In partnership with the British Heart Foundation, the Workplace Challenge has now trained over 1,000 people to become Champions for physical activity in their workplaces.
The workplace champion training course really opened my eyes up to what can be achieved by introducing small changes into our busy lifes
Maddison Thursting, Public Health Apprentice, Medway Council.
Maddison recently attended the Workplace Challenge Champion Training course delivered by Kent Sport in association with British Heart Foundation Health at Work. Below is her account of the day and what is has helped achieve in her workplace.
“Over 20 people from 15 different workplaces attended the course. At the start we got to know a little bit about each other and it became clear that there was a wide range of workplace health experience in the room. The one thing that we all had in common though was a passion to get our colleagues and workplaces more active and more healthy.
The theory side of the training got us thinking about why we should be more active, what it takes to become a workplace champion and how we can encourage our colleagues to be more active. Hearing about the complex nature of inactivity and the different stages of behaviour change was extremely interesting and it got us thinking about the different types of messages that we need to use when promoting activity in the workplace. We learnt about the wide range of workplace activities that staff can participate in and towards the end of our training we had a go at some of these activities, including chair-based exercises, office table tennis, sitting volleyball and resistance band strength & conditioning exercises.
After the course, I felt motivated and inspired. I felt I now had the confidence to help others in my workplace to be more active. I registered with the Workplace Challenge and started to promote the free online tool to colleagues and other staff. I now send out weekly emails to share progress, to encourage people to log their activities and to keep them motivated. The feedback has been really positive.
Since January, we've all been participating in the 8 Week #Active Lunch Challenge and we've managed to fit in a lunchtime walk nearly every day. We've gradually built this up to 25-30 minutes walks and we always come back feeling refreshed and ready to carry on with our working day. This challenge has really helped me think about ways to improve my own health but also help others think about how they can have a healthier, more active lifestyle too.
The Workplace Challenge Champion Training course really opened my eyes up to what can be achieved by introducing small changes into our busy working lives. I would highly recommend the course to anyone who wants to make a difference within their workplace. I hope it motivates you as much as it has me!"
For more information on Workplace Challenge please contact Andrew Watson awatson@cspnetwork.org
NOTES TO EDITOR:
Problem
The annual economic costs of sickness absence associated with working age ill-health are estimated to be over £100 billion. Around 160 million working days were lost due to absence in 2012, costing the UK economy £14 billion a year.
Solution
Get your workplace more active;
- increase productivity,
- improve morale,
- reduce absenteeism and presenteeism,
- improve communication/ networking between colleagues and departments,
- increase staff retention,
- have more fun and socialise with your colleagues!
UK employers can give themselves a competitive edge as healthy employees can be up to three times more productive than those in poor health.
Workplace Challenge
- Workplace Challenge’s activity tracking platform is a free online facility available through www.workplacechallenge.org.uk that enables individuals and workplaces to log all of their physical activity, and easily compare activity levels to other participating individuals and organisations.
- Active loggers will be able to see a variety of stats including distance travelled, calories burned, CO2 saved and progress against the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week using a targets bar. It's also possible to set personal targets in 2015 (linked to fundraising if you wish) and create your ‘circles’ to compare your progress against friends and colleagues. All these features and more are available from your dashboard.
- A minimum of three registered employees are required for a workplace to appear in a leader board and people can also track their own individual progress locally and nationally.
- County Sports Partnerships across England locally manage the online platform for their community, ensuring that there are challenges, activities and competitions available offline to encourage people to stay active.
- Workplace Challenge is supported by Sport England through the Get Healthy Get Active fund.
CSP Network
- The CSP Network represents 44 local County Sports Partnership teams across the country.
- Collectively, they contribute to the health of the nation by helping local partners, organisations and deliverers to promote the benefits of active lifestyles across local communities.
- The CSP Network delivered The Community Games – one of the most successful community campaigns seen in the UK, attracting over 2 million members of the public to come together in local communities to take part in active cultural events inspired by London 2012.
British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity and Health (BHFNC)
- The BHFNC was established in April 2000 with funding from the British Heart Foundation. Based in the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine at Loughborough University our aim is to create an active nation by translating research evidence into practice to improve and extend the promotion of physical activity in the UK. We do this by undertaking research and evaluation and supporting professionals across a range of sectors including health care, education, transport, sport and leisure with practical evidence-based tools to promote physical activity. For further information on our work go to www.bhfactive.org.uk.