Conference Board of Canada report says it's time to make physical activity expected and accepted at work.
TORONTO, Dec. 1, 2015 /CNW/ - Busy schedules, looming deadlines - the demands of today's workplace can make it challenging for employees to prioritize a healthy, active lifestyle, but it doesn't have to be that way. A new report, Moving Ahead: Workplace Interventions to Reduce Physical Inactivity and Sedentary Behaviour, produced by The Conference Board of Canada's Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care and issued with ParticipACTION, provides a model for how Canadian employers can help employees change their behaviour about physical activity.
"With more than half of Canadians spending at least one third of their waking hours at work, the workplace is an ideal and important setting for health promotion. Corporate wellness initiatives must fit with the organizational culture so that employees are more likely to participate," said Louis Thériault, Vice-President, Public Policy, The Conference Board of Canada.
In addition, inactive employees must decide to change their behaviours and participate, which is a challenge in most organizations. Faced with competing priorities, employees often feel that they cannot prioritize their health.
"Our bodies' natural desires to move are affected by our information-age sedentary jobs, the ever-present lure of screens and our love affair with the car. The challenge is not just to provide opportunities to be more active, but to shift Canadian cultural norms so that sitting less and moving more are expected and accepted at work," said Elio Antunes, President and CEO, ParticipACTION.
The Moving Ahead: Workplace Interventions to Reduce Physical Inactivity and Sedentary Behaviour report identifies two broad types of initiatives that employers can implement in their workplaces to effect change.
The report also highlights several organizations that have successfully put these types of initiatives into practice.
You can check out the Conference Board's Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Health Meter to find out where your physical activity and sedentary behaviours rate in one of four categories.
About the Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care and its Moving Ahead Research
The Conference Board of Canada's Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care (CASHC) research series Moving Ahead: Healthy Active Living in Canada will comprise several research briefings that aim to identify cost-effective, scalable and sustainable interventions to promote and improve healthy active living. The goal of this work is to fill the gaps in knowledge and practice, and to engage government, employers, and all Canadians in working toward a culture of healthy active living.
About ParticipACTION
ParticipACTION is a national non-profit organization that helps Canadians sit less and move more. Originally established in 1971, ParticipACTION works with its partners, which include sport, physical activity, recreation organizations, government and corporate sponsors, to make physical activity a vital part of everyday life. ParticipACTION is generously supported by the Government of Canada. For more information, please visit www.participaction.com.
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SOURCE Conference Board of Canada
For further information: Yvonne Squires, Media Relations, The Conference Board of Canada, W: 613- 526-3090 ext. 221, corpcomm@conferenceboard.ca; Katherine Janson, ParticipACTION, W: 416-913-1471, M: 647.717.8674, kjanson@participACTION.com; Meaghan Beech, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, W: 416-413-4650, M: 647.463.4467, meaghan.beech@hkstrategies.ca
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