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Efecte’s Fitness Enthusiasts Earn Days Off
- Staff at IT firm shed over 100 excess kilograms during a 10-week-long competition
2009-09-23
The employees at Efecte Corp., a Nordic software company, are now in good shape. Belts are being tightened quite literally there, as a consequence of a successful health and fitness campaign. During the 10-week-long fitness competition, staff lost an average of 1.2kg per person. What’s more, participants’ muscle tone improved by an average of 22%, compared to their condition at the start of the campaign.
To put the project into action, Efecte chose to have its own Fitness Trainer, who helped employees choose the right exercise goals for them. Erno Polus gave workers informative talks on the importance of healthy eating, weight management and choosing the right types of sports. Under the trainer’s supervision, employees’ performance and physical condition were analyzed at the start and finish of the project. Employees were also given demonstrations of four different types of exercise, and those who were willing could exercise together every week.
This novel campaign encouraged 95% of the 80 employees at Efecte to participate. Employees were divided into 10-member teams, which then took part in fun sports competitions.
Sari Lievonen, the company’s HR director, is delighted with the results. “Thanks to the campaign, a number of people discovered new types of exercise, and others rediscovered sports activities they’d forgotten about. We’ve already come up with a weekly schedule that includes Ultimate Frisbee and volleyball on Mondays, jogging on Tuesdays, sweating it out in the gym on Wednesdays and biking on Thursdays; Fridays are reserved for golf in the summertime or skiing in the wintertime. Efecte folks are also eager members of the company’s floor hockey team.” The fitness campaign culminated in a company-wide Olympics at the end of June, with prizes of pulse monitors and tickets to sporting events for the top performers.
Efecte’s president, Kristian Jaakkola, is pleased, too. “We’ve given out vouchers for fitness facilities for several years now, but this time we wanted to get employees interested in group fitness. The project has been a big success, so we’re going to keep the campaign going. This fall, the focus will shift from physical well-being to mental and emotional well-being: we’ll have coaches to help our employees stay in both good mental, and emotional health,” he explained. To encourage employees’ fitness activities this fall, there will be some new enticements on offer, such as extra days off.
“Projects promoting exercise pay for themselves very quickly. The fitness activities have encouraged a more positive general attitude than before, created new bonds between sports teams, and even improved employees’ alertness levels at work. IT is considered a pretty demanding field, so we want to keep our top professionals in great condition to perform their best,” Jaakkola added.
For more information, please contact:
Sari Lievonen, Director, HR
Efecte Corp.
Tel. +358 40 865 4063
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Kristian Jaakkola, CEO
Efecte Corp.
Tel. +358 40 529 7497
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