Background  Physical activity and working pressure have a great impact on employees' physical and mental health.

Objective  This study explores the associations of daily steps and working pressure with physical and mental health of employees.

Methods  A cross-sectional study with convenience sampling was conducted in 11 public institutions and 10 enterprises in Pudong New Area of Shanghai. A total of 2 236 questionnaires were distributed, and 1 800 valid questionnaires were recovered, with a valid return rate of 80.5%. According to the validity of WeChat steps, 1 247 participants were finally included. Demographic characteristics were investigated by questionnaire; self-rated health was evaluated by a question; mental health was evaluated by World Health Organization Well-being Index Chinese version; working pressure was assessed by Job Content Questionnaire Chinese version; daily WeChat steps of the participants from 2-31 August 2019 were collected through a participant-authorized official account. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the relationships of daily steps and working pressure with physical and mental health of the two types of employees.

Results  A total of 1247 participants were investigated in this study, including 667 employees from public institutions and 580 employees from enterprises. For employees in public institutions and enterprises, the M (P₂₅, P₇₅) of daily steps were 6 579 (5 014, 8 421) and 8 882 (6 703, 11 642) respectively; in terms of working pressure, the job demand scores were 4.02±0.58 and 3.87±0.53, the job control scores were 3.27±0.53 and 3.38±0.54, and the social support scores were 4.15±0.55 and 4.14±0.52 respectively; the proportions with good self-rated health were 54.0% and 65.2%, and the proportions with good mental health were 69.6% and 70.2% respectively. The multiple logistic regression results indicated that after adjusting for selected demographic characteristics, in public institutions, the employees with average daily steps between 5 000-9999 (versus those with average daily steps < 5000, OR=1.68, 95%CI:1.11-2.56), lower job demand (OR=0.59, 95% CI:0.42-0.83), higher job control (OR=2.15, 95% CI:1.49-3.11), and higher social support (OR=1.87, 95% CI: 1.30-2.70) had better mental health; and those with average daily steps ≥ 10 000 (versus those with average daily steps < 5 000, OR=2.15, 95% CI:1.19-3.89) and higher social support had better self-rated health (OR=1.52, 95% CI:1.08-2.14). In enterprises, the employees with average daily steps between 5 000-9 999 (versus those with average daily steps < 5 000, OR=1.91, 95% CI:1.01-3.60), higher job control (OR=1.97, 95%CI:1.30-2.97), and higher social support (OR=2.97, 95%CI:1.90-4.66) had better mental health.

Conclusion  Reducing working pressure and moderately increasing daily steps may associate with better mental health of employees from both public institutions and enterprises; improving social support and moderately increasing daily steps may associate with better self-rated health of employees from public institutions.