Businesses and organisations are being helped to reduce absenteeism and boost team morale by having a more active workforce. The help comes in the form of a new workplace challenge called ‘Make Every Minute Count’ which aims to make it easy for staff more active this new year.
January and February can be a tough time for employees, with high sickness levels and low morale as staff feel the Winter blues. To reverse this pattern businesses across the Liverpool City Region are being encouraged to sign up online for the ‘Make Every Minute Count’ challenge. The initiative will ensure business feel the benefits of having a more active workforce and is being spearheaded in the region by MSP, the organisation which works to enable people to be active every day.
Evidence shows that by taking part and being more active, staff will feel more energised, less stressed, less tired and will have greater morale – all leading to better performance at work. On average, active staff also take 27% less sick days than staff who are inactive (British Heart Foundation).
‘Make Every Minute Count’ encourages staff to undertake and log at least one mile (or 10 minutes) of physical activity per day – this could include walking, jogging, cycling or taking part in an activity class. It also encourages people to break up their working day by being active, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift, going out for a walk on a break or parking further away from the office. Each time staff log their activity then they have a chance to win including gift vouchers, theatre tickets, signed Liverpool FC & Everton FC books, a signed LFC and EFC shirt, a sit/stand desk and much more!
It’s all part of MSP’s Active Workplaces programme, which has provided over 150 workplaces from across the region with products and tools to help improve staff physical activity levels and business performance.
Danny Woodworth (from MSP) said, “40% of workers in the Liverpool City Region don’t do enough physical activity, not helped by a sedentary workplace culture and the average person spending 8.9 hours per day sat down. Poor employee health has a knock-on effect on business, so this initiative helps workplaces to provide employees with positive messages and an easy to use tool to help improve staff activity levels.”
The challenge is free for staff to sign up to, and starts on the 8th January running for eight weeks. Staff can sign up for free at www.merseysidesport.com/mecc, and if you’d like some posters and promotional materials to help spread the word in your workplace then please contact d.woodworth@merseysidesport.com