Moving for Workplaces
What an Active Workplace looks like has changed. Before we spoke about the things we could do during the working day to keep us active; walking meetings with our colleagues, taking the stairs instead of the lift or parking the car that little bit further away. Now as our spare rooms and kitchens have become our new office space, we have updated our workplace toolkit to reflect this.
The Active Workplace Toolkit shares ideas and tips to embed moving more into the working day to keep your employees happy and healthy.
It can be easy to fall into some bad habits when we're working from home, thankfully Nick's got some tips on how he's keeping moving whilst he works from home!
The Live Well Day - Working from Home
Many experts have spoken about the need to keep routine while working from home and keeping as close to any other working day. Now with the winter months drawing in and darker mornings and evenings, getting outside in the daylight hours is more important than before. GreaterSport's Active Workplace Toolkit includes The Live Well Day, but now that many of us are working from home, what does this look like and how does it help us to keep a routine that supports wellbeing and moving more? Below we've come up with an idea of a schedule for your day to help you stick to a routine.
7.00am - Time to get get up after 7 - 8 hours of quality sleep.
7.30am - Workout, the #KeepGMMoving webpages have loads of ideas of things to do, such as apps or YouTube videos to inspire your workout.
8.00am - Get ready for the day; shower, coffee, breakfast.
9.00am - Sit down in your new 'office' desk at home refreshed and ready for a productive day. Where possible try and separate your work space and life space, having a place to work helps with supporting a good work life balance.
10.30am - 10 minutes of stretches at your desk or go for a walk around the house taking the stairs if you have them.
12.30pm - Its lunchtime, with dark mornings and evenings lunchtime is the best part of the day to get outside and go for a walk or cycle and get some natural light. It may be cold or rainy, so ensure to wrap up warm and wear weather appropriate clothes. When you get back from you activities, sit down with your family or housemates (your current new workmates) for lunch. If you live alone, you could FaceTime a friend or family member and eat lunch together virtually.
1.30pm - Back to work after a lunchtime of activity, good food and chat.
3.00pm - Time for another 10 minute activity session, maybe a game kitchen table ping pong or set yourself a challenge such as how many kick ups can you do in a row, the choice is yours but be creative and have fun!
5.00pm - Its the end of the day, now could be a good time to unwind after a busy day with some mindfulness exercises, simple yoga or a home workout session.
6.00pm - Its tea time and your time to relax after a busy day in the office.
Active Workplace Toolkit
There is lots of free advice for enabling your colleagues to move more during their working day and more will be on the way as the Toolkit supports employers across Greater Manchester. The toolkit is broken down into sections that can help you to get started with your Active Workplace plans, signpost to partners who can support you and advice on developing your business case for moving more while working. It also tells the stories of other workplaces who have successfully included movement. You can visit the toolkit here.
Tell Us Your Stories
If you're a workplace who has supported your colleagues to keep moving while working from home we want to hear from you. We want to share the good news stories of how businesses across Greater Manchester have stayed connected using activity. So if you have used movement to raise money for charity or maybe online workouts as a way of keeping in touch we want to hear about it and share your success. Contact John Brady to tell us more.
20 Minute Neighbourhoods
How can we try and make working from home more like being at our place of work? Where are the places around us that can support us to still be active during the working day, that can replicate the places we visit while at our places of work?
20 minute neighbourhoods is about the places around us that are within a 20 minute walk or cycle which can help with our physical and mental wellbeing. For example if you used to walk to the shop on your lunch break, can you do this with your local shops at home? Another way is to use your local green (grass) and blue (water) space for walking meetings while on the phone to colleagues, clients and customers.
Examples of the of some of the places around us include.
- Parks, rivers, canals for walks and quiet time.
- Local town centres and villages for shops, coffee and meetings (depending current government advice).
- Walk a mile a day, explore your local neighbourhood with a mile walk which will take about 20 minutes.
- Local sports clubs and leisure centre, once lockdown is over these venues are now offering working spaces, food and sources of activity.
The Business Health Group
In keeping with The Business Health Group's holistic approach to employee wellbeing, they have put together their top tips for surviving these unprecedented times by keeping our Mental, Physical and Nutritional Health in check. By sticking to these simple rules you will be able to build positive lifestyle habits and lay down strong foundations for a healthier, more productive and happier you. Not to mention regular updates, live morning energiser workouts and stretch and relax classes. For more information visit their website here.
As we continue to work from home what we eat, when we eat and how we eat will help us through the day and be more productive. Click on the image below to read more from The Business Health Group on how to develop good working from home eating habits.
As the darker mornings and evenings draw in supporting our colleagues during the winter months becomes even more important. Click on the following image to read more about how we can all play our part.
5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing
The added pressures of working from home, such as childcare or loneliness, can take a toll on your mental wellbeing. The NHS have produced the Five Steps to wellbeing to support us all to take better care of our mental wellbeing.
Evidence suggests there are five steps you can take to improve your mental health and wellbeing. Trying these things could help you feel more positive and able to get the most out of life.
1. Connect with other people.
2. Be physically active.
3. Learn new skills.
4. Give to others.
5. Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness)
Learn more about the 5 steps to mental wellbeing here
More ways to keep moving for you, and your families
