On a busy workday, it can be hard to find the time and motivation to be active. But a healthy lifestyle isn’t just for your free time—it can also be incorporated into the workplace. By being active together with colleagues, you can improve workplace health while also bringing colleagues closer together. This is good for team spirit and overall well-being in the workplace. Below, we’ll dive into a few suggestions for how you can incorporate some team exercise into your workplace.

1. Incorporate exercise into your workday

An effective way to stay active at work is, of course, to try to make exercise a regular part of your daily or weekly routine. This can be done by introducing walking meetings, where you combine meetings with a walk in the fresh air. This way, you can discuss work tasks and make decisions while getting exercise, fresh air, and hopefully a bit of sunshine—we’ve covered the importance of this here before. Additionally, you can make arrangements in the office to use sit-stand desks, so there are set routines around the workstations. It’s also always a good idea to take the stairs or otherwise increase the distance you walk. Do it together—it’s more fun that way. 

2. Social exercise activities

Being active with coworkers can make exercise more fun and motivating; at the same time, it can be harder to say no to coworkers than to yourself when your motivation is low. That’s why you can organize social exercise activities at work that can strengthen team spirit and boost motivation to be active. This can include all forms of exercise and corporate fitness. The possibilities are many, but one example could be active breaks using resistance bands. Whatever you’re looking for, we at Acture can help you get started, ensuring that the best conditions for exercise are created for your team. This way, the only thing you need to think about is getting active together at work.

3. Motivational challenges

To encourage employees to be more active, you can organize motivational challenges at work. One option is to organize activities such as tournaments, stretching sessions, yoga, running workouts, or cycling days, where you encourage each other to participate in group exercise activities. A little friendly competition can always motivate many people, but it’s important to include everyone, as some may feel left out. Here, it can be important to create challenges that motivate as many people as possible, such as a daily step count at work or the amount of time spent standing at one’s desk. These challenges can be both fun and motivating, while also contributing to a healthier lifestyle in the workplace.

4. Create a supportive culture

To encourage physical activity in the workplace, it is important to foster a supportive culture where exercise is prioritized and valued. This starts with management, which should establish a clear policy on workplace exercise and actively support it. In addition, peer support is essential, with colleagues supporting and encouraging one another to stay active. Finally, you can create a positive work culture where exercise is seen as a natural part of the workday, and where colleagues encourage one another to be healthy and active.

5. Keep an eye on the effects 

Before launching a wide range of initiatives to promote workplace health, it can be very useful to conduct some form of baseline assessment. This could involve collecting data on employee activity before and after the initiatives. It could also involve a more in-depth collection of data on well-being and health in the workplace, such as through a health check-up. This way, you can directly monitor the effects of the initiatives on health and well-being in the workplace.