Aiton

Showers in the workplace

A good way to promote employee well being and environmental sustainability

 

 

 

By Jessi Raechelle

yet again to work out more

and to be healthier in general?
Do you find that there is not
enough time in the day to work
a solid exercise plan into your
busy life? Only weeks after you
make this dedication to your well
being, you fall into the same old
routine and before you know it,
another year has gone by.

If you live close enough to
work or school you can ride your
bike or jog, right? The problem
with riding or jogging is the lack
of facilities to clean yourself up
after you’ve worked up a sweat.

Being a fulltime employee
and a part-time student, I find it
hard to fit in a regular exercise
routine and still have time to
study and have a social life. I
live approximately 16 kilometres
from my place of work and
instead of driving I trek back and
forth every day on the smelly
bus, doing my part to save the
environment. I wish I could ride
a bike to work. While riding my
bike to work would mean waking
up earlier, it seems worth it.
Unfortunately, without the proper
facilities it would be hard to
maintain proper personal hygiene
after riding for 16k.

When the city I currently
work in decided to approve
our request to build a new
building for our branch, one
of the requirements was that
bike storage and showers be
incorporated. Their hopes were
to promote more environmentally
friendly ways to travel to work:
Upon hearing this I was ecstatic.
Adding these facilities meant
I could finally ride my bike
to work—an amazing way to
help out the environment, and
incorporate exercise on the way
to work. Sadly, these additions
were quickly dismissed to make
room for a bigger walk way. I
was curious; why the change? As
far as I can see, there are many
benefits of alternative ways to
commute to work—for both the
company and its employees.

16

|: your New Year’s resolution

One of reason I thinkit’sa =|
good idea for companies to invest
in facilities such as showers and
bike racks is the wellbeing of
their employees. Exercise has
an incredible amount health
benefits, one of which being
reduced stress. Exercising on the
way to work would help reduce
employee stress, allowing them
to better focus on their job.
Exercise releases endorphins,
which are said to be natural
pain relievers, making you
both happy and relaxed. What
employer doesn’t want happy
employees? Employees who are
in a good mood tend to create
satisfied customers. A company
can only profit from employee
and customer satisfaction—the
showers sell themselves.

On an individual level,
being able to exercise before
work frees up time after work,
providing more time to spend
with friends and family, to eat
a proper meal, and to study for
those exams. These days, our
roads are becoming more user
friendly for those other than cars.
Lets put those bike lanes to use
(they were paid for with your tax
dollars, after all). More people
running or biking to work means
less stress when trying to find a
parking space and for those who
have to pay for parking, it saves
on money too!

I think it should be a
standard for all work places to
promote a healthy work life
balance and what better way to
do so than to have the facilities to
encourage it. Overall, my work
does a really good job at trying to
promote this balance; however,
when the notion to make space
for bike racks and showers was
dismissed, I was left feeling
rather let down. I would much
rather work for a company that
offers bike racks and showers to
their employees. I believe that
having showers in the work place
shows that the company truly
cares for the well being of its
employees, and the environment.