Workplace Wellness…… Workplace Activity Challenge 2016
How physically active is your workplace?
In September, Sligo businesses can participate in an inter-firm Workplace Activity Challenge brought to you by Sligo Chamber of Commerce, the aim of the challenge is to make the promotion of a healthy lifestyle fun and rewarding for the employee population within local companies.
This free initiative measures physical activities such as walking, running and cycling which are tracked to create a company score which gives the company a position on the corporate leader-board.
The challenge takes place from the 9th Sept – 7th Oct; the registration deadline is the 2nd September, if you’re an employee or employer and want to find out more about representing your company in the challenge contact info@kudoshealth.com
As we all know, there are numerous health protective behaviours that we can adopt to enhance our well-being. Introducing physical activity into our daily routine and maintaining a physically active lifestyle is one of the most accessible health protective behaviours available to us.
Des Faul, President of Sligo Chamber of Commerce said,
“This an excellent initiative which allows employers to promote the benefits of physical activity to their workforce. Employees spend a significant amount of time at work, and in order to maintain good health they should to participate in some form of regular physical activity. From a Chamber point of view, businesses invest in each worker in terms of recruitment, training, compensation, and benefits packages. Encouraging a culture of physical activity and fun, helps capitalise on the benefits of a healthy and vibrant workforce”.
Physical activity contributes to an individual’s health in many ways and increases the chances of living longer. Engaging in a physically active lifestyle helps to prevent risk of a range of health conditions including: stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity and mental health problems.
Engaging in physically activity is known to reduce stress and anxiety, reduce tiredness and lift morale. Several reviews have found that physical activity has a positive impact on work ability and employee overall wellbeing while other studies have shown reductions in depression and anxiety. Employee health and performance are substantially affected by lifestyle and stress.
Engaging in physical activity is advantageous to the health of the employee, the employer and the organisation as a whole. It has been shown that managers and supervisors who regularly participate in physical activity have a more positive relationship with subordinates and other employees.
The activity tracking platform is provided by KudosHealth, a Sligo based company which provides an online health engagement solution for organisations to improve productivity & employee engagement. The company was formed in 2015, and began research and development of its product with support from Local Enterprise Office in Sligo and Enterprise Ireland. The company collaborated with Dr Kenneth Monaghan and Daniel Simpson in IT Sligo’s Health Science Department for the development of the tracking platforms health scoring system.
Caption – Workplace Activity Challenge to take place in September
Background
Health & wellness in the workplace in the last 20 years have developed at a vast rate, and have surged since the start of the internet and even more so since the arrival of smart phones. Smart phones have allowed people to track all aspects of their health on their phone, with 1000’s of mobile health applications on the market today. Along with smart phones there are also 100’s of wearable devices aimed at collecting and analysing a person’s health, this in turn has led to employers introducing there consumer items into the workplace, in order to promote health to employees and to improve the bottom line.
A health & wellness program can help companies reduce the cost of health insurance in the US, it can also reduce absenteeism and improve productivity, it also helps to attract and retain top talent in a competitive human capital marketplace.
In most cases the employer will purchase a tracking device for each employee at a cost of approximately €100 per employee, this creates a few problems firstly the cost to deploy, then participation can be low because employees may not trust their employer enough to actually wear a device that tracks their activity, and thirdly some employees may already be using their own chosen fitness tracking device or app, and may not want to switch to a company approved device/app.
KudosHealth have followed the BYOD (bring your own device) methodology, this allows the employees to use their own chosen app or device which once registered with the KudosHealth system automatically sync’s all the data, this allows for one universal scoring system to be implemented in the company’s health & wellness programme, and it also helps protect the employees activity data from their employer.
About KudosHealth
KudosHealth is an online health engagement solution for corporate HR departments to improve productivity & employee engagement, while also creating a health conscious corporate culture.
The principal business activity is to supply an online B2B SaaS solution to multinational corporations, SME’s, Health Insurance companies and other commercial partners. KudosHealth allows customers and partners to collect the aggregated data on a users’ health and fitness activity with their permission, while conforming to data protection laws. This data is collected on the various types of fitness tracking devices and Apps on the market today, that people currently using. Once a user is registered, his/her data is synced automatically to the platform. This data is then converted into ‘KudosPoints’ which are used to provide engagement, reward & recognition for users (employees).
The business idea was formed when both founders were made redundant in 2014 and they discovered there was some comparisons to the business they had been in, and to that of how business promoted health initiates in the workplace, and how they motivated employees to be healthy, healthy employees not only have a direct impact on the employee health but there is some excellent benefits from an employer’s point of view, happy healthy employees are more productive and miss less days from work.. It’s a Win Win situation for employee and employer.
If you required further information please contact Declan Trumble on 087 811 1111 or declan@kudoshealth.com