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The intervention aims to:

1. Decrease the amount of time office workers spend sitting.

2. Create an environment that facilitates workers to be physically active.

3. Help achieve a healthy and happy workplace.

4. Show the value of physical activity in the workplace to company management.

5. Make the healthy choice the easy choice by encouraging active travel.

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This intervention uses information obtained from research about physical activity and sedentary behaviour in office workers to help deliver effective strategies that will create a healthy social norm in the workplace around physical activity and sedentary behaviour.

These strategies take into account:

1. Policy which includes flexible hours for employees, tax reliefs and strict parking.

2. Changes to the environment that enable active transport and physical activity within the workplace.

3. Group level activities that incorporate multiple options for PA that suit the various interests of employees.

4. Individual interventions that create a supportive environment for physical activity and reduced time sitting through education, goal setting and active participation.

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The aim of the group intervention is to build on the individual step challenge and stay in keeping with the fun aspect of PA that will keep employees motivated.

The priority for the company at the group level is to provide a broad range of options to suit all the employees. These include:

1. Aerobics

2. Yoga

3. Walking and cycling groups

4. Male and Female 5 a side soccer teams

The flexible hours that will be implemented by the company will aid workers in having time to participate. Walking and cycling groups can be used to enhance active transport but can also lead to employees being physically active on weekends should the intervention be a success.

Yoga and aerobics will be done in the company building with two rooms being reserved within the building specifically for this use. The classes will be run everyday with instructors being paid for each class by the company.

The 5 a side soccer teams will be run in a local sports complex with the company working in conjunction with the complex to provide reduced hourly fees for workers.

To tie the individual interventions and group interventions together, the company will organise a half-marathon for charity which all employees will be encouraged to partake in. This will give the workers a goal for their increased level of PA and will be a great way to create a supportive culture among workers to continue to stay active.

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·Educate: For any intervention to work it is important that the behaviour of the individual is altered through education, personal planning and change of attitude. The AIB online banking has over 200 employees and in order to get everyone motivated and interested in increasing their physical activity they need to be aware of the risk and health benefits of it. This can be done through the use of informative posters which can be placed around the work place. Speakers can also be brought in to educate and answer questions the employees may have.

·Goals: Each individual should be encouraged to set SMART goals. These goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based. These goals for the employees of the AIB online banking in Waterford could include active transport whereby they walk or cycle to work instead of driving or the individual may set a goal to do an exercise session after work each day. Goal setting aids motivation.

·Motivation: It is a big factor when it comes to change. Without it, people are inclined to give up easily and not succeed in fulfilling their goals. An idea we formed in order to boost motivation was to hold tournaments within the workplace. These tournaments involved reaching 10,000 steps per day. The idea of this programme was whereby the staff would be motivated through friendly competition against their peers to reach 10,000 steps per day each month. A leader board would be created and the person who accomplished the highest amount of steps each month would win a prize such as a bonus. This incentive would promote physical activity in a fun and enjoyable way.

·Sitting time: As office work is a sedentary occupation it is important to reduce their sitting time. This can be done in various different ways. Drop Everything And Stand is an initiative where the office workers would get a notification on their computers reminding them to stand up and move. As AIB are a big national banking company in Ireland they will also have the funds to provide their employees with standing office desks. These desks are adjustable whereby you can sit or stand while you are doing work at your desk. These will promote physical activity  and reduce sitting time for the employees in the office.

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Arslan, S.S; Alemdroglu, I; Karaduman, A.A. & Yilmaz, O.T. (2019). The effects of physical activity on sleep quality, job satisfaction, and quality of life in office workers. Work, 63 (1), 5. Retrieved on January 4th, 2021 from 10.3233/WOR-192902

Brockman, R., & Fox, K. (2011). Physical activity by stealth? The potential health benefits of a workplace transport plan. Public Health, 125, (4), 210-216.

Buckley, J; Hedge, A; Yates, T; Copeland, R; Loosemore, M; Hamer, M; Bradley, G. & Dunstan, D.W. (2015). The sedentary office: An expert statement on the growing case for change towards better health and productivity. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49 (21), 1357-1362. Retrieved on January 3rd, 2021 from 10.1136/bjsports2015094618

Central Statistics Office. (2016). Means of travel to work. Census 2016. Retrieved on January 3rd, 2021 from https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp6ci/p6cii/p6mtw/

Central Statistics Office. (2016). Time and distance. Census 2016. . Retrieved on January 3rd, 2021 from https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp6ci/p6cii/p6td/#:~:text=Increase%20in%20average%20travel%20time,and%202011%20(26.6mins).

