You've already placed standing desks and under-desk bikes in your office, which is a terrific first step. However, simply providing the facilities does not ensure that your employees will begin using their new gear. The last thing a company wants is to see the things they've invested in gathering dust in a corner. Or to never have to listen to the hum of their standing desks elevating and lowering. It's an awful fact, but we've seen it much too frequently.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 80% of American people do not get the recommended amount of physical activity per week. Regrettably, this figure may have an impact on your business's performance and long-term success. Mid-day workout has been shown to enhance workplace performance and productivity substantially; in fact, a study discovered that individuals who exercised for 30-60 minutes during their lunch break experienced an average significant performance boost of 15%.
Benefits
There are numerous advantages to organizing a workplace fitness challenge. Employees may not only like partaking in one, but they'll also learn a lot of things that will help them live healthier lifestyles.
Here are just a few advantages of organizing an office fitness challenge:
- Increased energy
- Improved employee health
- Increased motivation
- Decreased absenteeism
- Increased employee engagement
- Improved morale
The path to healthy, active workplace culture is not easy, but tangible things can be done along the way. Luckily, many fitness initiatives are both cost-effective and easy to include in your business. A fitness challenge is a fun way to improve colleague ties, develop a more collaborative environment, and create a positive degree of rivalry amongst departments, in addition to increasing your employees' health and performance.
Team Outing Bonding That Includes Exercise
Numerous enjoyable team bonding activities combine fitness that you may arrange. Maybe your group can go on a hike. You might go ice skating or snowboarding, or you could discover a rollerskating rink nearby. You might also simply walk to a sushi cafe with your colleagues for dinner. To find out what your staff wants to do, do a group poll. Finally, team bonding activities do not have to focus primarily on food; a healthy amount of exercise or competitiveness could help develop deeper bonds among the team members.
Step Challenge
Adults are recommended to walk at least 10,000 steps each day for optimal health, and there are numerous free tools available to help you start a walking regimen. Many folks these days are preoccupied with hitting their daily step goal using a fitness band. To capitalize on this trend, try launching a step challenge across departments. You may tell teams that you'll count their total steps after the week and give a reward to the team that marched the most. You might also offer a specified figure, such as the first squad to reach 100,000 step wins. Other firms have chosen the "30 for 30" concept, in which employees are challenged to walk for 30 minutes every day for 30 days.
Lunch While Standing
Tall tables or bar tables with stools are now available in many cafes and coffee shops. Try standing at these tables for lunch because they are pretty nice. A standing lunch may be worth additional points in an active office challenge as a backup to reaching walking targets. These difficulties are typically self-reported. Employees can take pictures during their standing business lunches and place them on the company's "wall of fame."
Walking Meetings
Maybe you could turn your monthly team meeting into a brisk walk. You may also hold walking meetings combined with the step challenge, such as the one mentioned above. To make walking meetings more challenging, invite all divisions to organize as many as possible; at the end of the month, the department with the most walking meetings gets a gift. You may also bring a height-adjustable mobile standing desk like this to your walking/standing meetings for your convenience.
Standing Desk Challenge
Standing desk challenges must be implemented with caution because extended-standing might be detrimental, and according to some research. Employees are encouraged to use their standing desks for 1-2 hours per day in an optimal standing challenge. They typically involve self-reporting. You can boost employee engagement by implementing a buddy system or organizing a team challenge in which employees hold each other liable for reaching their daily goals.
Register for 5K or Obstacle Course
Begin by looking at local 5Ks or obstacle course races and encouraging team members to join up collectively. To create even more motivation, your organization may give incentives to everyone who joins or simply the best finishers within every race. In theory, allowing employees to contribute back to the community will encourage additional team members to join.
Standing During Tasks
If standing for hours on end sounds overwhelming, consider challenging yourself to perform particular activities while standing. As an example, let employees respond to emails or teleconferences only while standing for a month. Even when the challenge is complete, the discipline of standing regularly will stick with them. This challenge is best suited for persons who like to compete against themselves instead of others.
Turn to Fitness Apps or YouTube
You don't need a beautiful corporate gym to inspire employees to work out together with today's technologies. You might simply use a fitness app instead. You might also look for a free challenge on YouTube. To guarantee that meetings don't get in the way, set aside an hour at lunch every day for teammates who want to participate in the task.
Cycle to Work Challenge
A cycle-to-work challenge is an excellent method to promote fitness while also reducing carbon emissions. The challenge will consist of cycling to work for a predefined timeframe. Employees who rode their bikes to work can be compensated with healthy lunches or breakfasts.
You can also lengthen the challenge to 30 or 60 days, and the employees who cycle the most will be rewarded with cash awards.
We hope these suggestions help you think of fresh ways to encourage your workforce to be more active at work. With these encouraging challenges, you'll be a lot closer to establishing a productive and healthy workplace culture that will be the delight of all employees. It's time to put those standing desk and under-desk desks to use.
