Fitness industry experts have announced the launch of SNEAKERS; an initiative created to provide workplaces of any size, fitness solutions by curating bespoke health and fitness programs and matching them with the right trainers.
The benefits of physical activity in the workplace have been well documented and research continues to emerge substantiating this. NSW Health has reported that absenteeism due to sickness is costing AU$7 billion, or $1,000 per employee per year. The cost to both organisations and staff is not sustainable. However, by incorporating regular exercise into your routine, you can decrease mental and physical health risks by up to 56 per cent.
SNEAKERS seeks to do things differently and simplifying the process. With the aim of fostering a workplace culture of physical activity, SNEAKERS is removing the greater barriers to exercise; time and accessibility. Australians are now spending over half their waking hours at work, and this trend is only increasing, creating the demand for a fitness solution to be incorporated easily into the modern corporate environment.
SNEAKERS Programs will focus on enhancing the physical, mental and emotional performance of participants resulting in greater employee retention, increased productivity, group morale, and happier and healthier workplaces as a whole. As an added value, participants will naturally become fitter, stronger and more capable in their daily tasks both inside out outside the workplace.
Co-founder and fitness expert Scott Henderson said, “We are attempting to change the way that the mainstream population accesses fitness by breaking down barriers and eliminating excuses, but most of all, creating programs that employees actually want to take part in.”
At SNEAKERS, we believe that fitness, health and life are not mutually exclusive, but are all essential element in the pursuit of happiness. A healthy lifestyle does not only mean eating well or being physically active but a combination. SNEAKERS will utilise its network of Australia’s health and fitness experts and brands to provide a holistic approach to wellbeing according to the needs of the participants and organisation.
Co-founder Keri Kitay said, “Our careers have now come to define our lifestyles. We spend more hours at work than any other pursuit, so the need to incorporate healthy living habits and fitness into our work and school day is more important than ever.”
With a combined 12 years’ experience working in the health and fitness industry and alongside organisations, founders Keri Kitay and Scott Henderson understand fitness is not a one size fits all approach and therefore no two programs will be the same. For the year leading up to Sneakers, Directors Keri & Scott have spent time with the worlds greatest fitness minds, health experts and industry leaders – from Sydney, Melbourne, London, and Tel Aviv, to Singapore, NY, and LA – soaking up knowledge, learning new practices, training our team, and working alongside these industry leaders in all aspects of health. Why? To ensure they can communicate a balanced healthy opinion and deliver the most holistic approach to fitness possible when working with clients.
“We want to continually expand and explore healthy human conditioning on a personalised and sustainable level through Sneakers, and train our network of trainers based on the same principle. We need to understand why people are not participating in physical activity and what their motivations and deterrents are. SNEAKERS approach is to delve into the needs and individual barriers to exercise before curating a program. If we can work alongside workplaces, we have a greater chance of their staff members participating, and greater longevity in the pursuit of fostering healthier and happier workplaces,” said Scott Henderson.
Statistics on physical activity and workplaces:
- “Full time workers on average spend over half their waking hours in the workplace[1].”
- “Employees who are overweight or obese and have other chronic health problems miss over 450 million more days of work each year than healthy workers (in the USA alone). The result is an estimated cost of more than US$153 billion in lost productivity each year[2].”
- “The combined effects of exercise on work performance and absenteeism data found that the healthiest employees are almost three times more effective than the least healthy, with the healthiest employees working approximately 143 effective hours per month compared to 49 effective hours per month by the least healthy[3].”
- “When looking at economic return of worksite health promotion programs found on average programs:
- Decrease sick leave absenteeism by 25.3%
- Decrease workers compensation costs by 40.7% > decrease
- Disability management costs by 24.2%; and
- Save $5.81 for every $1 invested in employee health and wellbeing[4].”
- “Organisations that promote health and wellness are more likely to retain staff within 12 months[5]:
- Increased moral and engagement at work
- Decreased health risk factors by up to 56%
- Time management.”
For more information on SNEAKERS head online.