
What Is A Healthy Workplace?
Today, more and more businesses are recognizing the value of a healthy workplace. Health insurance costs are higher than ever before, and every year productivity loss due to illness and injury costs corporations millions of dollars.
A healthy workplace environment is one that values and encourages employees to make healthy choices, cares for its workers by providing ergonomic and safe working conditions, and offers support and education around health and wellness.
How Can I Encourage Health And Fitness On The Job?
There are many ways to accomplish this. For example, ditch the soda machine and offer juices instead. Exercise is a must for long-term health, and many companies offer free or discounted gym memberships to their employees. However, these are often not used. In order to really reap the benefits of corporate wellness programs, a health and fitness "culture" should be created.
A fun way to do this is to organize a fitness challenge at work. People love a challenge. Research has shown that people are more likely to stick with their fitness goals when they have somebody else to exercise and eat right with. Having a "workout buddy" is effective for two main reasons: One is accountability and the other is support. Besides, working out is better with friends.
So how can this translate into the workplace? A gym membership does no good if you aren't getting to the gym. This is where a group fitness challenge can come in. There are plenty of different ways this can be done. A fun, easy way to get everyone motivated is to divide the participants into two teams. Set a time period for the challenge. Thirty days is good. Each participant will need to log in their exercise hours. Time at the gym, walking, and jogging can all count. At the end of the challenge, the team with the most collective hours of exercise will win a prize.
This is a great way to ensure that participants get plenty of encouragement from their teammates and provide accountability. A friendly competition is often just the push needed to get people out of their chairs and get active. There can be plenty of variations on the challenge, this was just an example. Perhaps training for a 5K, or, if there are enough interested participants, you could do a weight loss challenge.
How Can I Start A Fitness Challenge At Work?
If you’re interested in creating a fitness challenge, or finding other ways to incorporate health and fitness on the job, contact the Downtown Athletic Club. This Amarillo gym has a wide variety of programs, including nutrition counseling and group fitness activities, that can help your business get started.