Tips For Being Active In The Workplace
- Employees who have participated in workplace physical activity have reported greater levels of enjoyment when working
- Higher levels of concentration
- Reduction in stress and a
- Greater sense of rapport with their colleagues
Physical Activity at work doesn’t mean a trip to the gym at lunchtime; here are some small changes that might work for you and your team:
- Ban internal emails for one day. If you need to send an email to a colleague print it off and take it to them.
- Hold ‘Active Meetings’. Have a meeting whilst you take a 20 minute walk.
- Host an office work-out. At a set time every day e.g. 11am everybody stops what they are doing and does some kind of activity for 2 minutes.
- Take the stairs instead of the lift.
- Go for a walk at lunchtime.
- When nature calls, instead of going to the nearest toilet walk to one further away.
- If you drive to work, park your car at the back of the car park instead.
- If you take the bus to work, get off the bus a stop earlier and walk the extra distance.
- Instead of phoning your colleague in the same office, go and speak to them face-to-face.
Activities To Increase Activity
Pedometer Challenge
Add a competitive edge to being active and involve your colleagues in a pedometer challenge. Count your steps on a daily basis by wearing a pedometer, try to aim for 10,000 per day.
Keep a wall chart in the office to record everybody’s step-counts.
At the end of the challenge work out how far the winner has travelled over a period of time.
Liken it to real distances, i.e. Hull to Beverley. Reward the winner with a certificate or prize.
Workplace Veggie patch
If you have space within your workplace grounds, ask your management to help you set up an area where you can grow your own produce.
Not only does this help with healthy eating, but also increases levels of activity when gardening and keeping it tidy.
If you don’t have space within the workplace, a group of colleagues can contact the Hull City Council to find out if any allotments are available for use.
Team Challenges
Think about establishing staff teams for different activities.
Carry out a staff survey to see what activities employees would like to do.
Perhaps a football team could be set-up, or if your workforce is big enough, a football league that runs over lunch time or after work.
Don’t be afraid to latch onto other local sports events which could be entered as a team, this gives you a goal to work towards and requires little organisation.