Activity champions to get London workforce moving
Network of Workplace “activity champions” to get workforce in London moving
Workplace Activator, an unprecedented workplace health initiative, launches in London today.
The programme, involving a range of well-known companies, including Talkback Thames TV (the makers of X Factor), and Time Out magazine, has been developed to encourage less active employees to exercise more.
The project works by training a small number of company employees to become “Workplace Activators”, responsible for motivating, supporting and coaching their less active work colleagues to get fitter.
The project is being piloted in London and evaluated by the University of Westminster. It could potentially be rolled out further afield, with interest already shown in the scheme nationally and internationally.
That a ‘healthier’ workforce is a more ‘productive’ workforce is widely acknowledged, but this is the first ‘corporate wellbeing’ programme designed with the small-to-medium-sized company in mind.
In the UK, the costs of inactivity to the economy are estimated at £8.2 billion (Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, 2004). This includes: £1.7 bn cost of physical inactivity to the NHS; and £5.5 bn the cost of sickness through absence at work.
According to the Confederation of British Industry, sickness absence can cost around £495 per employee per year, which is a high cost for small and medium enterprises. Stress and mental health are increasingly impacting upon employee health, with approximately 13.8 million working days lost in 2006/7 due to work-related stress, depression and anxiety (PriceWaterHouseCoopers, 2008).
Within this context Central YMCA – the UK’s leading activity for health charity - was inspired to develop a new workplace health programme. It has received the backing of, and part-funding from, the NHS and the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP).
Robin Gargrave is Director of Innovation & Development at Central YMCA. He said:
“Regular physical activity improves health and reduces stress and has been demonstrated to improve productivity at work and contribute to a more motivated workforce. Evidence from the YMCA Activate England project1 suggests that peers - and not professionals - are more likely to support their colleagues to change their behaviour to become more active.
“By training workplace activators, and embedding support, Central YMCA is providing a relatively low cost and sustainable model to smaller businesses that cannot afford the lavish corporate wellness programmes offered by many large companies”
Seventeen companies in central London have signed up for the 12-month Workplace Activator programme. HostelBookers, the online budget accommodation booking company, is one of them. Their HR Manager, Anne Darnell, comments:
“HostelBookers believes a healthy workforce will improve staff motivation, reduced absence and better productivity. For these reasons HostelBookers are delighted to be taking part in the ‘Workplace Activator’ initiative."
Coram, one of the UK’s oldest children’s charitable organisations, are also taking part. "This is a great initiative with enormous potential benefits to our workforce,” says their Head of HR, Christine Kelly. “It’s particularly significant for smaller organisations such as ours who have less resource. It also fits really well with our drive to ensure our organisation manages stress better,"
Between one and two people from each company are being trained as “Workplace Activators”. The idea is based on Central YMCA’s ‘community activator’ model which has already achieved impressive results in terms of boosting levels of physical activity participation among inactive communities across the UK.
In addition to the activators, company employees who take part are able to access a workplace wellbeing package developed by Central YMCA, including free gym membership, dedicated classes and access to a health and fitness online portal.
“If, as we anticipate, the model proves to be successful, Central YMCA will be able to roll the programme out across the UK and make a real difference to the quality of peoples’ working lives,” adds Mr Gargrave.
The evaluation covers a 12 month period and will investigate and measure:
- The effectiveness of the training of Workplace Activators
- Cost – free membership of the gym ends after three months and moves to a subsidised rate, then after another three months moves to a standard rate. To what extent does cost impact on participation?
- The effectiveness of the peer support which the Workplace Activators provide at sustaining behaviour change
- The effectiveness of the training of Workplace Activators
- The reported health benefits of the employees on the scheme
- The effectiveness of the social networking element and provision of advice/signposting on activities, contained within the online portal
Notes to Editors:
Central YMCA: (www.ymca.co.uk) is one of 135 YMCAs nationally and is recognised by
the movement for its expertise in the activity and health arena.
Central YMCA is the world’s founding YMCA, established in 1844. Its vision is of a world where all individuals have
the opportunity to live healthy lives in mind, body and spirit. Its mission is to seek change in health attitudes and
behaviour through advocacy, education and direct delivery.
The charity delivers products and services internationally and nationally, as well as at a local level.
YMCA Activate: YMCA Activate England was launched in 2004 as a national partnership project between YMCA England and YMCAfit (YMCA Fitness Industry Training) to widen access and increase participation in physical activity amongst inactive groups.
Full details about the project can be downloaded at: http://www.ymca.org.uk/site/upload/document/Overview.pdf
To speak to Robin Gargrave, image requests, and for all follow-up queries, please contact:
Duncan Stephenson, Policy & Public Affairs Manager at Central YMCA:
e: d.stephenson@ymcaclub.org.uk
T: 020 7343 1729 or 07595 654 148
or
Divya Kohli, PR Manager at Central YMCA:
e: divya@ymca.co.uk
t: 07930 410 387