Raising awareness on the benefits of Physical Activity
1. Introduction
Physical activity is a prerequisite for good health and plays a significant role in enhancing positive well-being of individuals. Physical inactivity is one of the leading causation factors of diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, stress, back pain, heart disease, obesity and strokes. Health professionals recommend that adults should participate in at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on a daily basis for at least five days on a week. The 30 minutes of participating in physical activity can be attained either through engaging in all activities in one session or distributing the physical activities in several sessions of at least 10 minutes. The workplace provides a vital opportunity through which people can embark on increasing their participation in physical activity with the goal of improving their health and reducing the risk of suffering from diseases (Aledana et al. 2004). Studies have reported that participating in physical activities is an effective tool for stress management, relieving back pain and preventing weight related medical conditions. In addition, employees who are physically active have reported reduced illness and tend to recover more quickly than physically inactive employees (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004). Further, employees participating in physical activity have reported increased enjoyment of their duties, increased concentration and mental alertness, and enhanced collaboration and relationship with workmates. In the light of this view, this proposal to raise awareness on the benefits of physical activity at the workplace aims to encourage increased employee involvement in regular and moderate intensity physical activity. In addition, this awareness campaign seeks to enhance the opportunities for physical activity at the workplace, and create a workplace setting that motivates employees to integrate physical activity in their daily schedule. This research proposal offers workplaces with adequate information required to plan, encourage and implement a multi-strategy methodology to raise the awareness of the benefits of physical activity at the workplace.
2. Objectives of this Project
2.1 Raise Awareness on the Benefits of Physical Activity at the Workplace
This will be achieved through offering educational leaflets and materials about physical activity and providing staff courses and seminars about the benefits of participating in physical activity and risks of physical inactivity (Conn et al. 2009). Further, this objective will be achieved by holding events to promote physical activity.
2.2 To Support Employees to Be More Physical Active in Numerous Ways
This objective will entail encouraging employees to undertake active choices using motivational and promotional resources such as encouraging employees to walk or cycle on their way to work, and using stair cases instead of lifts. Mapping out walking trails within the workplace and publicizing them in terms of distance and times will also be central towards the attainment of this objective. In addition, employees will have access to information concerning local leisure and sports facilities, clubs and classes (Lachapelle & Frank 2009). Other approaches towards achieving this objective include establishing lunchtime activity groups such as walking; establishing and supporting sports and activity clubs; and offering corporate membership at local facilities.
2.3 To Eliminate Barriers and Enable Employees to Be Active While Working
Achieving this objective will primarily entail offering flexible working hours in order to facilitate participation in physical activity before, during and after work. This objective will also involve offering incentives for employees who walk or cycle such as paying activity mileage, providing changing and showering utilities, and safe storage space for bicycles (Verweij, Coffeng & Proper 2011).
3. Rationales for the Project
Physical activity at the work environment has increased its significance in the last decade. Research studies point out numerous benefits for both employers and employees incorporating physical activities in the workplace (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004). In addition, organizations that have invested in increasing physical activity among employees have recorded more financial savings that their counterparts who have not embarked on incorporating physical activity at the workplace. Lachapelle & Frank (2009) defines a healthy organization as one whose organizational culture, practices and climate create a work environment that encourages employee safety and health, and organizational effectiveness. Employees use approximately 33 percent of the working hours at work, not including people who continue to work at home; this implies that the workplace is the most ideal target for wellness and health programs. This is not only because people are easily accessible at work, but also the information they acquire can be shared with other people such as family and friends, which in turn influences a larger population. Workplaces are increasingly beginning to acknowledge that employees are living more sedentary lifestyles than healthy lifestyles; therefore, they are beginning to implement health and wellness programs. Physical inactivity imposes detrimental effects on both the workplace and the individual. Employees who do not participate in physical activity have a high risk of suffering from heart disease, obesity and diabetes, which in turn translates to absenteeism and reduced productivity. Therefore, the rationale for implementing this project can be viewed through the lens of the benefits and impacts that physical activity has on the workplace (Conn et al. 2009).
Participating in physical activity has a number of positive impacts on both mental and physical health. Physical activity does not only reduce the risk of suffering from heart disease, osteoarthritis and stroke, but also leads to a considerable improvement in stress levels and energy. Health Canada (2003) recommends 30 minutes daily for at least four days in a week in order for an individual to stay healthy. It is also imperative that physical exercise should combine flexibility, endurance and strength training; endurance entails cycling and walking, flexibility training involves stretching and yoga, whereas strength training involves weight lifting.
