A ground breaking new survey commissioned by Standard Chartered Bank has today revealed that companies which encourage their staff to participate in team sports are more likely to be successful and have a higher level of staff satisfaction.
The nationwide poll was conducted as part of the build up to The Standard Chartered Great City Race on Thursday 19 July, a unique 5km run, which is built on teamwork with all 6,000 runners representing teams from British companies.
The research shows that staff who participate in team sports are five times more likely to work for a company that has experienced at least a 50% growth in the last year, demonstrating a clear link between group exercise and corporate success. Surprisingly, however, despite the clear correlation between team exercise and success, less than 20% of UK businesses actually encourage their staff to take part in sport.
Further analysis of the poll sheds some light on why there is such a strikingly positive relationship between team sports and booming business, with staff citing increased levels of personal satisfaction and improved communication and rapport with colleagues among the major benefits of taking part in team sport.
Standard Chartered Great City Race ambassador and former World Champion 110m hurdler Colin Jackson commented, “I know from my own experiences of training for the Olympics and World Championships that teamwork is an intrinsic element in success, not just in a sporting arena but also in one’s business and personal life.
“The research commissioned by Standard Chartered Bank clearly shows that businesses can reap huge rewards by encouraging their staff to take part in group sport. The race on 19th July is a wonderful opportunity to get City workers out from behind their desks and focused on fitness and health.”
The survey revealed that just one in 10 workers gave themselves a maximum score on job satisfaction, but this figure rockets to 33% among those staff who take part in team sports.
When it comes to building relationships 83% of workers who take part in team sports believe that it helps ‘level’ staff from different departments, while 92% believe it helps build a rapport with fellow colleagues and clients.
Team sports also have an enormously positive effect of reducing stress levels, which has now become the country’s largest factor behind staff absenteeism, costing businesses £588 per person each year. Over 85% of people surveyed say that taking part in team sport reduces stress, while the figure rises to a staggering 100% of those surveyed in the financial sector.
Despite such overwhelming evidence for a positive link between sport and corporate success, only 17% of companies actually encourage team sports. This suggests a huge missed opportunity for British businesses and some 46% of workers surveyed said the key reason for not taking part in sport was due to a lack of opportunity provided for them by their company.
However this cannot be said of Standard Chartered Bank, who proactively encourage their staff to take part in team events and can boast the fact that more than 50% of their employees are involved in sports activities.
Standard Chartered’s European CEO Brendon Hopkins, said, “We have a wide range of sporting and social clubs which our staff can get involved in, ranging from lunchtime running clubs, to darts teams and Go Karting events.
“It has been proved that sporting activities and well being programmes reduce staff turnover and this is something that has certainly been evident with Standard Chartered as we have a very low level of staff turn over, and have a very high percentage of employees who have been with us for over 10 years.”
Kate Harvey, a lecturer for the Centre for Workplace Health said, “With individuals spending an estimated 60% of their time in the workplace, and less than 40% of people achieving the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity at least five times a week, initiatives such as The Standard Chartered Great City Race are great for improving health, reducing absenteeism and increasing team communications.”