Objective: Sedentariness is associated with weight gain and obesity. A treadmill desk is the combination of a standing desk and a treadmill that allow employees to work while walking at low speed. Design and Methods: The hypothesis was that a 1-year intervention with treadmill desks is associated with an increase in employee daily physical activity (summation of all activity per minute) and a decrease in daily sedentary time (zero activity). Employees (n ¼ 36; 25 women, 11 men) with sedentary jobs (87 6 27 kg, BMI 29 6 7 kg/m 2 , n ¼ 10 Lean BMI < 25 kg/m 2 , n ¼ 15 Overweight 25 < BMI < 30 kg/m 2 , n ¼ 11 Obese BMI > 30 kg/m 2 ) volunteered to have their traditional desk replaced with a treadmill desk to promote physical activity for 1 year. Results: Daily physical activity (using accelerometers), work performance, body composition, and blood variables were measured at Baseline and 6 and 12 months after the treadmill desk intervention. Subjects who used the treadmill desk increased daily physical activity from baseline 3,353 6 1,802 activity units (AU)/day to, at 6 months, 4,460 6 2,376 AU/day (P < 0.001), and at 12 months, 4,205 6 2,238 AU/day (P < 0.001). Access to the treadmill desks was associated with significant decreases in daily sedentary time (zero activity) from at baseline 1,020 6 75 min/day to, at 6 months, 929 6 84 min/day (P < 0.001), and at 12 months, 978 6 95 min/day (P < 0.001). For the whole group, weight loss averaged 1.4 6 3.3 kg (P < 0.05). Weight loss for obese subjects was 2.3 6 3.5 kg (P < 0.03). Access to the treadmill desks was associated with increased daily physical activity compared to traditional chair-based desks; their deployment was not associated with altered performance. For the 36 participants, fat mass did not change significantly, however, those who lost weight (n ¼ 22) lost 3.4 6 5.4 kg (P < 0.001) of fat mass. Weight loss was greatest in people with obesity. Conclusions: Access to treadmill desks may improve the health of office workers without affecting work performance.

Despite widespread popular concern about what it means to be over 40 and unemployed, little attention has been paid in the literature to clarifying the role of age within the job seeking experience. Extending theory, we propose mechanisms by which chronological age affects job search and reemployment outcomes after job loss. Through a meta-analysis and examination of 2 supplemental datasets, we examine 5 questions: (a) How strong is the relationship between age and reemployment speed? (b) Does age disadvantage individuals with respect to other reemployment outcomes? (c) Is the relationship between age and reemployment outcomes mediated by job search activities? (d) Are these relationships generalizable? and (e) Are these relationships linear or curvilinear? Our findings provide evidence for a negative relationship between age and reemployment status and speed across job search decade, world region, and unemployment rate, with the strength of the negative relationship becoming stronger over age 50. Job search self-efficacy and job search intensity partially mediate the relationship between age and both reemployment status and speed. (PsycINFO Database Record

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.

Drawing on the Job Demands-Control-Support model, we argue that job demands, job control, social support, stress, and employee attitudes differ by ownership sector. Using Random Coefficient/ Hierarchical Linear Modeling, we analyze employee perceptions and attitudes from over 900 employees in for-profit, nonprofit, and public nursing homes. We find that nonprofit employees report higher workloads than their for-profit counterparts, and nonprofit and public employees report higher stress levels than their for-profit counterparts. Overall, few sectoral differences were detected in employee decision-making control, social support, or job satisfaction.

This research examines how the empowerment of residents' family members and nursing home employees in managerial decision making is related to service quality. The study was conducted using data from 33 nursing homes in the United States. Surveys were administered to more than 1,000 employees on-site and mailed to the primary-contact family member of each resident. The resulting multilevel data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. The empowerment of families in decision making was positively associated with their perceptions of service quality. The empowerment of nursing staff in decision making was more strongly related to service quality than the empowerment of nonnursing staff. Among nursing staff, the empowerment of nursing assistants improved service quality more than the empowerment of nurses.