Practising a company sport is becoming increasingly widespread. Whatever the size, your organization can always find a solution to encourage you to practise a sports activity, participate in a tournament or simply have you adopt the essential gestures conducive to relaxation. Don’t be fooled, the employer also has an interest in it – improved productivity and enhanced team spirit. Quick overview of the track…
A necessity becoming absolute?
Growing sedentary life, longer travel times, higher stress, continuous use of connected objects… don’t wait to get home burned out at night to try to remove all the tensions that accumulate during your work day. Know how to listen to your body and enjoy your lunch breaks to de-stress. You will feel the benefits in a very short time and your employer will also in the medium term – absenteeism, sick leave and falling productivity will only be distant memories! According to a study by Health Canada, your productivity could improve by close to 10% if you practise half an hour of physical activity each day. And that’s not all – your health care costs would be reduced by 7% to 9%, your life expectancy would be increased by 3 years and the age at which you would become dependent would be set back by 6 years, according to Goodwill-management. What a delight to the whole family! Not to mention the social links created between employees and the team cohesion that would be strengthened. It is better understood why employers are increasingly seeking to motivate employees to practise a sports activity within the company… or outside it.
To each company its own solution
If you are not a sports enthusiast, don’t panic! Practising a physical activity in a company is only an invitation or incentive by the employer… but never an obligation. In addition, the boss’s proposal will be all the better perceived if he provides athletes with an outfitted room, a coach and showers. You could then practise yoga, soccer or any other discipline proposed by HR. If your employer has a few dollars to invest, it could create a parking area to encourage cyclists to ride their bikes in the morning or, with a more substantial budget, dig a pool to swim lengths. Some employers prefer to dig into their pockets to subsidize your subscription to a sports club, offer you a Fitbit type watch that records your activity, exercises, diet, sleep, or give you a bonus, like the Casper company, for each kilometre walked or run.
Some employers even go so far as to develop a portal (for example, CGI with My Health Portal) on which you can access your personalized action plan, established from a prior diagnosis, which will specify the sports activities to be practised and the diet to follow. But company sports are not only about performance. It is also the possibility of relaxing at lunchtime between subordinates and superiors, participating in a run with colleagues or taking part in an inter-company tournament.
What are you to do if you are fundamentally convinced of the benefits of physical activity at work, but your employer has not yet taken the plunge? There are solutions! In the short term, take yourself in hand by getting up every hour, relaxing your shoulders and loosening your jaw – it’s not much, but your body will appreciate it. In the medium term, suggest to HR to use a company that specializes in company sports that will take care of everything: organization, premises, time slots…