Promoting the health and well-being of your employees means encouraging them to be active at work. Regular exercise can make you more productive, reduce stress, and increase your overall satisfaction with your job. However busy schedules and sedentary work environments can make it difficult to fit physical activity into your workday. There are many ways to encourage and help employees live healthier lives, resulting in a more positive workplace.
1. Create a Supportive Environment
To get people more active at work, the first thing we need to do is make the space conducive to movement. One way to do this is to make your workspace more mobile-friendly. For example, provide employees with adjustable standing desks or workstations where they can sit and stand throughout the day. Additionally, creating open spaces or areas for exercise can motivate employees to stay active during breaks. Adding amenities such as a gym or exercise room to your workplace can also help employees integrate movement into their daily lives.
2. Encourage Active Rest
Promoting active breaks during the workday can help offset the negative effects of prolonged sitting. To get people moving during their workday, add simple activities such as walking, stretching, or short workouts. Organizing group activities such as walking meetings or lunchtime fitness classes can give employees the chance to actively participate and socialize with coworkers. To help employees remember to take breaks and do something positive, you can also send them reminders or schedule regular breaks.
3. Provide Fitness Challenges and Rewards
One great way to get employees more active is to offer them fitness challenges and rewards. Setting up a company-wide challenge, such as a step challenge or virtual race, can bring people together and keep them engaged. Offering rewards or recognition to employees for achieving their fitness goals can encourage them to stay more motivated to stay active. Employees who achieve certain goals or demonstrate continued activity can receive rewards such as gym memberships, fitness trackers, or extra time off.
4. Integrating Physical Activity into Daily Tasks
Making it easier for employees to stay active during the day by adding physical activity to their daily tasks is a good idea. For example, telling employees to take the stairs instead of the elevator or to walk to a meeting instead of emailing or talking on the phone can help them be more active overall. You can also create a more active work environment by having employees be physically active while they work, such as standing or walking during conference calls.
5. Providing Education and Resources
To make the workplace more active, it’s important to educate employees about the benefits of being active and provide them with resources to help. Hosting fitness and health workshops or seminars can help spread the word and give people useful advice on how to make exercise a part of their daily lives. Giving your employees access to content such as notebooks, online fitness programs, or health and wellness apps can also help them stay active.
6. Create a Health-Promoting Environment
Making the workplace more health-conscious can have a significant impact on how employees feel about being active. Leaders need to support the promotion and prioritization of physical activity as part of company values and goals. Leaders and managers who practice healthy behaviors and participate in fitness programs set a good example for their employees. You can also create a supportive and inspiring environment by allowing employees to talk openly about health and allowing them to share their own fitness successes and tips.
7. Addressing Barriers to Physical Activity
Identifying and addressing common issues that keep people from being active can help employees overcome problems that may be preventing them from staying active. Some of these issues include lack of time, lack of motivation, or limited access to fitness resources. Solutions such as offering flexible hours, on-site gyms, or virtual workout options can help address these issues. Supporting and encouraging employees who are experiencing challenges can also help them overcome their challenges and continue their physical activity.
Conclusion
Promoting the health, well-being, and productivity of your employees means encouraging them to be active at work. Employers can encourage employees to be physically active every day by making the workplace a supportive space, encouraging active breaks, setting fitness challenges, and providing employees with information and resources. Making the program more accessible, focusing on how well it works, and encouraging social support are other factors that can help wellness programs succeed. By removing the barriers that prevent people from being active and making wellness part of your company culture, employees will have the support and opportunities they need to live healthier, more active lives.
FAQs
1. What is the point of encouraging people to be active at work?
Keeping people active at work is important because it improves their health, reduces stress, and makes them feel more satisfied with their jobs overall. Regular exercise can increase your productivity, reduce absenteeism, and create a better work environment. Employers can improve employee health by encouraging employees to be active, which makes the workplace healthier and more attractive.
2. What are some great ways to get people to be more proactive at work?
Some great ways to get people to be more active at work include creating a supportive environment with standing desks and on-site gyms, encouraging active breaks during activities like walking or stretching, offering fitness challenges and rewards, and making physical activity a part of daily tasks. Providing employees with information about the health benefits of exercise and making resources easily accessible can also help them stay active.
3. How can employers make the workplace a great place to be active?
Employers can create a supportive environment by providing their employees with gyms, standing desks, and other spaces dedicated to exercise. To help people stick to their exercise plans, they can also offer flexible hours, encourage people to take the stairs instead of the elevator, and host group fitness events. Wellness programs that are actively promoted and supported by leaders help demonstrate the importance of being active.
4. What fitness challenges can be set in the workplace?
Step competitions, virtual competitions, and team fitness goals are all examples of fitness challenges that can occur in the workplace. Employees can be assigned to track how many steps they take each day and compete for prizes based on who takes the most steps. In virtual races and challenges, everyone can set distance or time goals together and track their progress over time. Rewarding employees for achieving goals or for continued engagement can increase their motivation.
5. How can employers encourage people to take active breaks during the workday?
Employers can encourage active breaks by scheduling regular stretches or short workouts, encouraging walking meetings, or offering group activities during breaks. Employees are more likely to remember to stay active during the day if they are reminded or if the company culture values taking time to move.
