Healthy Communities – Spring into Action

In today’s fast-paced world, prioritising employee well-being has never been more crucial. By encouraging a culture of physical activity, your workplace can enhance productivity, boost morale, and improve overall health.  Here are some great ways to get started:

Provide opportunities for staff to be active.

Share opportunities for your team to participate in physical activities – how and when they want.  This may include offering corporate memberships through local activity providers, supporting staff to enter fitness events and sporting competitions, running team challenges, and providing onsite facilities and classes.

Build more activity in the work day.

Being physically active doesn’t have to mean going to the gym every day, or jogging for miles.  There are lots of ways staff can build small amounts of activity into their day to boost the time they are being physically active over the week.  Just as important to health, is breaking up long periods of sitting or sedentary activity.

Promote easy ways for staff to build more activity into their work day:

• Park further away from your destination, and walk or ride your bike the rest of the way.
• Use the stairs instead of the lift.
• Walk to the park to eat lunch.
• When suitable, organise walking meetings with colleagues.

Check out the Make Your Meetings Move resource.

• Use a standing desk to break up sitting time.
• Use the copier or printer that requires you to walk a bit further.
• Take a walk during your lunch break.
• Do stretches at your work station regularly – see the ‘Desk or Table stretches’ poster from Active Victoria.

Build knowledge about being active.

Help your staff understand the health benefits of being active through education sessions, tool box talks, newsletters and wellbeing program events.  Find helpful resources at these sites:

• Physical activity guidelines
• Be Upstanding
• Get Active Victoria
• Exercise Right

Lead the way to a healthier and active staff.

Workplace leaders have the ability to influence the health and wellbeing culture in a workplace, including physical activity.   When employees see their leaders prioritising wellness and embracing movement, it fosters a supportive environment that promotes healthier choices for everyone.

In addition to leaders participating in activity and role modelling healthier behaviours, workplaces can also lead by:

• Creating a mission statement, policy or guideline on physical activity in the workplace.
• Surveying staff regularly to understand their physical activity needs and opportunities for action.
• Allowing flexible work hours or longer lunch breaks to accommodate physical activity during the day.

For more information about Spring into Action, or to get tailored support to get your workplace moving more, contact our team at [email protected]

The Spring into Action Workplace Promotional Toolkit is created to assist you in promoting this initiative in your workplace. We have developed a step by step guide on content creation, including promotional materials and key messages for you to share on multiple communication platforms.

Click the image below to download the Workplace Promotional Toolkit

Click the image below to download Social Media Tiles from the promotional toolkit

Click the image below to download the Workplace Flyer