Uni plays key role to get Everybody Active in Kirklees

BUSINESS leaders from across Kirklees showed they have a shared determination to make the local workforce active, healthy, happy and ultimately more productive, when a high-turnout attended the area’s first Fit to Work event, held in association with the University of Huddersfield.

The free event, held as part of the local initiative Everybody Active, was an opportunity for local businesses to find out what other companies have done to make their workforce a more active and healthier one, as well as providing a valuable networking opportunity.

Everybody Active is a partnership of organisations who have committed to making Kirklees a more active, healthier place to live and work and have a mission for everyone in Kirklees to be physically active through work, play, sport, travel or leisure by 2020.

The University’s Dr Kiara Lewis, Acting Head of the University’s Department of Allied Health Professionals and Sports & Exercise Science, is a member of the Everybody Active Executive Board and has conducted a wide variety of research demonstrating the positive benefits exercise can have on a person’s physical and emotional wellbeing.

“Not only did the briefing pass on ideas of how to become more active and healthy,” said Dr Lewis, “it also presented businesses with evidence to prove why an active and healthier workforce is a more productive one.”

An easy and local initiative, shown as an example for businesses to use, is an hour-long interactive workshop called Just a Nudge, led by the Sport and Physical Development Team at Kirklees Council, where they discuss not only the physical benefits of being active, but also how it benefits social, emotional and mental health too. 

Opening the event with his talk entitled The rationale for a healthy workplace, was Mike Farrar, former Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, followed by representatives from Public Health England who embellished on the health of the country’s workforce as a whole.

The second part of the morning’s event featured talks from businesses, including Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, who had already implemented and engaged in a healthy workplace and the role of technology.

The Everybody Active team now plans to keep in contact with the businesses who attended to evaluate how much progress they make with encouraging their workforce to be ‘Fit to Work’.

• For more information about Everybody Active email, ian.brierley@johnlbrierley.com or simon.pugh@yorkshiresport.org and for more details about Just a Nudge, phone 01484 234141 or email the team at spadt@kirklees.gov.uk.