Workplace Challenge set for launch in January

Today, the County Sports Partnership Network announced that it will be launching a new free online activity logger in January 2014. 

The platform will be the first in the UK to run in parallel with a range of activity offline, designed to motivate and inspire workplaces across the country - comprising of challenges, programmes and competitions.

More than half of the County Sports Partnerships will take part in the first phase of the campaign, helping the nation to ‘Get Started’ in the New Year showing people where to find activities that they enjoy and log their progress. Everything from active travel to work through to participation in sports such as swimming, football and golf will count towards the log and be converted to points to enable workplaces to track progress and compete in national and local leader boards.

The platform, which has received funding support from Sport England and is supported by the British Heart Foundation’s Health at Work programme, is built on the growing trend for digital sharing. The platform enables people to track their activity, analyse their calorie burn and even see how much carbon dioxide they have helped to save by walking or cycling to work. Similar to a ‘Like’ on Facebook, people can also ‘High Five’ their colleagues for doing well.

Lee Mason from the County Sports Partnership Network (CSP Network) said:

“The CSP Network is proud to be supporting the delivery of the Workplace Challenge across England. It is critical that we understand how to capture the benefits of the digital environment, driving people to do more activity in the offline environments, whether encouraging more people to walk to work, visit their local leisure centre or take some exercise in their local parks.

This platform will enable participants to track all their activity, from participation in organised sport to informal activity and active travel such as walking to work, to show their combined impact which can contribute significantly to the health of an individual.

Digital tracking and sharing of data are increasingly being seen as key motivators in health and we believe that the Workplace Challenge will help us to track accurately, for the very first time, the level of activity within workplaces up and down the country, enabling County Sports Partnerships to inspire more people to get active.”

Lisa Purcell Project Manager for the British Heart Foundation’s Health at Work Programme said:

“Research highlights the health crisis that we face across workplaces, with obesity at an all time high.

We believe that the Workplace Challenge will inspire employers to champion the wellbeing of their workforce and we will be providing a comprehensive and engaging support package both on and offline, to support individual employees and businesses alike.

The bottom line is that the health of the workforce has a direct influence on the UK economy - boosting morale and productivity.”

Mike Diaper, Director of Community Sport at Sport England said:

“I am delighted to be working with the County Sports Partnership Network and the British Heart Foundation’s Health at Work Programme on this fantastic new tool. Influencing work places and getting employees to get active together is key in helping change peoples’ attitudes towards sport and will help them develop a lasting sporting habit.  I would encourage everybody to sign up to this challenge and get active in 2014!”

For more information, log on to www.workplacechallenge.org.uk

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Workplace Challenge

• Workplace Challenge is a free online platform enabling people to log all of their physical activity.

• Throughout 2014, employees and employers will be encouraged to start logging and generate points, enabling them to take part in a series of challenges, events and competitions.

• Points are calculated according to Metabolic Equivalents (METs) where 1MET is a person's average seated energy expenditure which is equivalent to 1kcal.kg-1.h-1. MET values will be different for different forms of exercise and will increase with the intensity and duration of exercise.

• Active loggers will be able to see a variety of stats including distance travelled, calorie burned and CO2 saved.

• A minimum of three registered employees are required for a workplace to appear in a leader board and people can also track their own individual progress locally and nationally.

• The platform has been developed, following a successful pilot by Leicester-Shire & Rutland Sport, with £500k investment from Sport England and will be run by the County Sports Partnership Network with support from the British Heart Foundation Health at Work team.

• Local County Sports Partnerships will manage the online platform for their community, ensuring that there are challenges, activities and competitions available offline to encourage people to stay active.

• It is anticipated that many people will use the platform to fundraise. E.g. The platform is already being used to support the ‘Run to Remember’ helping the Police in raising money for PC Nicola Hughes Memorial Fund, Victim Support, Care of Police Survivors and the North West Police Benevolent Fund.

County Sports Partnership Network

• The CSP Network represents 49 local County Sports Partnership teams across the country.

• Collectively, they contribute to the health of the nation by helping local partners, organisations and delivers to promote the benefits of active lifestyles across local communities.

• The CSP Network delivered The Community Games – one of the most successful community campaigns seen in the UK, attracting over 2 million members of the public to come together in local communities to take part in active cultural events inspired by 2012.  

British Heart Foundation Health at Work (HaW)

• Coronary heart disease is the UK’s single biggest killer. For over 50 years we’ve pioneered research that’s transformed the lives of people living with heart and circulatory conditions. Our work has been central to the discoveries of vital treatments that are changing the fight against heart disease. But so many people still need our help. From babies born with life-threatening heart problems to the many Mums, Dads and Grandparents who survive a heart attack and endure the daily battles of heart failure. Join our fight for every heartbeat in the UK. Every pound raised, minute of your time and donation to our shops will help make a difference to people’s lives. For more information visit bhf.org.uk.

Phase 1 - Participating County Sports Partnerships (further phases in 2014)

• Active Essex
• Active Norfolk
• Bucks
• Derbyshire Sport
• Get Berkshire Active
• Greater Sport (Manchester)
• Hertfordshire (HSP)
• Leicester-Shire & Rutland Sport
• Lincolnshire
• Living Sport (Cambridgeshire & Peterborough)
• Northamptonshire Sport
• Northumberland Sport
• Oxfordshire
• Suffolk Sport
• PRO-ACTIVE (collaborative support from 4 London CSPs)
• Somerset
• South Yorkshire Sport
• Sport across Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent
• Sport Hampshire & IOW
• Wesport
• West Yorkshire Sport

Michelle Leavesley, Citydesk Sport, on behalf of Workplace Challenge and County Sports Partnership Network.

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