of performance, and interactions with coworkers improved as a result of adoption of treadmill workstations. (b) Participants were outfitted with accelerometers at the start of the study. We find that daily total physical activity increased as a result of the adoption of treadmill workstations

Average Daily Activity Caloric Expenditure for Walkers–Random Effects Generalized Least Squares with AR(1) Errors.

<p><b>Notes:</b> (1) Standard errors are corrected for serial correlation. (2) *, ** and *** indicate statistical significance at the 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01 levels, respectively. (3) “Had treadmill during the current week” is an indicator variable talking on the value of 1 when the walker had a treadmill in his or her office, and 0 when he or she did not have a treadmill in his or her office.</p

The Treadmill Workstation Learning Curve - The Contribution of Experience to Employee Performance.

<p>The Treadmill Workstation Learning Curve - The Contribution of Experience to Employee Performance.</p

Definition of Variables, Sources and Descriptive Statistics: Employee Performance and Work-Related Variables, All Survey Participants.

<p>Note: Walker 1 received treadmills in a staggered fashion, usually between weeks 5 and 8, and Walker 2 between weeks 30–34. Weeks for which Walkers did not have treadmills are excluded.</p

Weekly Overall Performance for All Survey Respondents–Fixed Effects (Within-Person) Generalized Least Squares Regression with AR(1) Errors.

<p><b>Notes:</b> (1) Standard errors are corrected for serial correlation. (2) *, ** and *** indicate statistical significance at the 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01. (3) “Had treadmill during the current week” is an indicator variable talking on the value of 1 when the walker had a treadmill in his or her office, and 0 when he or she did not have a treadmill in his or her office.</p

Activity Caloric Expenditure by Time of Day – Replication of Table 2, Model 2: Random Effects Generalized Least Squares with AR(1) Errors.

<p><b>Notes:</b> (1) Standard errors corrected for serial correlation. (2) *, ** and *** indicate statistical significance at the 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01. (3) “Had treadmill during the current week” is an indicator variable talking on the value of 1 when the walker had a treadmill in his or her office, and 0 when he or she did not have a treadmill in his or her office. (4) Day: 7 AM –5 PM, Evening: 5 PM –11 PM, Night: 11 PM –7 AM.</p

Determinants of Different Dimensions of Weekly Performance – Fixed Effects (Within-Person) Generalized Least Squares Regression with AR(1) Errors.

<p><b>Notes:</b> (1) Standard errors are corrected for serial correlation. (2) *, ** and *** indicate statistical significance at the 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01. (3) “Had treadmill during the current week” is an indicator variable talking on the value of 1 when the walker had a treadmill in his or her office, and 0 when he or she did not have a treadmill in his or her office.</p

Treadmill workstation image.

<p>Treadmill workstation image.</p

Accelerometer image.

<p>Accelerometer image.</p