At work, you’ve got to move it, move it

Raising awareness about getting up and moving

To help lower the risk of chronic diseases among your employees, you can implement strategies that promote regular movement.

• Address the issue - bring it up in meetings or put up posters explaining why regular movement is imperative for everyone’s health.
• Support a ‘standing-friendly culture’ - normalise standing through modelling. You, and other senior staff, can lead by example by displaying movement and non-sedentary behaviours.
• Add it to the agenda - update meeting agendas to include some kind of standing item.
• Stand and deliver - if you’re delivering a meeting, encourage staff to stand and move around as an activity.
• Walk the walk - you can incorporate walking meetings in small groups.
• Review and revise - if possible, evaluate your employee’s tasks to see if you can change their role in some way, to minimise sitting time for those who sit for long periods.
• Stand-up desks - if feasible, provide stand-up workstations for those who are in mainly sedentary roles, or those returning to work who might be at risk of chronic disease.
• Moving facilities - can you change the location of certain facilities, like printers, water coolers, recycling bins, to encourage workplace movement?

Group challenge

You could also get your team moving by setting up your own step challenge. Assure’s Movement Challenge promotes health, boosts mental wellness, and powers connections among colleagues.

By creating a similar challenge, you can motivate your employees to move more, support each other, and improve their overall wellbeing.

You can find out about the positive impact Assure’s Movement Challenge made in 2024, here.

Suggestions for your employees

Not everything needs to be formalised and official.

Sometimes, your behaviour (modelling) and casual conversations can be a significant influence.

Here are a few tips for your colleagues:

• Instead of an internal message or email, can you walk over and visit that person?
• Swap the giant water bottle for a glass (more trips to the water source)
• Choose a bathroom that’s further away
• Swap the lift for the stairs
• Park further away from work than you need to
• Walk somewhere to have lunch, or walk around the block

There are many more ways to encourage movement in the workplace, including exercises you can do at your desk (including ‘desk and chair push-ups’) so it’s a matter of what works best for your employees.

Sources

• Benefits of movement - Be Upstanding factsheet
• Movement is the best prescription for a healthy workforce - World Economic Forum
• Physical activity, 2022 - Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Moving more is good for our mental health, so what’s stopping us? - Mental Health Foundation

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.