Workers across the Fylde Coast are set to become more active and healthier in the workplace thanks to a whopping £116,500 funding from Sport England.
The two year funding was successfully secured through a Fylde Coast YMCA bid in partnership with Wyre and Fylde Borough Councils, the Local Strategic Partnerships and the Fylde and Wyre Sport and Physical Activity Alliances (SPAA).
This means that hundreds of employees in the boroughs will be eligible for massively reduced YMCA health and fitness memberships, work based taster sessions, health seminars, health advice, step-o-meter challenges and health assessments.
With the funding secured the Fylde Coast YMCA’s Y Active Team are set to launch the Y Active Workforce initiative in the New Year.
From January 2009, local business leaders can sign up their business to the Y Active Workforce initiative to receive a 6 month service for their employees.
Graham Oatridge, Y Active Programmes Manager for Fylde said: "The aim of Y Active Workforce is to provide workers with as many opportunities as possible to get involved with physical activity.
"We want to remove as many of the traditional barriers to exercise as possible. We know that people don’t often get involved with physical activity because of a lack of time, cost, motivation and accessibility. Y Active Workforce aims to remove these barriers by providing the reduced priced memberships across all Fylde Coast YMCA centres, making more physical activity opportunities available around the working day and delivering healthy messages along the way to keep participants motivated.
"The main thing is that our team will look to work with businesses on an individual basis to ensure we meet the needs of the business and the workforce."
A previous pilot programme in the North West, based on the same model demonstrated a 29% reduction in absenteeism levels, which factored across the whole organisation involved, could lead to a saving of over £1 million per annum.
Stewart Kellett, Regional Director of Sport England said: "We all know that being active is good for us, but work and everyday life often gets in the way. According to our Active People survey, only 23% of adults in Fylde currently do enough sport and physical activity to really benefit their health.
“Sport England is delighted to be supporting the Fylde and Wyre Sport and Physical Activity Alliances on this initiative which will give many people in the area a big helping hand to overcoming some of the obstacles to getting active."
The Y Active Referral team will also be linking in with company Occupational Health Departments, enabling long term sick employees to return to work. And as well as offering physical activity opportunities, the initiative will also look to incorporate information sessions on smoking cessation, alcohol reduction and back care through existing partnerships with the local NHS.
Interested Fylde and Wyre businesses should make enquiries directly to the Y Active Workforce team on 01253 882105.
