Skånska Byggvaror Interview
HR Generalist, Petra Wennström, discusses how Skånska Byggvaror has managed to motivate their employees to take more active breaks.
Preventing sedentary issues.
How can we prevent sedentary issues? That’s what Petra Wennström, HR Generalist at Skånska Byggvaror discussed with our Co-Founder, Johan Boholm. In today's world, 1/3 of the global population aged 15 years and older isn’t getting enough physical activity, affecting their overall health. Skånska Byggvaror wanted to help increase the activity in their employees by using Smart Break.
“In these times, we have less insight into our employees' working day and we wanted to find a way to contribute to breaks and movement. It is a challenge when we work from home and cannot see each other, and start exercises together, as we previously did in the offices.”
Taking breaks together.
Smart Break comes with a variation of features. You can take breaks together or alone, depending on what fits your organization. Even if you are working from home, you can still take breaks together. While we recommend taking at least two breaks a day, one before lunch and one after, you can schedule breaks whenever it fits you best.
“It is very good that it is so short but still targets different parts of the body. It is user-friendly and has been good that you can see the exercises and do them "together".
Motivating your team
One of the biggest challenges with starting something new in a company can be motivating your employees. Change is a difficult thing for people. Johan discussed with Petra how he managed to motivate his participants to perform Smart Break.
“We raffled off food bags with food for a whole week, which was an incentive that attracted our employees, but also the competition itself. First we competed in teams and then individually.”
More energetic employees.
So much can be achieved from taking short microbreaks. Studies show that small sessions of movement can have significant benefits for both physical and mental health. Short chunks of activity peppered throughout your workday will give you the most benefit. Even one small activity break can help reduce blood pressure, improve sleep, lessen anxiety, and boost cognitive function. Wennström commented on what he felt his team had achieved since taking breaks.
“We have hopefully gotten more energetic employees who had a short break in a usually intense working day. It's easy to just work on and on, and not take the small, much-needed breaks that are so important.”
