Winter brings with it freezing mornings and snow-covered sidewalks, but your business needs to keep going. Many Canadian workers tend to cope with the cold season in unhealthy ways such as skipping lunch, so they don’t have to deal with the cold outside. However, spending too much time indoors dampens their mood and harms their health. As a result, workplace productivity takes a hit.

Here are some ways to encourage your employees to be physically active and remain productive.

1. Centralize Office Facilities

Reconsider the placement of shared workplace facilities such as printers and trash cans. Placing these items at a central location will get your employees moving. Moreover, centralizing trash cans helps to reduce the cost of waste management. Similarly, setting up a central printing center gets people moving, encourages interactions and simplifies maintenance.

2. Have Stand-Up and Walking Meetings

Physical activity improves brain function. Sitting for long hours has the opposite effect. For these reasons, consider having stand-up and walking meetings. Discussing business while strolling around the office livens your teams’ moods and boosts their creativity. Furthermore, team members tend to be more concise and precise in walking meetings than they are at sitting meetings.

3. Keep Your Team Well-Hydrated

Healthy people drink plenty of water. Make sure your teams’ energy levels are high and their moods are positive by encouraging them to stay well-hydrated. Set up a central water cooler, and make sure it never runs dry. The benefits of centralized water supply at the office are three-fold: drinking lots of water keeps your people healthy, a central water cooler gets them moving, and well-hydrated people visit the restroom often (which further encourages movement).

4. Model the Right Behavior

When it comes to office culture and mood, your employees follow your lead. The level of physical activity is part of your office culture. In addition to taking the above measures to encourage movement, you can change your office culture by embodying the physically active behavior you want your employees to adopt. Participate in your company’s stair clubs, health screenings, vaccinations and gym workouts. and watch your teams follow your example.

Jumpstart Your Teams

There’s no justification for having inactive teams during the winter. Despite the cold weather, you can make your work-space active, boost morale and inspire productivity by centralizing office facilities, keeping your teams well-hydrated, having walking meetings, and modeling a healthy lifestyle. Your employees can learn to see winter as an exciting period when you show them how to be active.