Supporting a healthy lifestyle
How the local Health Team at Karlshamn power station motivates their co-workers to exercise
Health is very important to Uniper and we support our employees in every way we can. A good example can be found at Karlshamn power station in Sweden. In the beginning of 2022, electrical engineer Mattias Kheller and the local Health Team at Karlshamn came up with an idea to make their own gym more attractive. As the existing one was in need of refurbishment and located at a remote area of the power station, it was not used by many.
“We knew that we needed to do something and we already had a lot of equipment. So instead of just refurbishing the old venue, the health team and Mattias came up with this great idea of moving all the equipment to another location, to make it more inviting and accessible to the employees”, says Henrik Svensson, Plant Manager at Karlshamn power station, who saw the opportunity to promote health activities on site. The team quickly realized there was enough space to build a multisport-arena next to the gym, able to offer a broader variety of sports. While the company provided the cost for material, some of the 60 people working at Karlshamn on voluntarily basis renewed the floors, painted the walls and moved all the equipment.
After around eight months, the work was done and the venue finally opened. And it paid off: The gym has been a great success. “We are seeing an utilization we’ve never seen before and went from one person training in the old gym in a week to four people per day in the new one”, says Mattias Kheller, who has been a coach for Carlshamns Innebandy, which is a local floorball team, and is passionate about fitness activities. Also, the multisport arena is being used for different activities. Every Wednesday ten to twelve people play floorball in the hall on a regular basis.
Furthermore around eight people took part in a local badminton tournament held in March. Recently, even a group training with a personal trainer was organized, which nearly half of the staff joined. “But this is not the end of it”, adds Björn Magnusson, Communications Manager at Karlshamn power station, “we are planning to invite more personal trainers for different exercises, so that every person can find their preferred way of working out – whether it’s the gym, group trainings or something else”. To promote health even further, the local team has many plans for the future, for example bicycle tours and lectures on healthy lifestyle including stress management.
But not only has the final result been a huge success, the process of working together is also great for the team spirit, according to Henrik Svensson. “If you’re creating a gym and multisport arena, and being part of a group project besides the normal workday and tasks, it promotes not only health issues but is also a way of working together and to create an inclusive environment”, he says.
In general, physical as well as mental health and wellbeing is very high up on Uniper’s agenda and that is why different initiatives are put into place, not only locally but also company-wide. Health activities at Karlshamn include health checks for the staff on a regular basis, conceptual healthy meals in the canteen and a software on computers reminding employees to take regular breaks, while Uniper organizes online classes about mindfulness on different occasions and names a health champion at every asset, promoting a healthy lifestyle and working as inspiration for other employees.
