Well@Work scheme prevails

Employers can play a key role in getting people to lead more healthy lives, a new study has revealed.

Led by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and funded by Sport England, the Department of Health and the Big Lottery Fund, the Well@Work pilot programme involved the participation of up to 10,000 employees in 32 workplaces across England over two years.

The Well@Work scheme, which is the first of its kind, showed that workplace health programmes can have a massive impact on levels of sports participation, fruit and vegetable intake and staff morale.

The range of activities participants were encouraged to take part in included football, badminton, cycling, squash, running, rock climbing, rowing, dodgeball and golf.

The programme also tested initiatives such as pedometer challenges, health checks and fruit giveaways. Those taking part in the pedometer challenges increased their weekly step counts by one third.

Initiatives to persuade employees to consume more fruit and vegetables also proved a roaring success with an extra 11% meeting their five-a-day requirement while participating in the pilot.

In the introduction to the resulting Well@Work report, Dame Carol Black, national director for health and work, said “good health is good business. It means harnessing the critical potential of the workplace as a force for good in promoting the health of working people.”

It looks as though she isn’t far wrong – sickness absence currently costs the economy over £13bn a year and lower productivity as a result of common mental health problems is estimated to cost in excess of £15bn.

© Crimson Business Ltd.