Around 20 million adults in the UK are physically inactive. Furthermore, globally 1 in 4 adults are not active enough. Physical inactivity can have numerous consequences on our health. Therefore, World Obesity Day is on the 11th October and provides people with practical solutions to help people achieve and maintain a health weight to reverse the obesity crisis. Organised by the World Obesity Federation their mission is to lead and drive global efforts to reduce, prevent and treat obesity.
Exercise is vital to leading a healthier life! Most importantly, the benefits include maintaining a healthy body weight, increased productivity, improved morale, less illnesses, and improved focus.
Did you know that?
- Physical activity is costing the UK an estimated £7.4 billion a year.
- Physically active workers take 27% fewer sick days.
- The average time an employee takes each year due to physical inactivity related sickness is 9 days.
- The average man in the UK spends a fifth of his lifetime sitting – this is the equivalent to 78 days a year. Likewise for women, it is around 74 days a year.
- 90% of employees believe they should be more active at the workplace.
How to tackle it?
Offer discounted gym memberships
Gym memberships can be quite pricey. So, it’s easy to understand why people would rather opt for working out outdoors. Therefore, why not make going to the gym more affordable for your employees? You can offer discounted gym memberships with Incorpore and this will save your workplace money at over 3,500 gyms! The wide variety of choice allows employees to choose the gym they actually want no matter where they live or work. Incorpore have two gym products: a voluntary discounted gym benefits scheme, My Gym Discounts and a salary deducted discounted gym benefits scheme, GymFlex.
Motivate people with activity trackers
Enable employees to track and measure their activity levels with a fitness tracker. Fitness trackers allow individuals to track activity, monitor heart rate, sleep patterns and much more. Most importantly within a work environment, they encourage a strong sense of team spirit. Additionally, it promotes healthy competition as wearers can connect with their work colleagues to share progress and goals.
Organise office workouts
Organising an onsite group workout for your employees is a great way to show them you really care about their health. Firstly, it demonstrates you are committed to creating a culture that encourages exercise. Secondly, the class will make people feel fitter, happier and revived. Finally, the class is a great way to build team spirit and enable your employees to engage with one another. Nothing bonds a workforce quite like group exercise and fun!
