American workers spend 70–80% of their time at work being sedentary. Traditional approaches to increase moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) may be perceived to be harmful to productivity. Approaches that target reductions in sedentary behavior and/or increases in standing or light-intensity physical activity [LPA] may not interfere with productivity and may be more feasible to achieve through small changes accumulated throughout the workday

This group randomized trial (i.e., cluster randomized trial) will test the relative efficacy of two sedentary behavior focused interventions in 24 worksites across two states (N = 720 workers). The MOVE + intervention is a multilevel individual, social, environmental, and organizational intervention targeting increases in light-intensity physical activity in the workplace. The STAND + intervention is the MOVE + intervention with the addition of the installation and use of sit-stand workstations to reduce sedentary behavior and enhance light-intensity physical activity opportunities. Our primary outcome will be objectively-measured changes in sedentary behavior and light-intensity physical activity over 12 months, with additional process measures at 3 months and longer-term sustainability outcomes at 24 months. Our secondary outcomes will be a clustered cardiometabolic risk score (comprised of fasting glucose, insulin, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, and blood pressure), workplace productivity, and job satisfaction

This study will determine the efficacy of a multi-level workplace intervention (including the use of a sit-stand workstation) to reduce sedentary behavior and increase LPA and concomitant impact on cardiometabolic health, workplace productivity, and satisfaction.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02566317 (date of registration: 10/1/2015).