Be the change you want to see in the office.

Exercising in the office - does this sound strange to you?

If it does, you're not alone. In years-gone-by, employees would sit in uniform fashion from 9 until 5, rising only to eat, drink, or mingle. Sounds bleak when it's written on the page, but that was commonplace for basically all companies, irrespective of where they were located.

And, sadly enough, the Dutch have been shown to be front-runners with this sedentary lifestyle - with adults in the Netherlands who are of a working age sitting, on average, 8.7 hours per day! We all know that this is not good for our health, so let's not harp on that for now..

..But, slowly but surely, a shift has started to happen. The winds are changing. The tide is turning. Exercising during the work day began being promoted in the workplace. It started with simple promotions: taking walks at lunch; company-wide daily step count challenges; seminars, webinars, or a complementary gym pass.

All of these things are important steps in building towards a greater big picture - a cultural shift where exercising is a normal part of the work day, be it at the office or at home.

We, at PreActive, are proponents of this cultural shift. The way we see it, there are two main aspects limiting employees and companies from fully realising this change:

1. Management within companies, and employees themselves leading by example: this could include employees incorporating small exercise breaks into their personal calendar; the company promoting company-wide movement breaks; setting up designated movement areas (yoga mats, therabands, etc.)

2. Companies having an employee wellness solution that provides and promotes daily exercise, which is personalised to the needs of each employee

A well-executed physical wellness strategy that normalised exercise in the workplace could have truly tremendous effects on one's physical health, secondary effects on mental health and overall work productivity.

We've brought to you the solution, now it's time to make the change. Create the shift internally, and have companies step forward into the New Normal with a fresh and up-to-date outlook on employee wellness!

So, with this in mind, we implore you to:

Be the change you want to see in the office.