Drake, E; Ekblom, M.M; Ekblom, O; Kallings, L.V. & Blom, V. (2020). Cardiorespiratory fitness was and device-measured sedentary behaviour are associated with sickness absence in office workers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17 (2), 10. Retrieved on January 4th, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020628

Frutiger, M; Taylor, T. & Borotkanics, R.J. (2019). Self-reported non-specific neck pain (NSNP) is associated with presenteeism and biopsychosocial factors among office workers. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 12 (4), 214-227. Retrieved on January 4th, 2021 from https://www.proquest.com/docview/2272178318?accountid=40346

Furuichi, W;Shimura, A; Miyama, H; Seki, T; Ono, K; Masuya, J. & Inoue, T. (2020). Effects of job stressors, stress response, and sleep disturbance on presenteeism in office workers. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 16, 1827-1833. Retrieved on January 3rd, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S258508

Hadgraft, N; Winkler, E; Climie, R; Grace, M.S; Romero, L; Owen, N; Dunstan, D.W; Healy, G.N. & Dempsey, P.C. (2020). Effects of sedentary behaviour interventions on biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk in adults: systematic review with meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Retrieved on January 4th, 2021 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340522290_Effects_of_sedentary_behaviour_interventions_on_biomarkers_of_cardiometabolic_risk_in_adults_systematic_review_with_meta-analyses

Jun, D; O’Leary, S; McPhail, S.M. & Johnston, V. (2019). Job strain and psychological distress in office worker: The role of coping. Work, 64 (1), 60. Retrieved on January 6th, 2021 from https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=1ac2ea6a-9b68-4aac-ab40-695a34fd2e09%40sessionmgr101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=138732613&db=c8h

Mayo Clinic. (2021). Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress. Stress management. Retrieved on January 6th, 2021 from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469#:~:text=Regular%20exercise%20can%20increase%20self,by%20stress%2C%20depression%20and%20anxiety.

Mazzola, J.J; Taylor-Moore, J. & Alexander, K. (2017). Is work keeping us from acting healthy? How workplace barriers and facilitators impact nutrition and exercise behaviors. Stress & Health, 33 (5), 481&485. Retrieved on January 3rd, 2021 from https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=301ad8ba-a33a-478e-88d0-d4cf89b2f7cb%40sessionmgr4008

Mehboob, Q; Waqar, A. & Sana, A. (2020). Role of lifestyle in the development of cardiovascular diseases among the workers working in offices. Professional Medical Journal, 27 (12), 5. Retrieved on January 4th, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.29309/TPMJ/2020.27.12.4666

Mullan, E. (2020). Effective Interventions to Promote Physical activity, active Transport and Active Living. WIT.

Open Access Government. (2019). Office workers spend 75% of their waking hours sitting down. Retrieved on January 3rd, 2021 from https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/office-workers-sitting-down/71612/#:~:text=Age,to%2010%20hours%20or%20more.

Pronk, N.P. (2020). Implementing movement at the workplace: approaches to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in the context of work. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. Retrieved on January 8, 2021 from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033062020301766?

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Funding & Implementation of intervention

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Funding & Implementation of intervention

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Funding:

AIB is a financial services group that operates in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. AIB gets their funds through Inter-bank funding. As they are a renowned banking company they have sufficient funds to provide resources necessary to promote physical activity.

AIB online banking Waterford is located near gyms. If the staff wish to have a membership with a gym, partnerships can be established. This partnership could allow for the employees to get a discount on membership or €5 could be taken out of their wages each month for membership.

Implementation:

1. Talk to head office to introduce structured policies to promote and educate employees about active travel and physical activity. For example, policies for exercise breaks and tax incentives when purchasing a bike, these will encourage physical activity in the workplace.

2. Educate employees about about physical activity and the harms of sedentary behaviours. This will be done through the use of signage, listing the health benefits associated with being active and the risks of not. As this is an office setting computers and printers are available to make the signs and posters.

3. Introduce employees to a range of physical activity available and adpated work resources such as standing desks.

4. Promote active transport by offering bike storage to employees and locating carparks further away from the office building which will encourage employees to walk more.

5. Reduce elevator use. In order to gain access to the elevator they would need a fob key. This will encourage people to take the stairs.

6. AIB Together Community Programme can sponsor local gyms. This can create a great link and discounts for membership can be established

7. Encourage physical activities in groups in the workplace to create social norms and encourage the fun and social aspect of exercise.

8. Evaluate the employees physical activity and sedentary lifestyles after 6 months through the IPAQ survey.

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Settings/The Workplace
Implement flexi start and finish. This will tie in with policy intervention and allow flexibilty to those wishing to avail of active transport.

Reducing elevator use -  making a fob essential to use the elevator. This fob will only be available those who need it are need to transport deliveries. This will increase stair usage and physical activity amongst the staff.

Providing bike shelters - this will allow to keep bicycles safe and dry while staff are at work. By having bike shelters instead of parking spaces, it will promote active transport. (Brockman & Fox, 2011).

Install showers and changing rooms - this can allow staff to freshen up after physical activity or active transport. This can also be time-saving as they will not have to travel home to shower.

