WELL Building standard Movement V09 Physical Activity Promotion
a WELL consultant’s perspective on HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAMS IN THE WORKPLACE FOR WELL feature V09 MOVEMENT
a Biofit outdoor class in mindful movement for the Second Home co-workin community, Lisbon, Portugal
What is the WELL Building Standard?
The WELL Certification process for WELL V2 is now widely established as the leading healthy building and wellness real estate standard in the world today. It is essentially a series of guidelines backed by rigorous scientific research, that when taken together, will guide a real estate project, whether new build construction or refurbishment and fit-out, towards a final product that is aligned with human health and wellness.
Sections of the V2 standard are dedicated to Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community & Innovation.
What is WELL consulting?
A WELL AP or WELL consultant is there to assist a project team through the certification process, ensuring maximum points are scored along the way by offering expert advice not just on how to lock-in points but also the principles that lie behind them. As a result, the project has every chance of becoming a model of health and wellness in the built environment.
Additionally, a WELL consultant’s skill set might include wellness interior design, biophilic design, knowledge in healthy buildings and consideration for sustainability / green buildings, a WELL building’s close cousin, as well as expertise in health and fitness, or as WELL like to call it ‘Physical Activity’, ‘Movement’ and ‘Nourishment’.
What is the WELL certification looking for in Movement V09?
WELL are interested in a joined-up approach here for Movement V09, one that recognises that workplace wellness can be a complex beast given that everyone reacts differently to the promotion of physical activity at work. Some will be early adopters, some will have their own routine outside of the workplace, while still others will struggle to engage at all. For this reason, it is advisable to combine environmental design with behavioral strategies.
We recommend starting the process with an understanding of the building occupants, the end users or target audience for the physical activity promotion in other words. It can be useful to develop 3-5 hypothetical user profiles for example, that describe a number of character types who will each respond to a different type of physical activity promotion best.
Physical Activity Incentives for WELL feature V09
Physical activity incentives such as what WELL refer to as ‘conditional incentives’ have been shown to have a respectable success rate. For example, if a business owner were to offer a reduced gym membership to all staff yet this came without any ‘ask’ in return, it is likely to have less long-term success that pinning that subsidy to X number of visits per month for example. With a wearable in the mix, we could imagine setting a monthly target of calories burned, steps walked and so on in exchange for the gym subsidy, almost like a form of gamification in fact.
Schools and Physical Activity Incentives in WELL Building Standard
Student populations are particularly relevant to this feature as early uptake of a physical activity regime can set a young person on a path to a lifetime of fitness, potentially, just as the opposite is equally true. Schools might include Physical Education classes with basic bodyweight exercises, calisthenics and group games. After-school activities such as specific sports are an even bigger opportunity to encourage physical activity as team sports and competition can tap into deep-rooted psychological needs in all of us, if pitched correctly.
We also recommend schools focus on reducing sedentary hours via the use of standing desks for example and generally promoting movement as part of the school day via any means possible. Eight hours crouched over a desk or laptop is not going to help anyone, especially not when a project is aiming for WELL Feature V09.
What type of physical activity programs does the well building standard ask for?
At least two of the following physical activity promotion programs to eligible employees:
Rewards for physical activity engagement (imagine the HR team creating a league table amongst departments with monthly or annual rewards)
A subsidy towards physical activity costs incurred by employees (perhaps a free weekly group fitness studio class to test out something new, or a subsidized small group fitness / personal trainer who coaches staff at a convenient hour in their schedule)
Reductions in health care premiums based on physical activity engagement.
Flexible work hours to accommodate physical activity (an extended lunch hour to allow time to change out of work clothes, run/swim/train and shower, as well as eat)
Paid time off for physical activity with a minimum of four days per calendar year (perhaps for a fitness holiday, to attend a race or for a full-day workshop deep dive into a fitness subject of particular interest)
Additionally, this feature asks for proof of employee utilization, such as one of the following:
The project monitors utilization of incentive programs and demonstrates an annual utilization rate of 50% (this would need to be monitored by the HR team or Office Manager for example)
The project demonstrates an annual improvement in utilization of at least 10 percentage points (this shows there are external efforts underway to continue the health promotion efforts, ensuring an increase in uptake over time, rather than letting the initiative slowly fade out due to lack of promotional effort within the workplace)
We hope this article has proven useful! Contact us here to discuss how we can help you with workplace wellness programs and the WELL Building Certification process