Skip to main content

Search form

Type your search then hit enter
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • About usBack
    • About us
    • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Meet the Board
    • Our Partners
    • Current Contracts
    • Current VacanciesBack
      • Current Vacancies
      • Head of Business Development
    • Partner with Us
    • Contact Us
    • Governance
  • What We DoBack
    • What We Do
    • Core ServicesBack
      • Core Services
      • Equity
      • Facilities
      • Funding & Support
      • InsightBack
        • Insight
        • Devon receives national investment to help older people get active in nature
      • Marketing & Communications
      • Safeguarding
      • Strategic Networking
      • Volunteer Development
    • ProgrammesBack
      • Programmes
      • Local Programmes
      • Primary Premium
      • Satellite Clubs
      • School Games
      • Workplace Movement
    • SectorsBack
      • Sectors
      • Commercial
      • Community Groups
      • Education – HE & FE
      • Education – Schools
      • Health
      • Local Authorities
      • NGB
  • Latest
  • Active Partnerships
  • Impact
  • Search
  • Login

Search form

  • Contact Us

You are here

  • Home
  • Latest
  • Physical activity as the solution to healthier, happier and more productive work places

Physical activity as the solution to healthier, happier and more productive work places

Posted on 27th February 2020
man cycling to work
  • Network News

Written by Matt Liggins, Active Partnerships National Team

How being active can solve a host of challenges in the workplace.

 There’s a well-known quote which I came across again recently from public health specialist, Dr Nick Cavill, who said, “If physical activity was a pill, it would be the most cost-effective drug ever invented.”  That might very well be true.  Being physically active helps improve overall health and wellbeing on a day to day basis and significantly reduces risks of over twenty long term health conditions. 

 If there really was a magic pill which could be administered in a thousand different ways to suit the patient and made us feel more energized and awake, helped us sleep better, controlled our weight, improved mood and kept stress levels down we would certainly all be very interested. 

 I used to use this analogy when I worked for the NHS, asking patients, if there was a pill that did all that, would they take it.  And invariably they would, or at least they’d say so.  I can’t say the magic pill line actually worked to get patients more active every time, but for a lot of people, being reminded about the benefits and being asked if they wanted some of that for themselves, rather than being told what they ought to be doing, did make a difference. 

 I found that what worked best was asking people what they wanted and why they wanted it, then helping them come up with their own solution.  That solution always involved being more active in some way.  So we ended up in the same place, but now physical activity was the solution that solved a problem and made things better, instead of a thing that ought to be done.

Thinking about this in a workplace context, physical activity might be even more valuable and cost effective. 

A recent study for AXA PPP from September 2019 measuring the economic benefits of exercise suggests the annual cost to UK business from physically inactive workers is £6.6billion.  Costs are associated with ill-health conditions, linked to sickness absence, employee turnover, presenteeism (meaning employees attend work, but are unwell and less productive), accidents, injuries, claims and resulting impact on company profile.

A 2019 report from Rand Europe suggests staff who are physically inactive lose up to four and a half working days per year, almost a whole working week, compared to active individuals, through combined sickness absence and presenteeism.

Looking at the most recent CIPD annual health and wellbeing survey, the top three causes of long-term absence and two of the top three short-term causes are all linked with a lack of physical activity.

I moved on from the NHS into corporate health and wellbeing and was fortunate enough to work directly with hundreds of workplaces across the country and oversee a consultant team working with thousands.  And very rarely was physical activity was top of the list.  Whether client organisations wanted to address an issue like high absence or were being proactive and preventative to keep staff healthy and happy, the focus was usually on other health areas.  Senior staff and managers tended to be most interested in mental health while staff members themselves most engaged when it came to healthy eating.  Everyone loves talking about food!

Coming back to the magic pill, presenting a solution to workplace client organisations which reduces absences, reduces presenteeism, reduces stress, improves mental health, improves teamworking and morale, overcomes the harmful effects of sedentary working, improves the health and wellbeing of staff and gives the company a positive image definitely helps to change perceptions.  And again, when asking client organisations what they actually wanted and why they wanted it, encouraging them to think in outcomes and what difference they were hoping to see, physical activity often became the solution, or at least a big part of it.

