[PR] Healthy staff the driving force behind Dublin Bus

Healthy staff the driving force behind Dublin Bus

Dublin Bus drivers and staff will be breaking into a sweat in the coming weeks in a bid to collectively lose hundreds of pounds with a unique health and fitness programme being provided by the company to improve the health and wellbeing of their staff!

The Gutbusters programme, now in its second year, was originally devised by the Health Promotion team and Human Resources department at Dublin Bus to help employees create a healthy work/ life balance. Gutbusters is an 8 week programme designed by the Health Promotion Unit and is open to the 3,500 staff employed by the company. The programme incorporates a variety of fitness activities and talks including full fitness assessments, Weight Watchers meetings, healthy eating talks, dance classes, quit smoking lectures and stress management talks.

Over 200 staff from seven garages and Dublin Bus offices from around the Greater Dublin Area will be racing to be the fittest team in the organisation.

“It’s a great initiative, the main aim is to create an active programme which benefits both the working and private lives of staff. A great number of our staff, like so many in this age, sit all day working or are shift workers, which makes it very difficult to strike a healthy lifestyle” says Training and Recruitment Manager, Patricia Normanly.

“The majority of staff who took part last year found they enjoyed the different offerings, and many continued those activities after the programme ended, a number of staff also fed back that they were pleased with the amount of weight they also lost whilst gaining more energy in the long term.”

Research undertaken before the programme commenced last year showed that 72% did ‘none’ or ‘mild’ exercise before the programme with 67% of employee’s having goals to improve health or lose weight with 25% wishing to stop smoking.

After the programme in 2006, of those taking part, 90% lost weight, 97% upped the level of exercise they undertake and 88% said that the programme had a positive effect on their mood!

Dublin Bus carries over 150 million passengers annually and on average 500,000 each day across its 214 routes in the Greater Dublin Area. The company employs 3,500 staff and is the biggest provider of public transport services in Ireland during peak time periods. Its extensive network, which is serviced through its seven bus depots, provides a range of bus routes including radial, cross-city, peripheral, airport services, Nitelink and sightseeing tours. Dublin Bus, which commenced trading in 1987 is a subsidiary company of Córas Iompair Éireann.