Workplace wellness programs do not affect the physical and mental wellbeing of staff, but also tends to increase productivity and employee morale, which translates to increased productivity. Lachapelle & Frank (2009) affirms that employees who take part in wellness programs have a 20 percent less absenteeism and 90 percent less turnover than employees who do not take part in such programs. Aledana et al. (2004) explored the effects of health and wellness programs at the workplace and found out that employees who took part in the program missed fewer days of work than employees who did not participate. The study also reported that for every $ 1 spent on the health and wellness program, the organization saved about $15. This study demonstrates the significance of incorporating health and wellness programs at the workplace and how they affect the organization’s well being and overall profitability. As a result, raising the awareness of the benefits of physical activity at the workplace is a vital step towards the attainment of healthy organizations (Dodson et al. 2008).
Employees have the right to work in environments that are healthy, clean, safe, and stress free. Creating up avenues for workers to participate in physical activities is one of the ways through which employers can ensure that their employees enjoy this right. Lachapelle & Frank (2009) believes that many issues affecting employees also affect the larger community; therefore, it is vital for workplaces to take into consideration the larger community because the organization must uphold specific standards in order to be respected by the local people. Lachapelle & Frank (2009) argue that the manner in which an organization promotes physical activity can have an indirect impact on the community. For instance, workplaces having large grounds can set up baseball diamond and football fields, and then encourage the community to utilize the facilities when needed. This does not only give employees an opportunity to be physically active, but also leads to considerable benefits to the society; as a result, physical activity at the workplace can be helpful in building the corporate image and reputation of the organization towards the community from which the organization is operating (Dodson et al. 2008).
Overall, this project is aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles and eliminating the barriers of having access to health information. Physical activity at the workplace is an essential service to employees because it eliminates the need for employees to leave the building in order to get the information needed for physical and mental wellness (Lachapelle & Frank 2009). In addition, workplace wellness programs, especially physical activity, have been instrumental in eradicating unhealthy behaviors of staff. In a nutshell, the benefits of physical activity to employers include improvement in staff’s morale, productivity and health; reduces rates of absenteeism, turnover and injuries; and the establishment of an organizational culture that values workers’ wellbeing. The benefits of physical activity to employees include increased job productivity; quick recovery from minor illness; enhanced stress coping skills; and improvement in job concentration, satisfaction and collaboration (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004).
The above rationales justify the need to implement the project in order to raise the awareness of the benefits of physical activity at the workplace through skill building, supportive social and physical environment.
4. The Development of Health Literacy on the Identified Areas of Need
There are numerous ways through which the organization can adopt to encourage physical activity in the workplace in order to achieve the aforementioned objectives of this project, which include raising awareness on the benefits of physical activity at the workplace, supporting employees to be more physical active in numerous ways, and eliminating barriers and enable employees to be active while working (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004). The identified areas of need with regard to the implementation of this program include awareness raising, skill building, creating a supportive physical environment a supportive social environment.
4.1 Awareness Raising Initiatives
The primary goal of awareness raising initiatives is increase employees awareness and interest to participate in physical activity. This is implemented through the dissemination of appropriate information that can support and motivate employees to modify their behavior and embrace physical activity. Raising awareness can take the form of displaying motivational and informative posters and brochures outlining the benefits of physical activity and providing some tips on becoming physically active at the workplace (Lachapelle & Frank 2009). In addition, raising awareness can involve offering information concerning local opportunities available for physical activity, and publicizing the available physical activity opportunities using emails, newsletters, notice boards, the company’s website and intranets. The awareness campaigns will ensure that the information reaches all employees using the various means of communication. Suggested approaches include promoting physical activity guides using posters, handouts and internet links; creating an all year round bulletin board displays to promote and publicize physical activity events and opportunities. Further, there will be the need to plan for interactive health fairs having physical activity components such as health experts to provide information and physical activity guidelines (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004). Presentations and employee feedbacks will also be used in raising awareness of the benefits of physical activity at the workplace. Additional resources for raising awareness on the benefits of physical activity include using bulletin boards, physical activity e-messages, contests, interactive activities and pay cheque inserts.
