Countdown Towards Ireland’s First National Workplace Wellbeing Day
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Call for Ireland’s workforce to get moving
Countdown towards Ireland’s first national Workplace Wellbeing Day
Dublin, 4th February 2014 Only one in three workers takes the recommended level of exercise for a healthy lifestyle each week. Three in ten workers undertake no physical exercise during work time with just over a quarter (27%) describing themselves as fairly or very physically active according to new research¹ commissioned by the Nutrition and Health Foundation (NHF) to mark Ireland’s first National Workplace Wellbeing Day which takes place on Friday, 27th March 2015. With just 50 days to go, NHF Chairman Professor Niall Moyna, School of Health and Human Performance, DCU is calling on employers and employees across Ireland to sign up for the day.
Professor Moyna said: “Ireland’s workplaces are essential to encouraging healthier lifestyles amongst adults given the considerable amount of time people spend there. This campaign aims to help improve employee health through promoting better nutrition and physical activity. It’s easy for companies to get involved. All that’s required is a special focus on employee wellbeing on 27th March. There are lots of ideas and suggestions on our website on how companies can take part along with some practical examples of initiatives already being undertaken by other companies.”
He added: “With 11 million days lost through absenteeism every year at a cost €1.5 billion², workplace wellbeing is in everyone’s interest and 27thMarch is a good day to start. Simply encouraging staff to take 15 minutes exercise, for example, throughout their working day would go a long way towards the 150 minutes moderate exercise that’s recommended weekly. This could involve staff taking the stairs rather than the lift or identifying routes of various distances around the vicinity of the workplace for lunchtime walks or runs.”
Wellbeing Day, which is being organised by the Nutrition and Health Foundation and is supported by Ibec, is already attracting strong interest across the public and private sector. Companies of all sizes have signed up from Aramark, Bank of Ireland, Teleflex to Fenero, an eleven person financial services contractor in Dublin.