Activities
For each participant, we computed the time they had spent on each activity (i.e. reading the text, using the computer, talking, other, not visible) as a percentage of the total working time in each session. For three participants, the activity that they were performing in The End of Sitting was not visible for more than 10 % of their working time;Footnote 2 hence, we excluded these participants from this analysis. Figure 4 depicts the mean percentages of time spent on each activity in each office for the remaining 15 participants. Participants spent most of the time reading the text and using the computer; they hardly talked. We found no significant differences between the offices in terms of the percentage of time spent using the computer [t (14) = 1.78, p > 0.05], and reading the text [t (14) = 1.73, p > 0.05]. Apparently the time spent on the activities that are required to prepare an oral presentation of a book chapter was not different in the two offices.
Postures and Locations
We computed the percentage of time each individual worked in the earlier enumerated postures (see Table 1) in each office. In the conventional office, the available chairs and desks were unsurprisingly used as objects to sit on and work at, respectively. All but one participant spent 100 % of the working time sitting on a chair. The participant who did not had spent 115 s reading while walking through the office, but worked in the same posture as the other participants for the remaining time.
As mentioned in the introduction, The End of Sitting was designed to invite participants to work in different non-sitting postures during the working day. Participants indeed used several of the environment’s affordances while preparing the presentation (see Fig. 5). Although, on average, participants had spent some time in a lying and leaning posture, they worked most of the time standing. More interestingly, only 17 % of participants worked in just one posture while working on their presentations; 44 % worked in two postures, 17 % in three postures, and 22 % in four postures.
All participants who worked in more than one posture (83 %) changed location during the working session, giving rise to locomotion through the environment (see Fig. 6). Thus, as RAAAF and Visser intended, in The End of Sitting the vast majority of participants indeed worked in different postures and changed location during the session.
Preferred Height of Work Surface
RAAAF and Visser intentionally created work surfaces of different heights, allowing people to choose a surface that fits their body dimensions. To examine whether the chosen locations in the working environment were related to the participants’ heights, we determined, for each participant, the location at which he or she had spent most time working in a standing posture. Two participants did not work in a standing position, therefore they were not included in this analysis. A significant correlation was observed between the height of the chosen work surface and the height of the participant (r = 0.686, p < 0.01). The taller the person, the higher the work surface the person worked at in a standing position. On average, the height of the work surface was at 66 % of the body height (SD 5.8 %).
Work Experience
As mentioned in the Methods section, we measured participants’ experiences working in the two offices with a questionnaire using a 9-point Likert scale
. Table 2 lists the medians and the 25th and 75th percentiles of participants’ scores on each item of the questionnaire (see “Appendix”), in each office. Because several participants volunteered that they did not work together, and the above data analysis confirmed this, we decided not to include this item in our analysis. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests on participants’ scores on the Likert scale revealed no significant differences between the offices in terms of reported concentration levels, pleasantness of posture they worked in, and satisfaction with the created presentation (ps > 0.05). In addition, no differences were observed between the offices in terms of participant’s reports of whether they had sufficient time to prepare the presentation, and whether it was pleasant to have a break in the office (ps > 0.05). However, participants reported that they found it more pleasurable to work in The End of Sitting than in the conventional office (z = −2.56, p < 0.05), and that the former office supported their well-being more so than the latter (z = −2.77, p < 0.01). Interestingly, after working in non-sitting postures in the newly designed office, participants reported that they felt more energetic than after working in the conventional office (z = −3.45, p < 0.01), although their legs felt more tired (z = −3.54, p < 0.001). Participants also liked the design of The End of Sitting better than that of the conventional office (z = −3.53, p < 0.001). Apparently, compared with a conventional office with chairs and desks, working in one or more non-sitting postures in The End of Sitting had no negative effects on reported concentration levels and satisfaction with the prepared presentation, whereas it contributed to participants’ reported well-being and energy level.
Table 2 Medians (and 25th and 75th percentiles) of participants’ scores on the 9-point Likert scale for each item in each office