Exercise community

Some have run, others have walked, but everyone who has wanted to move around during the work day has been welcome. It all started as a pilot project at BMB to see how exercise could be fitted into the work day at the Faculty of Science.

Klaus Lehn Petersen, who is an engineering assistant at Biology and BMB and is on the Faculty's Health and Safety Committee, helped to get the project started:

"As part of better well-being at the Faculty, the Liaison/Health and Safety Committee decided to support the project "Exercise at work" in 2016. My motivation has always been the wish to use exercise as a way of generating more physical and mental energy for colleagues during their work day. It has also been proved that exercise can reduce stress, so as far as I can see it's a win-win situation. Employees will be happier, their well-being will improve, and management gets employees that are less likely to fall ill, resulting in a more effective and productive place employment. I'm pleased that management has backed up the initiative, but we still need that final push to get more of our colleagues to take part".

During the project, Klaus Lehn Petersen has found it difficult to get all employees to jump onto the exercise wagon, but he hopes that will change. Particularly if it becomes possible to come up with more flexible offers. Some employees, particularly the academic taff, are asking for exercise to be scheduled at times other than the middle of the day so it can fit better into their work day. They are working on a solution, but unfortunately it is not immediately forthcoming, even though they want to create more flexibility.

Dean Martin Zachariasen supports the initiative and says:

"It is very important to the Faculty's management to ensure the well-being of our employees. That's why it's great that the pilot project at BMB has given the participating employees a surplus of not only physical, but also mental and social energy. Based on this, the Liaison Committee wants to expand the project to cover the entire Faculty, which I fully support. In the future, it will be up to the heads of department and the head of the Faculty Secretariat  how and to what extent exercise during the work day will be introduced within the frame of a maximum of 30 minutes twice a week during employees' working hours".

Randi Willum Nielsen, Project Administrator at SOS, has joined the running group on most Tuesdays and Thursdays, and she thinks that exercise has contributed positively to the work environment in many ways:

"My experience has been that those who participate in the exercise project get a lot out of it. It gives them an active break during the day, but it's also a way of chatting to colleagues who you wouldn't normally have contact with. It has contributed a lot to creating a social community at BMB and SOS, and also at Biology, from where some people are starting to come. Overall, the focus is on having fun and that everyone can join in, so we're not really that interested in things like how fast we're running. As well as the collegial aspect of the programme, it's clear to me that it gives you more energy for the rest of the day's work, and it's also very good for those of us who spend a lot of the day sitting to be active in the middle of the day so our shoulders can relax again," concludes Randi Willum Nielsen.

Randi and Klaus intend to continue exercising every Tuesday and Thursday, and they would very much like to have more of their colleagues join them. If you wish to participate, talk to the head of your department or the head of the Faculty Secretariat about how exercise can be organised at your workplace.