More than a third of workers avoid exercise during their working day as they are too embarrassed to get hot and sweaty in front of colleagues.
A new survey by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) found that 55 per cent of workers spend more than half their working day sitting, or standing still. Nearly as many (48 per cent) eat lunch at their desks, while 16 per cent feel pressurised to take just a short lunch break.
Project manager for the BHF’s Health at Work programme, Lisa Purcell, said: “Embarrassment shouldn’t prevent people from being healthy at work. You don’t have to don a Lycra leotard to get fit and healthy – the pay-offs from even simple changes like taking a walk at lunchtime are too great to ignore. Getting healthy during the working day means you are less stressed and better motivated.
“Bosses need to understand there’s a massive return on investment here. Simple measures to improve the health of your workforce – like swapping tea-break biscuits for fruit, or getting the team together for a lunchtime kick-around in the car park – can improve productivity, reduce staff turnover, and mean fewer sick days.”
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
What has this got to do with Health & Safety??
Exercise is a personal choice.
I employed my staff to do a job, if they wanted access to a work out they did it in their own time.
No wonder there are so many “bonkers conkers” stories.
Perhaps we couild get back to basics in the H&S field, without digressions into personal areas which are “extras” in a persons life.
Employees get paid to WORK, not work out.
Personal issues NOT Health & Safety!