Enjoy the challenge with your friends! New health promotion initiative "New Well Challenge 2023"
contributes to establishing exercise habits and team building.
October 11, 2023
ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka City, President: Masafumi Sugimoto) believes that health is the foundation for achieving well-being. In May 2021, in addition to health indicators that prepare for current and future health risks, Rohto set health indicators that also look ahead to the health of future generations. To achieve one of these indicators, the exercise goal of "the percentage of people who exercise for 30 minutes at least twice a week," Rohto held its original health promotion initiative, "New Well-Challe 2023," for approximately two months starting from Health Declaration Day, June 10, 2023. Based on a concept that combines "exercise," "communication," and "health independence," goals were set according to the health challenges of each department. By working together with colleagues, the initiative not only established exercise habits but also fostered an awareness of independent health efforts and promoted communication within departments. We report on this initiative.
Initiatives
- Period: June 10, 2023 *1- August 4, 2023
- Objective: To create opportunities for employees to engage in exercise by working together with their colleagues, and to empower each employee to take initiative towards better health.
- Total participants: 1801 individuals, 158 teams (projects)
- Content: Teams will propose exercise-related goals and plans tailored to the health challenges of each department and work on them together.
After the program ends, seven types of awards will be presented (the health insurance will provide a subsidy of 1,000 yen per person for the implementation of the program as a sports encouragement grant).
*1: June 10th is designated as "Rohto Day," a health declaration day, established in 2017 as a day for Rohto to declare its commitment to health in order to achieve the major goal of "extending healthy life expectancy without relying on medicine."
Examples of initiatives (partial list)
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- Project Name: Challenge: Daily Full Marathon!! ~Tokyo vs. Osaka Team Competition: Each team walks 42,195 kilometers every day~
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Department: Medical business Promotion Department
Details: The calculation is based on the number of steps taken using a pedometer between June 12th and 25th, multiplied by a distance of 70cm for men and 60cm for women.
During the period, we provided detailed progress reports at meetings and other gatherings, and also encouraged and motivated each other through an online chat system. By setting up a winner and loser each day and incorporating a game-like element, everyone was able to participate without getting bored or feeling pressured. It was so exciting that it even went into overtime.
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- Project Name: Develop an Exercise Habit with Plus One Exercise
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Department: HB West Japan Division
Content: The team incorporated extra exercise into their daily routines.
- After the morning radio calisthenics, everyone participates in an additional exercise.
- I decided on a training body part for each day of the week and performed training for approximately 3-5 minutes each day.
Results (internal surveys before and after implementation)
- The percentage of people who exercise for 30 minutes or more, twice a week (exercise intensity of brisk walking or higher), improved from 53% to 68%.
- 44.7% of respondents reported that their perceived communication volume had "increased significantly" or "increased," and many comments indicated that it contributed to team building, such as "I was able to see a new side of my colleagues."
- Presenteeism *2 has been improved.
The average measured value using the SPQ (Single-Item Presenteeism Question, University of Tokyo 1-item version) improved from 84% to 87.5%.
*2: This refers to a situation where work efficiency is reduced due to some kind of health problem (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). Presenteeism is calculated as the value obtained by subtracting the actual value from 100%.
Future Plans
Our company focuses on creating opportunities for employees to proactively maintain their health, and we believe that the positive energy of each individual will spread to society and further the circle of health for future generations.