General Physical Environment
Ensure secure bike parking - The grounds of the company will provide bike shelters to provide plenty of space to lock ones' bike where it will be kept safe and dry.

Larger paths and cycle lanes -  ensuring plenty of space, wide and clear paths and lanes. This will give pedestrians and cyclists priority over drivers.

Lighting - Ensuring sufficient lighting so that paths are well lit and clear even during dark evenings. This will make staff feel safe on their commute to work.

A paper by Pronk (2011), demonstrates how implementing parking for bikes and changing facilities will prove effective and sustainable, resulting in lasting levels of higher physical activity.

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Flexi-time - allowing staff to start work later or finish work earlier within agreed hours so that they can avail of active transport. This would still require the same amount of hours work daily, however the staff would have the flexibility and can use it to their own suitability if they want to walk or cycle to work.

Parking - On site parking would be primarily for visitors to the establishment, with a 30 minute maximum stay. An electronic barrier would be in place to ensure no forbidden vehicles enter.  Double yellow lines and wider footpaths will also aim at removing cars, and enabling cyclists and pedestrians to utilise the space. (Mullan, 2020).

Tax incentive - relieving staff of tax when purchasing a bike through work. This makes it cheaper for staff to buy a bike and therefore more likely to avail of active transport.

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Benefits of Exercise to the Individual and the Company

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Benefits of Exercise to the Individual and the Company

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Keeping in mind the barriers and issues experienced by office workers, the benefits of exercising are a great way to sell a new initiative, particularly to company managers who tend to be result and evidence driven. Barkley et al. (2015) recognised that exercise resulted in "improved work productivity, efficiency and a greater sense of collaboration among groups of employees", while Arslan et al. (2018) saw the positive effect of exercise on job satisfaction and quality of life among office workers. According to Drake et al. (2020), there was less sickness absence in office workers who had higher cardiorespiratory fitness.

Stress is also reduced by exercise (Mayo Clinic, 2021) with evidence being presented by Hadgraft et al. (2020) that showed significant improvements in body weight, waist circumference, percentage body fat, systolic blood pressure, insulin and HDL cholesterol, which address the individual issues experienced by office workers.

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Barriers to Physical Activity for Office Workers

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Barriers to Physical Activity for Office Workers

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The barriers to physical activity for office workers start with the aforementioned commuting duration of the workforce. Distance to the workplace is a major obstacle to Active Transport (AT). From the perspective of the work environment and requirements of the job, Mazzola et al. (2017) conducted a study on the barriers to exercise in office workers where they identified 10 factors that impacted on their ability to exercise. These barriers were:

Workload

Time constraints

Fatigue

Availability of exercise options

Non-work factors

Social influences

Temptation

Knowledge/Awareness

Physical ailments

Work

Environments

In order to facilitate change a company must reflect on what they demand of their employees. Policy and time reservations for different types of PA are of the utmost importance to create a happy, physically active workplace.

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According to the Central Statistics Office (2016), over 61% of commuters drive to work with the average time of commuting at around 26 minutes. When public transport use is taken into account, this figure rises to 71% of people being seated for their journey. The contribution of this to overall sedentary time is significant with as much as 75% of an office worker's waking hours being spent sitting down (Open Access Government, 2019).

A knock on effect of being seated for so long include neck pain which "significantly interfered with work activities" (Frutiger et al; 2019) while sedentary state may result in weight gain amongst workers,

A typical issue facing office workers is stress. Jun et al. (2019) found that depression, anxiety and stress all occurred at higher rates when job strain increased. The implications for office workers are very serious with a study by Mehboob et al. (2020) finding an association between stress and lack of exercise in office workers and coronary heart disease.

The importance of a good work environment that reduces stressors among workers is vital because if the environment is not conducive to a healthy experience it can lead to "indirect effects on presenteeism, through sleep disturbance and psychological and physical stress responses" (Furuichi et al; 2020).

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AIB online banking is a business located on the outskirts of Waterford City with over 200 employees. They specialise in providing over-the-phone assistance to customers, providing a service from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The average age of the employees is 35 years of age and they are made up of call service employees and a management team as well as executives.

The company is in the process of moving to a brand new office which is located in an area which has high accessibility to housing and amenities. Prior to the move, the company has consulted the employees about possible ways of increasing active transport and physical activity while reducing sedentary behaviour. This action was taken as a previous assessment using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) showed negative PA behaviours among the workers. The company is also taking its own steps to provide environmental and policy interventions in the hopes of creating a healthy culture among the workers.

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An evidence based intervention to promote PA and active transport, and reduce sitting, amongst office workers.

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An evidence based intervention to promote PA and active transport, and reduce sitting, amongst office workers.

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Andrew Tyrell-20083537
Sarah Lyons-20084892
Shannon O'Shea-20084147