If I told you that you could decrease you and your employees’ chances of dying by 50%, you’d be all for it. If all it took were changing three things in your life, you’d be all for doing that too wouldn’t you?
Tobacco use, poor diet and lack of physical activity directly lead to four chronic diseases – heart disease, diabetes, lung disease and cancer – that directly contribute to 50% of preventable deaths in the world.
In theory, by simply changing those three behaviours, we could dramatically help reduce our risk of premature death. The thing is, we don’t. While I realise that we’re not all like Mad Men’s Don Draper, sitting at our desks all day, with scotch and a cigarette for lunch, I think that the ad industry can be guilty of encouraging these behaviours, whether we’d like to admit it or not.
At iris, we realised this a few years ago. In addition to the never-ending list of physical benefits, there are psychological benefits: exercise boosts happy chemicals. It’s also proven to improve self-confidence, sharpen our memories, reduces stress and anxiety, help control addictions, prevent cognitive decline, not to mention boosting our brainpower and helping individuals tap into creativity.
Pretty compelling, right? The individual isn’t the only one to benefit – all of these reasons mean employers could massively benefit from a fit workforce.
Two years ago, when I joined iris as fitness director, I was set the not-so-small task of devising a health, fitness and wellbeing programme that would get iris to “well fit” status. It’s something I take seriously, and it’s paid off; this year we took third spot on the podium for The Sunday Telegraph’s Britain’s Healthiest Company award.
The broader point here is that every business should have someone directly responsible for ensuring that the organisation is doing all it can to keep its staff fit and well. Here, staff can have personal training during work hours, at no cost to them. It’s not uncommon for clients to arrive for meetings to see me shouting encouragement at people training in the car park at the front of our building.
Staff should be encouraged to workout during work hours (no more excuses of “no time”). Individual sporting achievement outside of work should be recognised and rewarded in work, and there are enough industry leagues for an abundance of softball, netball, cricket, triathlon and football teams. There really isn’t an excuse to not do something.
This being the competitive industry it is, sporting events and competitions can make the difference between people caring and not caring about fitness. And it goes beyond sport; agencies should consider everything from on-site health screenings and advice to getting expert advice on nutrition, meditation, quitting smoking and injury prevention.
Looking after employee welfare is just plain common sense. Last year, we were the only agency in the finals of Britain’s Healthiest Company. I’d like there to be a bit more agency competition next year.
If you’re not sure where to start, here are some helpful tips to get the (gym) ball rolling:
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Everyone needs to be on board: All of the line management team needs to buy into what you are doing and communicate the benefits to their teams.
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There is no one size fits all: Create fitness initiatives that are bespoke to your company and your employees.
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Don’t make it too complicated or too expensive: It’s simple changes that make a difference but are easy to maintain.
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Build partnerships: Get experts involved – inspirational sports people, doctors, exercise professionals, therapists. The external support shows you are taking it seriously and also allows confidentiality assurance for staff.
- Increase communication: Make sure there is constant communication to engage staff and remind them all they have access too.
Rebecca Cox is fitness director at iris
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