Staff members are at diverse stages concerning their readiness to engage in physical activities often; therefore, it is imperative to offer a wide range of information to support staffs at diverse stages of motivation. For instance, encouraging employees who are inactive to inactive will require the emphasis on the benefits of physical activities such as improved health, reduced stress levels and weight control. Employees will also be encouraged to establish goals and come up with a plan to participate in physical activity regularly. In order to increase the staffs’ interests and motivation, employees will be provided with adequate information concerning physical activity programs that affordable, easily accessible and available for employees at the workplace and the community. Ensuring that employees follow through and stick to the behavioral change, employees will be offered with information concerning the opportunities available for them to join for support and fun; examples include group activities (Conn et al. 2009). The initiative will also promote the available recognition programs and workplace incentives such as pay mileage for walking and cycling.
4.2 Skill Building
The primary goal of skill building initiatives is to increase the employees’ skills to participate in physical activity on a regular basis. The first component of skill building will involve offering opportunities (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004). It is imperative to acknowledge that attaining skills is a gradual process that needs diverse opportunities for learning and practicing. This will entail providing a wide range of physical activities including endurance, flexibility and strength training. Endurance training involves continuous activities that are needed for effective functioning of the circulatory system, heart and lungs. Endurance activities will include walking, biking, aerobics, jogging and dancing sessions. Sports opportunities such as football, volleyball and hockey can be incorporated as part of enduring activities. Flexibility activities will involve stretching and bending activities in order to relax muscles and reduce injuries. Flexibility activities will be implemented through yoga and stretch sessions. Stretch activities have the goal of strengthening muscles, and will be implemented using stretch training and weight lifting (Verweij, Coffeng & Proper 2011).
The second component of skill training is goal setting and action planning, which is an individual action plan to facilitate focus and motivation. Research affirms that people who formulate clear and realistic goals have a commitment towards achieving the goals. This will entail encouraging employees to use physical activity guides to formulate the individual goal and action plans. Development of problem solving skills will also be implemented to ensure that employees stay active regularly (Conn et al. 2009). This is because employees have competing demands on their individual time, which poses a significant challenge in maintaining regular participation in physical activity. Other activities that will be implemented to encourage physical activity include starting meetings with stretching exercises, mapping out walking routes, physical activity breaks and offering activity opportunities before, during and after work. The outcome of skill building is that physical activity will be part of the daily routines for each employee, which meets their individual abilities, health requirements and interests (Conn et al. 2009).
4.3 Establishing a Supportive Social Environment
The primary goal of setting up supportive social environment activities is to create a workplace culture that supports and encourages employees to embrace physical activity on a regular basis. This will involve increasing the work-life balance through flexible work hours and arrangements, stretch breaks during longer meetings, and work-time allowance for employees to participate in physical activity. Social environment will also increase participation through in physical exercises using incentives to promote active transportation, safe bicycle parking, modifying physical activities to match individual abilities, and ensuring that the management serves as the role model for physical activity (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004).
4.4 Establishing a Supportive Physical Environment
The primary goal of establishing a supportive physical environment is to enhance the utilization of the available physical environment at the workplace in order to promote physical activities among employees. Promoting the use of stairs and walking are one of the most cost effective methods of increasing physical activity. Increased utilization of the physical environment will be achieved by ensuring accessibility of on-site physical exercise facilities for all employees, encouraging employees to make use of outdoor facilities, offering change facilities such as showers and lockers, and ensuring safety in the exercises facilities (Aledana et al. 2004).
5. Key Stakeholders Participating in the Project
5.1 Management
Managerial support is essential in guaranteeing the strength and value of this project, which is vital for its success. In addition, the management should serve as a role model for physical activity for employees to emulate. The top management has the responsibility of informing the employees the benefits of physical activities in the workplace. Therefore, the management will play a key role in motivating employees to embrace physical activity by setting a good example, offering tools that employees require to continue taking part in physical activities, and communicating the company’s wellness messages. In addition, the management will also help in educating the employees on the latest wellness strategies. The success of the project depends of effective resource allocation and utilization, which is an exclusive responsibility of the management.
5.2 Employees
Employees are central to the success of the program, implying that the wellness program must take into account their needs and interests. Employees are needed when undertaking a formal needs analysis, which is essential in setting up an effective wellness program according to employees’ preference (Conn et al. 2009).
