Sport England have pulled together a range of tips and tools employers can use to support the health and wellbeing of their employees through physical activity.
We understand this is a hugely challenging time for businesses and organisations and recognise the vital role you play in supporting employee wellbeing.
Sport England research shows that many people are finding it tough to stay physically active under coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions, yet there is growing evidence it’s more important now than ever for both employee and business health.
The Active Employee Toolkit contains tips and tools employers can use to support the health and wellbeing of employees through physical activity
Physical activity has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, strengthen the immune system, improve productivity, increase resilience, lower absenteeism and presenteeism rates and enhance teamwork and self-confidence.
Now more than ever, movement and exercise are vital for the health of both employees and businesses and we hope some of the resources in this toolkit will help you support employee wellbeing as you and they deal with the impacts of the pandemic.
For more detail, see: Physical Activity at Work – The Business Case, provided care of Workplace Movement.
Creating a work environment that truly encourages and enables activity is a fundamental step to building an active working culture. Here are some simple ways you can make a real difference:
1. Give permission – employees are more likely to take time to move if they feel genuinely encouraged to, so let them know you actively support this using some of the resources in this toolkit.
2. Be a role model – normalise active working by showing your teams this is something that senior leaders within your organisation genuinely embrace and practice themselves.
3. Offer flexible working hours – allowing staff to flex their hours to build in activity before, after or during the day can make a real difference, especially during the darker winter months.
4. Involve and empower your employees – ask your people what they want and need through a survey or informal conversation. Find out what their barriers are and what would help. You may even consider training staff members as Physical Activity Champions. This can provide a valuable development opportunity for the individual and generate a sustainable model of peer-to-peer support and employee-driven activity. Workplace Movement can offer further guidance and Physical Activity Champion training.
5. Provide ideas and resources – share some of the tools and ideas we have pulled together on page 14 or send out some of the shareable resources on page 11.
There is no point in life where doing more exercise does not improve health in multiple ways.
