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Physical Activity of Overstock Employees: Evaluation Using the Social-Ecological Model

Rebecca Oakes
HEA 601-01
Fall 2015

Physical inactivity is one of the most significant health challenges, because of its effects
on risk of major chronic diseases, mental health, quality of life, and early mortality (Glanz, et al,
2008). If employees at Overstock report being physically inactive, they increase their risk of
developing chronic diseases which would cause them to miss more days at work resulting in
decreased productivity. Studies of some chronic conditions and some health risk factors suggest
that costs of lost productivity exceed costs of medical care (Schultz & Edington, 2007). An
analysis of the physical activity levels of Overstock employees reported that only 22% of its
employees met the Healthy People 2020 objective of competing 150 minutes of moderate
aerobic physical activity per week. Currently, Overstock could greatly benefit economically by
increasing the health of employees through physical activity increases to avoid production
losses. In order to better understand the underlying factors affecting physical activity levels of
Overstock employees, the Social-Ecological Model (SEM) provides possible influences on a
multitude of levels that help to better explain possible outside influences on health behavior.
An individual's health behavior is easily influenced by the thoughts and opinions of
people they maintain close relationships with. The opinions, thoughts, behavior, advice, and
support of the people surrounding an individual influence his or her feelings and behavior, and
the individual has a reciprocal effect on those people (Rimer & Granz, 2005). These
relationships can include family, friends, and peers which are recognized at the interpersonal
level of the SEM. In regards to physical activity, an individual may be less inclined to be
physically active if their friends, family, and peers are also physically inactive. Alternatively, if
these individuals are physically active then an individual may be more inclined to participate in
physical activity. The majority of Overstock employees do not reach physical activity
recommendations, as a result peer influences could potentially be having an effect on the lack
of physical activity at the interpersonal level. Because there is a small number of Overstock

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employees who are physically active, there are less people who have a positive influence on
their peers.
Organizational factors include rules, regulations, and policies of an organization that
can impact health behavior (Cottrel, et al, 2015). Organizations that promote physical activity
rather than discourage it provide individuals within the organization with the tools to support a
physically active lifestyle. Overstock employees work under a set of policies that may provide
restrictions on their ability to be physically active while at work. Reframing policy so that it
provides individuals within the organization to meet desired health behaviors, like increased
physical activity, would help to increase prevalence of the desired health behavior.
The community level of the SEM refers to social networks and norms, or standards,
which exist as formal or informal among individuals, groups, and organizations (Rimer &
Granz, 2005). Does the environment the community is located in have the means to support
desired health behaviors? Are there amenities on cite that would help to increase the activity
level of Overstock employees? Having access to facilities that would directly impact the issue
of physical inactivity would help to improve the activity level of Overstock employees. The norm
of the community would potentially change, providing a lasting impact on the health behaviors
within a given community.
The final component of the SEM, public policy, addresses the local, state, and federal
policies and laws that regulate or support healthy actions and practices for disease prevention,
early detection, control, and management (Cottrell, et al, 2015). A large issue within this integral
part of the SEM addresses monetary issues. It is possible that organizations lack the funding to
implement policies that would otherwise improve physical activity levels of the individuals within
the organization. Additionally, Overstock employees may not have the funds to increase their
level of physical activity. Full-time employees may be pressed for time after work which prevents
them from maintaining behaviors that would increase their physical activity level.

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A workplace incentive program could potentially be a great way to increase the physical
activity levels of Overstock employees. Monthly goals could be put in place that relate to
physical activity and if the goal is met employees receive some sort of benefit. An example
would be to have employees go to the gym at least three times a week for an hour and if the
majority of employees reach this goal they get to leave work 30 minutes early on the last Friday
of the month. An alternative to monthly goals, would be to have Overstock employees reach a
step count of 10,000 steps a day for at least 3 days per week. Charitable incentives could also
be put in place to drive up physical activity prevalence of Overstock employees. If employees
meet their monthly goal then Overstock could donate an allotted amount of funds to a local
charity that could be voted on each month by employees. Unlike paying people to be more
active, an alternative approach of earmarking rewards for charity, as is commonly done in
walkathons, might still promote sustained behavior change while not violating social norms
(Finkelstein, et al, 2015). Encouragement between employees to meet the set monthly goal
strengthens their interpersonal and community level relationships. At the organizational level,
policy change to allot funding for charitable donations and/or monthly rewards while also
providing the means for participation in physical activity would provide Overstock employees
with the resources needed to meet their monthly goals.
By evaluating factors such as the relationships an individual encounters every day and
the resources that are available to them in order to perform physical activity we are better able to
determine areas that need to be addressed to reach desired health outcomes. Evaluating factors
within the SEM provide a more holistic approach to improving the physical activity of Overstock
employees, it permits targeting of Overstock employees as a whole as opposed to targeting at the
individual level. An incentive program would provide employees with the motivation to increase
their physical activity levels therefore increasing presenteeism in the workplace which cuts down
on health care costs and drives up productivity in the workplace.

References
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Finkelstein, E., Sahasranaman, A., John, G., Haaland, B., Bilger, M., Sloan, R., Nang, E.E.,
Evenson, K. (2015), Design and baseline characteristics of participants in the TRial of
Economic Incentives to Promote Physical Activity (TRIPPA): a randomized controlled trial of
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Glanz, K., Rimer, B., Viswanath, K. (2008), Health behavior and health education: theory,
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