5.2 Health Professionals
It is evident that physical activity has a considerable effect on the human body and mind; therefore, it is essential for health professionals to have an opportunity to inform and educate employees about the importance of physical activity on their health and wellbeing. Health professionals will also play a significant role in ensuring that employees undertake physical activities according to their individual capabilities; hence, avoiding cases of strain. Health professionals will also offer the required assistance and guidelines regarding the amounts of physical activity needed by employees (Conn et al. 2009).
5.3 Healthy Workplace Committee
A healthy workplace committee will comprise of a union representative, senior executive and a planning team comprising of employees from all organizational levels. This is needed in ensuring that the project receives support from the management, employees and the union, which is a critical success factors for wellness programs. This will ensure that employees’ interests and needs are taken into account when implementing the program. The committee has the responsibility of assessing the existing physical activities opportunities and employees’ reactions and feelings towards the existing physical activities; this provides a framework through which opportunities for physical activities can be improved (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004).
6. Factors to Consider
There are a number of factors to consider prior to implementing this project to raise awareness on the benefits of physical activity. It is essential to take into account that the fact one size does not fit all; therefore, physical activity initiatives must be tailored in accordance to the individual employee capabilities and needs. It is also essential to consider employees with disabilities when implementing physical activities at the workplace. As a result, this project must take into consideration variables such as age, gender and health risks. Central to wellness programs is the issue of discrimination and accessibility; therefore, the project will take into account any legal issues underpinning diversity at the workplace (Conn et al. 2009).
The second factor to consider is employee safety; physical fitness programs have the goal of improving employee safety from injury, although physical environments are dangerous. As a result, implementing this program will ensure that physical environments used by employees are safe and secure. Another factor to consider during the implementation of this project is the potential abuse of physical exercise facilities at the expense of productivity. There is the likelihood that employees will overuse the installed facilities; as such, policies and regulations should be established in order to create a balance between physical activity and employee productive time (Chan, Ryan & Tudor-Locke 2004).
The cost of the program should also be taken into consideration; the goal of this project is to result in considerable financial savings, implying that cost effective methodologies should be adopted to ensure that the project achieves its goals.
7. Expected Outcomes
The following are the anticipated outcomes after the implementation of this project:
- Improved employee productivity
- Enhanced employee satisfaction, performance and collaboration
- Improved health among employees
- Increased cost savings and profitability for the organization
- Reduced absenteeism among employees
8. Conclusion
This proposal has presented the rationales for this project, identified the key areas and stakeholders needed for the effective implementation of this project aimed at raising awareness on the benefits of physical activity at the workplace. The identified areas of need with regard to the implementation of this program include awareness raising, skill building, creating a supportive physical environment a supportive social environment. The key stakeholders in the implementation process include the management, employees, health professionals and a healthy workplace committee. Factors to consider when implementing the project include the cost, employee safety, potential abuse of physical exercise facilities by employees, and the fact that one size does not fit all. The anticipated outcomes include improved employee productivity, enhanced employee satisfaction, performance and collaboration, improved health among employees, increased cost savings and profitability for the organization, and reduced absenteeism among employees. Therefore, this project will be beneficial to both the organization and employers.
References
Aledana, S, Merill, R, Price, K, Hardy, A & Hager, R 2004, ‘Financial impact of a comprehensive multisite workplace health promotion program’, Preventive Medicine, no. 10, p. 131.
Chan, C, Ryan, D & Tudor-Locke, C 2004, ‘Health benefits of a pedometer-based physical activity intervention in sedentary workers’, Preventive Medicine, vol 39, no. 6, p. 1215.
Conn, V, Hafdahl, A, Cooper, P, Brown, L & Lusk, S 2009, ‘Meta-analysis of workplace physical activity interventions’, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol 37, no. 4, pp. 330-339.
Dodson, EA, Lovegreen, S, Elliott, M, Haire-Joshu, D & Brownson, R 2008, ‘Worksite policies and environments supporting physical activity in midwestern communities’, American Journal of Health Promotion, vol 23, no. 1, pp. 51-55.
Lachapelle, U & Frank, LD 2009, ‘Transit and health: mode of transport, employer-sponsored public transit pass programs, and physical activity’, Journal of Public Health Policy, no. 30, p. S73–S94.
Verweij, L, Coffeng, J & Proper, K 2011, ‘Meta-analysses of workplace physical activity and dietary behavior interventions on weight outcomes’, Obesity Reviews, no. 12, pp. 406 429.
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