A pioneering programme is set to enhance employee well-being while supporting charities.
- Coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week, the initiative promotes physical activity.
- Active Charity rewards employees for meeting exercise targets with donations to their chosen charities.
- Designed by Total Active Hub, it encourages lifelong behavioural change through movement.
- Companies like South Western Railway are already supporting and benefiting from this programme.
A new innovative programme is launching to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, encouraging UK employees to engage in more physical activity while contributing positively to charities. This approach not only promotes well-being but also fosters corporate social responsibility.
Active Charity, developed by Total Active Hub, incentivises employees to reach 150 minutes of exercise weekly. Once this target is met, employees are rewarded with monetary donations that they can allocate to their preferred charities. This system integrates corporate philanthropy with personal wellness, enhancing social impact alongside employee health.
Research indicates significant benefits of exercising in groups, with 97% of employees expressing increased motivation to exercise with colleagues and 73% feeling more productive during the day. Through the Active Charity programme, organisations can significantly improve their social contributions while bolstering employees’ physical and mental health.
The system works by allowing companies to reward physical activity through a digital platform similar to supermarket charity tokens. Employees’ efforts are tracked, and once the exercise target is achieved, funds are made available for employees to donate. This creates a sustained engagement with both exercise and charitable giving.
Active Charity forms a key part of Total Active Hub’s larger Movement for Good programme, which also includes initiatives like Active Education and Active Trees. These programmes provide incentives for physical activity that support educational and environmental causes, enhancing the programme’s societal impact.
Total Active Hub’s CEO, Tony Eames, emphasises the connection between movement and mental well-being, asserting the initiative’s alignment with this year’s Mental Health Awareness theme. Eames highlights the dual benefits of integrating exercise with charitable giving, noting that a significant number of employees are motivated by intrinsic rewards rather than direct monetary gains.
The programme also fosters team spirit and camaraderie through healthy competition, even for remote workers. This approach unifies colleagues across locations, enhancing workplace engagement and morale.
Participating organisations include South Western Railway, with their Sustainability Manager, Georgia House, highlighting the programme’s benefits in promoting both health and charitable contributions. The programme’s global reach is evident, with users in over 90 countries and involving companies like Acer and Lloyds Bank.
Active Charity represents an innovative integration of physical wellness and social responsibility, fostering significant societal impact.
