Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Physical Activity for Health Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 23;19(10):e0312473. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312473. eCollection 2024.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way many industries work, including contact centres, with some employees working from home and new on-site restrictions/measures in place representing even greater challenges for employers around staff engagement and wellbeing. This study aimed to understand the interplay of individual, social, environmental and organisational factors influencing physical activity and sedentary behaviour in UK contact centre employees, how the pandemic impacted these factors, and their relevance for the future of hybrid working.
Individual interviews (n = 33) were conducted with participants (staff working full and part time, on site and from home) from four UK contact centres. A topic guide based on the ecological model was developed to understand current barriers and facilitators to physical activity and (reducing) sedentary behaviour during and outside of working hours. Thematic analysis was carried out using a codebook and a deductive coding approach to identify themes.
Three key insights are provided. First, participants felt they were generally sitting more and moving less since the first UK-wide lockdown. Second, factors which negatively impacted on these behaviours were evident across all levels of the ecological model. These included individual and social barriers (e.g., lack of motivation and preferable physical activity options) as well as environmental and organisational barriers (e.g., poor home office setup, back-to-back virtual meetings). There were a mix of new and existing barriers (exacerbated by the pandemic) and several of these were linked to homeworking. Third, organisational support requirements (e.g., homeworking ergonomic support) and existing facilitators (such as the provision of informational support and flexible working arrangements) were identified.
Solutions to reduce sedentary behaviours and increase physical activity in contact centres need to address barriers from the individual to the organisational level. Whilst the study was undertaken in the UK, the results are like to be applicable globally.
Clinical trial registration: The trial for the wider project has been registered on the ISRCTN database: http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN11580369.
新冠疫情改变了许多行业的工作方式，包括客服中心，一些员工在家工作，新的现场限制/措施给雇主在员工敬业度和幸福感方面带来了更大的挑战。本研究旨在了解影响英国客服中心员工身体活动和久坐行为的个体、社会、环境和组织因素的相互作用，以及疫情如何影响这些因素，以及它们对混合工作未来的相关性。
对来自英国四个客服中心的全职和兼职员工（现场和远程工作）进行了 33 次个人访谈。根据生态模型制定了一个主题指南，以了解在工作时间内外进行身体活动和（减少）久坐行为的当前障碍和促进因素。使用代码簿和演绎编码方法对主题进行了分析。
提供了三个主要见解。首先，自英国首次全面封锁以来，参与者普遍感到自己坐得更多，活动得更少。其次，对这些行为产生负面影响的因素在生态模型的各个层面都存在。这些因素包括个人和社会障碍（例如，缺乏动力和更受欢迎的身体活动选择）以及环境和组织障碍（例如，家庭办公设置不佳，虚拟会议接连不断）。既有新的障碍，也有一些现有的障碍（因疫情而加剧），其中一些与远程办公有关。第三，确定了组织支持需求（例如，远程办公人体工程学支持）和现有促进因素（例如，提供信息支持和灵活的工作安排）。
为了减少客服中心的久坐行为并增加身体活动，需要从个人到组织层面解决障碍。虽然这项研究是在英国进行的，但结果可能在全球范围内适用。
该研究已在 ISRCTN 数据库中注册：http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN11580369。
