“Workplace Wellness: Walk this Way” was hosted by experts from ChageLab Solutions, a group who works to develop innovative policies to achieve healthier communities. The webinar focused on ChangeLab’s newest resource Walk This Way which seeks to promote policies to increase physical activity in and around workplaces in hopes of helping more Americans meet the Physical Activity Guidelines. The guide is provided as a resource to wellness promoters who may be working with communities, or as a champion for their workplace.
The first few policies discussed are focused on increasing physical activity in the workplace itself. Benefits of physical activity in the workplace are numerous and include improved employee health, greater productivity, and decreased healthcare costs. One of the most interesting policies was giving paid time for physical activity. This type of policy encourages employees to be active during the workday by including it as part of their paid time. Employees don’t have to “clock out” or add extra time at the end of the day to make up for time spent exercising. While it is effective, this policy may be difficult to implement given the amount of buy-in needed from leadership. In addition to paid time for activity, another interesting policy was a workplace wellness tax credit. Under this policy, private employers who develop, adopt, and implement workplace wellness policies are provided monetary incentives. This strategy is often used to promote workplace wellness programs in small businesses, who are less likely to have such programs. Again, because these policies require buy-in at higher levels, such as local government, they may be somewhat difficult to implement.
The second part of the webinar focused on policies to increase physical activity around workplaces. For most people, commuting to work involves sitting in a single-occupant vehicle for 30 minutes to an hour each way. However, if we work to improve the infrastructure of communities around our homes and workplaces, more people would have the opportunity to include active transportation as part of their commute. The Walk This Way guide focuses on four different strategies to improve the infrastructure and systems related to active commuting. One policy, complete streets, involves re-thinking the design of our streets, which typically cater to automobiles, to include safe and accessible transportation options for pedestrians and cyclists. Using this strategy, streets are re-designed to include features such as bike lanes, parking lanes, sidewalks, and median islands, which make it easier and safer for people to walk and bike.
Overall, Walk This Way provides excellent recommendations for anyone looking to improve access and opportunities for physical activity. These days, many people spend a majority of their time at or around their workplace. Using strategies like those described in this resource will allow us help people incorporate physical activity into their workday, which may be more effective than trying to increase physical activity during leisure time. As resources like this continue to become available, physical activity promoters have even more tools at their disposal to help people lead more active lifestyles.