Move More

Move More Everyday Priorities

1. Introduce a more flexible dress code to encourage your staff to move more throughout the day.

This could include relaxing the dress code if it is currently very formal wear, that makes it harder to move easily, and/or focusing on footwear, ensuring that people know they can wear comfortable footwear to enable them to move about more easily. Some organisations take steps towards this by adopting more flexible dress codes on certain days of the week or at any time when formal work wear is not needed.

2. Register for and promote the cycle to work scheme, so your employees can access tax free bikes and cycling equipment.

3. Make it easier for staff to walk or bike to work by introducing or improving shower, changing and storage facilities for staff.

You may wish to do some research with staff first to find out about potential demand and to see what they think about the current facilities. In some cases there may be access to active travel funding.

4. Introduce more opportunities for movement into the working day.

This could include: encouraging and reminding people who sit or stand most of the time to change their position, to stand and stretch if they sit all day, to sit and rest regularly if they stand all day, to break up tasks so they move about more. It could be introducing walking and mobile meetings to promote creativity, increase energy, improve productivity and focus. In an office, this could be switching some or all desks to standing desks or rise and fall desks; switching some or all meetings to standing, switching one to one meetings to walking meetings. 

5. Promote a workplace culture where work breaks are honoured, protected and promoted.

This might include encouraging staff to take their lunch breaks away from their desks, ensuring people take all their holiday entitlement, or to explore ways to discourage overworking.