Written by Khaili Rener and Lee Mason Active Partnerships
Following the recent launch of Workplace Movement, we have been delighted with the response to date and are shaping the programme in response to feedback from employers, ensuring the platform is relevant for the new hybrid workplace and are now offering more hands-on support for busy employers.
As a reminder of why we developed Workplace Movement in the first place: we know that active workplaces are healthier, happier and more productive, with less stress, lower absence and better performance. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly reinforced the benefits of physical activity, including the positive affects it has on mental wellbeing - as can be seen by Sport England's Active Lives Survey from October 2020. We also know that building activity into the working day is key to increasing levels of physical activity, and that many current employee wellbeing programmes do not focus sufficiently on physical activity.
Here are a few highlights of what we have been up to so far since the launch!
● Training and support for our local Active Partnerships to use the Workplace Movement platform to support their local workplaces.
● Workplace Movement has been highlighted as one the services to use to support with employee physical activity by Sport England in their 2021 Active Employee Toolkit.
● We have run our three workplace movement training sessions for 100s of employees. We have had employees from the likes of NHS, PwC, Business Improvement Districts, councils, Sport England, colleges, tourist attractions, and small organisations attend. We have had a 100% recommendation rate from our feedback respondents so far! Testimonials include:
Fab Session, thanks ever so much - a lot of things to take away and I am going to try and make some little changes in my day. Thanks for all the suggestions from everyone, super helpful too!”
Alex Leigh, Sport England
Worth taking the time out of your day to pause and think about these wellbeing tips - especially recommended over Covid and the gloomy winter months for mental and physical wellbeing!” Rebecca Ostmaston, PwC
Brilliant Course. Really Informative and gave a lot of food for thought, and knowledge that I can pass on.” Michelle Mathieson at Southwark Council
A great programme and tools that enable more employees to make more informed physical choices - Thank you!” Jackie Smyth, Sport England
● A number of organisations across the country have signed up to the Workplace Movement platform including the likes of Sport England, Piece Hall, Halifax opportunities Trust, Calderdale College, Reading Borough Council, NHS Berkshire West CCG, Southwark Council, Bidwells and Mobas to name a few.
● The Workplace Movement platform and services support businesses to enhance levels of physical activity and mental health, tailored to fit a post Covid world. The platform includes: An Organisational Benchmark Tool and Action Plan, Staff Survey, Resource Bank and Virtual Training opportunities.
New Consulting Offer
In response to feedback from businesses who have prioritised employee physical activity and mental health support but need more hands-on help, we have developed a new consulting offer to support organisations who do not have the time or internal resources to implement the workplace movement platform themselves.
We have two options which can be tailored to meet the needs of each company, including
- an awareness workshop for staff; using the Workplace Movement benchmark tool and staff survey to undertake a needs analysis;
- the creation of a tailored wellbeing action plan to make the most of the Workplace Movement resource bank;
- and we run the Physical Activity for Good Mental Health and Physical Activity Champion training for members of your teams so they can support with the internal implementation of the action plan.
Where relevant we can also support businesses to implement the wellbeing action plan. Each organisation is unique, so this process will differ between organisations. Some examples of this would be to develop a workplace activity policy, support with links to local activity opportunities, support line managers to foster a culture of wellbeing as well as create an internal wellbeing communication strategy.
For more information about Workplace Movement please see www.workplacemovement.co.uk or get in touch with Khalil in the national team at krener@activepartnerships.org