When working with individual patients, physical activity did not mean running marathons in spandex.  In the same way, building physical activity into workplace culture definitely does not mean all staff swimming to work, paragliding onto the office roof, abseiling down the building, through the window and onto a Swiss ball and maintaining perfect posture all day.  There does not need to be a gym in the building or two-hour lunch breaks for all staff to play sport.  Physical activity is flexible.  The most effective approach is one that gives staff options to be active as part of their day that might include active travel, moving away from workstations a bit more and having standing meetings, then signposting and supporting staff to exercise or play sport when they want to.

Active workplaces tend to be healthier, happier and more productive, with less stress, lower absence and better performance.  So while physical activity might not always be at the front of mind for people or workplaces, it can play a big role in providing the solution that gets them what they want.  Unfortunately, there is no magic pill for our health and wellbeing or for the workplace, but being a bit more active comes pretty close.

 Workplace Movement

Active Partnerships have recently launched Workplace Movement to provide forward thinking for active workplaces.  Our new service is designed to help organisations see the benefits of active working, improve staff health and wellbeing and reduce stress.  We have included everything a workplace needs to get moving in the right direction.  Workplace Movement includes an online benchmarking tool which provides assessment of current practice and recommendations to make improvements, a staff wellbeing survey platform, resource library to help build a healthy workplace culture and activity tracking challenge to engage staff and boost morale, plus a range of on-site training courses. Please visit www.workplacemovement.co.uk or contact mliggins@activepartnerships.org.uk for more information.

Related stories

We want to help make every day a good day at work, for your people and your organisation, creating a culture where healthy, happy staff can perform at their best.
Network News
Active Partnerships Support Workplace Movement

Supporting businesses to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of staff through physical activity

Read more...
man lunging in his front room
Network News
The work benefits of being more physically active

The work benefits of being more physically active -

How to subsequently integrate more activity into your working day.

Read more...
Go Back

Filter posts by region

Popular Tags

Partnership
impact awards 2015
CSP
Active Northumberland
website
Pregnant
Knife Crime
director
Ambassadors
workplace challenge

Most Popular Posts

Delivering system change - hard wiring physical activity into everyday lives
Are we building capacity or dependence?
Creating the Conditions for Success

Archives

  • November 2015 (5)
  • December 2015 (4)
  • February 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • May 2016 (8)
  • June 2016 (10)
  • July 2016 (10)
  • August 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (13)
  • October 2016 (9)
  • November 2016 (8)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • January 2017 (8)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (6)
  • April 2017 (8)
  • May 2017 (8)
  • June 2017 (14)
  • July 2017 (9)
  • September 2017 (11)
  • October 2017 (11)
  • November 2017 (5)
  • December 2017 (5)
  • January 2018 (5)
  • February 2018 (4)
  • March 2018 (3)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • May 2018 (9)
  • June 2018 (6)
  • July 2018 (11)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (9)
  • October 2018 (11)
  • November 2018 (5)
  • December 2018 (6)
  • January 2019 (6)
  • February 2019 (5)
  • March 2019 (6)
  • April 2019 (8)
  • May 2019 (7)
  • June 2019 (7)
  • July 2019 (6)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • September 2019 (8)
  • October 2019 (6)
  • November 2019 (7)
  • December 2019 (2)
  • January 2020 (5)
  • February 2020 (7)
  • March 2020 (7)
  • April 2020 (14)
  • May 2020 (4)
  • June 2020 (9)
  • July 2020 (8)
  • August 2020 (2)
  • September 2020 (11)
  • November 2020 (8)
  • January 2021 (4)
  • February 2021 (7)
  • March 2021 (2)

@ActivePartners_
Follow us

  • RT @Talkback_UK: We hope that you are enjoying your Sports Activity Packs. We are so grateful to all our partners who have made this… https://t.co/B7DBneFcHg
    POSTED ON 5 March
  • RT @femalecoaches: ❓Have you accessed mentoring support formally/informally? ❓What difference did it make to you? We're discussing thi… https://t.co/RXKlIcVjl3
    POSTED ON 3 March
  • RT @teamBEDS: We are so proud to be supporting this disability Satellite Club project with @riversidebeds and @Transitions_UK… https://t.co/eQ4rqYjw0g
    POSTED ON 3 March

Follow us

Newsletter Sign-up

Be the first to hear news and opportunities from the Active Partnerships

You may have noticed we have a new brand, and the CSP Network is now known as Active Partnerships

Contact us

Telephone
07788 296161

Email
info@ActivePartnerships.org

Copyright © 2021 Active Partnerships All rights reserved.
  • Site Map
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Cookies
  • Legal
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
Site design by EHD