Our workplaces could be killing us, quite literally. That is not an understatement.
The modern workplace is a space that facilitates a sedentary lifestyle where workers sit at desks for hours and communicate with other departments by picking up the phone instead of their legs. Not to forget the birthday cake handed around each week as another of our colleagues celebrates their special day.
Lots of employers have noticed that their working environments are unhealthy and have tried to find ways of combating the aforementioned problems with standing desks and similar equipment. Catering to employers’ office demands is not just to prevent staff from using recruitment site: JobRapido to find a new job and keep staff turnover down. Still, it can also benefit the company in other ways.
Learn how making your workplace healthier with sports activities can benefit your business and learn the best sporting activities that you can introduce – right here.
Why Add Sporting Activities to the Workplace?
The benefits of exercise on individuals is widely known and accepted among society. By being more active, those individuals live healthier lives with fewer health issues. This, in itself, is good for businesses because it means employees are less likely to become sick and miss work. Yet, it is not the only benefit of encouraging a more active workforce.
Research carried out by a team of scientists at Loughborough University in 2016 found that exercise in workplaces has other benefits. The research was a systematic review highlighting all the research on the subject to that date. The studies analysed predominantly found that workplaces can benefit from improved group performance and cohesion through physical activity.
Ultimately, it was found that exercise in the workplace benefits the individual as already known but can also improve colleague relationships and teamwork.
Best Ways to Help Your Staff Become More Active
Now that you know the true benefit of sporting activities in the workplace, here are the best ways of including them within the working week without disrupting processes:
#1: Step Counter Challenges
One easy and fun way to get the whole office involved and more active is to introduce step counter challenges. They are universal now, with so many offices providing this in-house challenge between workers to find out who is the most active. You could even offer a prize for the winner such as an extended lunch break or extra holiday.
Just remember to make the step challenge to include the whole of the day and not just the working day, or you may have workers taking too many toilet breaks or trips to the kitchen for an extra cup of coffee.
#2: Host Team Sports
Your workplace could also host a team sports event every month with departments battling it out for the company trophy. This could be any sport that your office is interested in and could run at lunchtime or after working hours.
To make sure this is a success, do some field research first and find out what your staff would be interested in playing.
#3: Choose Sporty Team Building Training
Team building exercises come in all shapes and sizes. One of the latest trends is to use art to develop team skills and mindfulness. Yet sporty activities remain one way of keeping people engaged instead of sitting them in front of annoying presenters.
Orientation days are a great way to build team skills and get people out of their computer chairs. This may seem like a disruption to business processes, but if you were planning team-building events anyway, make them sporty to tick both boxes.
#4: Create a Mindfulness/Yoga Room
Work is one of the biggest causes of stress in our lives and deadlines can quickly get on top of us and harm productivity. By creating one of your unused office spaces and making them into a yoga or mindfulness room, you can invite workers to do simple exercises together on their lunch breaks. Or ask professional yoga teachers to deliver sessions during workers’ break times.
Sometimes the room may be used by solo workers, but, commonly, others that have not tried yoga before may be more open to trying it with their working friends in a safe environment.
#5: Provide Workplace Showers
The above would work better if you made sure your office space includes showers so that workers can refresh themselves after an early morning or lunchtime session of yoga. By having on-site showers, it also encourages workers to take part in other sporting activities that the company has put on – and it makes cycling or running to work a more viable option for them than traveling by car.
#6: Create a No-Internal-Phone Day
Although office managers cannot do much about the need for workers to use their computers, they can stop them from using other technologies that are keeping them strapped to their chairs. Employers can choose one day a week to stop workers relying on their phones to talk to other staff in nearby departments. This would have to be implemented within reason, but it would mean workers have to get up and go and speak with other staff at their desks.
This may work with fewer adverse effects on workplace productivity by placing it in the middle of the week rather than on Mondays or Fridays when staff like to talk about their weekend plans.
#7: Seek Out Local Deals
None of the above tips will be useful if your employees are reluctant to get into the sport or lack the confidence to participate. One way you can help your staff to grow their confidence and feel empowered to join in is by promoting a healthy lifestyle outside of the workplace first.
This can be done by negotiating deals with local fitness and sporting venues close by. Maybe you can grab a discount with a local gym, swimming pool or football centre? Creating an inclusive environment where all staff can join in is crucial if you want to see the benefits of sport across the business.
Kick-off your sporting initiatives with these top tips, soon!
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