Five ways to encourage employees to walk to work

There are significant health benefits associated with encouraging employees to walk to work, even if they work from home. Employers should help them overcome perceived barriers and collectively become less sedentary this National Walking Month (May), writes Claire Glynn.

A daily walk can prevent one in 10 premature deaths by reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke by 17% and cancer by 7%. That’s according to new research from the University of Cambridge, which found that just 11 minutes of exercise a day has profound benefits.

Other benefits of walking include improved fitness, mental health and energy levels, so it’s surprising just how many people struggle to find the 75 minutes a week required to take a daily walk. Let alone the 150 minutes of moderate exercise advocated by the NHS.

Fortunately, May’s National Walking Month provides the perfect opportunity to encourage employees to get moving, using the following five tips.

1. Set a group challenge

Share this leaflet for employees with inspiring reasons for them to take part. Set up a group challenge to encourage as many employees as possible to take part and encourage them to take stock of how active they are.

Most smartphones come with built-in health apps that automatically count your steps throughout the day. Encourage employees to take a look to see how close they are to the recommended 10,000 steps a day.

How does the number of steps that they are doing fluctuate during the week? If their step count is low, what goals would they like to set to build more activity into their day? Could they consider walking some, or all of the way, to work as part of their daily routine?

2. Eliminate barriers

 The biggest perceived barrier against walking to work is the perception that employees don’t have enough time, for reasons including the school run or the distance they have to commute.

Help employees overcome these perceived barriers by encouraging them to think more creatively. Could they incorporate walking into their school run, park further away from work or get off the bus two stops earlier?

If there are still some genuine barriers, could you as their employer help by allowing them to start work 10 minutes later? If they have a team catch-up every morning, perhaps the team could do this as a walking meeting instead?

3. Encourage homeworkers to commute

During the pandemic, lots of people were mindful about using the time they used to spend commuting doing exercise or getting some fresh air. Now lots of people who work from home have settled into using that time to start work earlier instead, with many staying indoors all day.

There’s no reason why someone who used to do a brisk walk to the train station each morning can’t still take a brisk walk around the block before their day starts. It just hasn’t occurred to them that they can still ‘commute’.

By using National Walking Month to encourage homeworkers to enjoy a blast of fresh air every morning, you can give them a reason to try out a new routine and see how this makes them feel. Do they feel more energised and productive? If so, how can they make it a regular habit?

4. Get people to buddy up

It’s easy for the motivation to walk to work to slip on a cold, wet day. Encouraging employees to think about what they can wear to keep warm and dry in advance of bad weather can help. As can getting them to buddy up.

If they know they’ll be walking with a friend or colleague for some of the way, they will be motivated to honour that commitment. Having someone to talk to will also give them something else to look forward to and make the walk go faster.

For homeworkers, having a regular walking buddy will also give them an opportunity to replace some of their lost social interaction and watercooler conversations. Be sure to encourage those walking together to keep the pace up, so it remains a good form of exercise.

5. Keep the challenge going

As people gain fitness through walking to work, you might also want to encourage them to think about what else they can do. Maybe they can walk even further or faster, or perhaps start cycling, jogging or running some of the way.

Maybe they would like to start doing a secondary activity, such as yoga or an organised sport, to exercise other muscle groups. Make sure they set realistic but stretching goals and don’t try to do too much too soon.

If they overexert themselves, this could cause them to injure themselves and give up. Instead, encourage them to use National Walking Month to challenge themselves to do just a little bit more to keep stretching themselves – and their muscles – in healthy ways.