Exercise in the workplace? Employee preferences

Abstract

Discusses musculoskeletal stress as a result of sedentary work, which has been and still is a problem in workplaces. Simple, quick exercises may be a low‐cost solution to this problem. Provides an account of an investigation, the aim of which was to determine employees′ preference about and the status of such exercise programmes in local businesses. A questionnaire was administered to 203 employees engaged in sedentary work in 21 south‐east Louisiana businesses. The results show that many office, managerial and technical employees suffer musculoskeletal discomfort and pain and that they are interested in relieving this discomfort by participating in an exercise programme. Very few of their companies, however, provide formal exercise programmes. Regarding establishing an exercise programme, respondents indicated preference for exercises targeted on specific parts of the body and do not desire to be prompted by computer software.

Citation

Waikar, A.M. and Bradshaw, M.E. (1995), "Exercise in the workplace? Employee preferences", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 16 No. 9, pp. 16-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437729510102684