Physical activity in the workplace: a cost or a benefit for organizations? A systematic review

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-04-2021-0076
• Published date: 06 January 2023
• Date: 06 January 2023
• Pages: 108-135
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Healthcare management,HR & organizational behaviour,Human resource policy,Employee welfare
• Author: Inês Lopes Santos,Dina Miragaia

Physical activity in the workplace:

a cost or a benefit for organizations?

Asystematicreview

In^

es Lopes Santos and Dina Miragaia

Sports Science Department,

University of Beira Interior–NECE (Research Unit in Business Sciences),

Covilha, Portugal

Abstract

Purpose –Most adults do not follow the minimum requirementsfor physical activity despite the benefits such

activity can provide toward improving quality of life. On average, an adult spends 60% of daily hours in the

workplace, making it essential to create working environments that are favorable to avoiding harmful effects

on the health of workers. Toward this end, the application of physical activity programs in a work context is

one of the possible interventions. This study aims to carry out a systematic review of the literatureto identify

the impact of physical activity programs applied in the workplace, on employee wellness and organizational

productivity.

Design/methodology/approach –The search for reports was carried out in two databases, namely,

Thomson Reuters Web of Science and Scopus, according to several inclusion and exclusion criteria. The

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) was applied to ensure

the quality of the study. Microsoft Excel 2016 was used to organize the database to support the data analysis.

Findings –The sample comprised64 reports publishedin international journals between 1986 and 2019. From

these studies, six thematic clusters were formed: Workplace Physical Activity Interventions, Workplace

Wellness, Physical Activity and Organizational Performance, Barriers to Developing Physical Activity

Programs in the Workplace, Physical Activity and Sedentary Occupations and Workplace Physical Activity

Incentives. The analysis of these clusters confirmed that the implementation of physical activity programs in

this context could represent beneficial effects for workers and the organizational system by contributing to a

reduction in the rates of absenteeism and presenteeism. However, there are still many organizations that do not

implement such programs.

Originality/value –The results of this study are essential for managers of organizations to be able to

implement physical activity programs in a work context, similarly to the application of a strategy of corporate

social responsibility in an intra-organizational environment. This research may also be useful for professionals

in the areas of sports and physical exercise, who want to build their business around physical exercise

programs applied to a work context.

Keywords Organizational performance, Well-being, Physical activity program, Physical exercise,

Productivity, Workplace physical activity

Paper type Literature review

1. Introduction

Over the past decades, the influence of physical activity on improving the quality of life of the

general population has been considerably studied by the scientific community, which has

indicated a consensus on its benefits (ACSM, 2017;de la Faille-Deutekom et al., 2011;King

et al., 2018;Morrow et al., 2004;Waikar et al., 1997;WHO, 2020). Regular physical activity

seems to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension (Ades et al., 2009);

decrease the risk of falls and consequent fractures (Levin et al., 2017); improve bone and

functional health; prevent diabetes, depression and some types of cancer and help control

IJWHM

16,1

108

The authors would like to thank to NECE –Research Unit in Business Sciences funded by the

Multiannual Funding Programme of R&D Centres of FCT–Fundaç~

ao para a Ci^

encia e a Tecnologia,

under the project “UIDB/04630/2020”.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/1753-8351.htm

Received 1 April 2021

Revised 28 December 2021

23 May 2022

7 September 2022

9 November 2022

Accepted 12 December 2022

InternationalJournal of Workplace

Health Management

Vol. 16 No. 1, 2023

pp. 108-135

© Emerald Publishing Limited

1753-8351

DOI 10.1108/IJWHM-04-2021-0076

body weight (ACSM, 2017;WHO, 2020). In addition, work-related physical activity and its

benefits have been extensively studied (Allen and McCarthy, 2016;De Souza and Filho, 2017;

Jain et al., 2018;Maynard, 2008). The analysis of this context is fundamental, given that adults

spend an average of 60% of their daily hours in the workplace, making it essential to provide

a healthy working environment (Fertman and Allensworth, 2016;Peersman et al., 1998),

especially toward decreasing their sitting time (Shrestha et al., 2018).

Organizations thus play an important role in encouraging their employees to achieve

healthy living habits, including doing regular physical activity (Bakker et al., 2013). Providing

incentives toward this end can benefit the quality of health and well-being of employees, as

well as the organizations themselves, by improving productivity and decreasing absenteeism

and presenteeism (Knox et al., 2017;Lohaus and Habermann, 2019;Lovelace et al., 2001;

Pfitzner and Koenigstorfer, 2017).

Whereas absenteeism is already a clear concern for organizations (Green and Dallery,

2019;Keenan and Greer, 2015), presenteeism should also be given attention. In the case of

presenteeism, the literature frequently considers the approach of analyzing this phenomenon

considering that the productivity of an employee may be below the desired level resulting

from health problems, despite the fact that the employee is in the workplace (Brown et al.,

2011;Lohaus and Habermann, 2019;Morgan et al., 2012). However, this is a topic that has

been discussed more recently and should be interpreted as the behavior of working in a state

of illness (Ruhle et al., 2020). According to the authors, presenteeism does not correspond to

productivity loss associated with working while ill and should not be associated with

productivity losses but with productivity changes. Therefore, Ruhle et al. (2020) suggest that

each case need to be analyzed from a multidisciplinary perspective, according to each type of

work and illness.

In this sense, the literature has pointed out that it is important for organizations to

contribute in a more specific way through initiatives that benefit the health and well-being of

their workers (Pfitzner and Koenigstorfer, 2017), given that lack of time and energy have been

identified as the most frequent reasons for absence of physical activity in the post-work

context (Bardus et al., 2014;Edmunds et al., 2013;Loh, 2009;Mariam and Mazin, 2019).

In fact, Knox et al. (2017) reported that most adults do not meet the minimum requirements

for moderate or vigorous physical activity, although high levels of physical activity are

known to be associated with decreased use of health services, lower medical costs and lower

absenteeism (Losina et al., 2017). This presents a critical situation that has been related to a

decline in the mental health and well-being of corporate workers (Brown et al., 2011), given

that work-related stress is the biggest cause of absenteeism and lack of productivity (Rook

and Zijlstra, 2006), as well as a risk factor for morbidity and mortality (Keenan and Greer,

2015). Thus, physical inactivity can greatly affect the physical and mental health of

employees (Allen and McCarthy, 2016;Jain et al., 2018).

Because the implementation of efficient workplace interventions is necessary and

beneficial for public health (Ryan et al., 2021;Wolfenden et al., 2018), several studies have

indicated the viability of applying so-called “workplace physical activity programs”, with the

objective of promoting physical activity in the workplace (Brown et al., 2011;Lingard and

Turner, 2015;Losina et al., 2017). These programs help prevent work-related illnesses and

combat a possible sedentary lifestyle, as well as improve social interaction, thus interfering

positively with emotional and psychosocial factors. The interventions consist of physical

exercise, lasting between 10 and 15 min, without the employee having to leave the workplace

(Laux et al., 2018).

Lingard and Turner (2015) suggested that part of the working hours should be used to

promote frequent physical exercise, given that promoting physical activity in the workplace

has been found to produce positive changes in the health and physical activity practices of

employees (Brown et al., 2011;Losina et al., 2017;da Rocha Morgado et al., 2020). This

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