How Leeds team-building firm aims to keep home workers active during coronavirus lockdown

Team+ works with dozens of organisations including PwC, Squire Patton & Boggs and HSBC to improve staff well-being. The city centre company, which has 60 staff, also works with schools across South and West Yorkshire.

The current restrictions mean Team+ obviously cannot work face to face with clients, but founder Darren Padgett said they want to help others through this difficult time.

He said: “Working from home is quite a challenge for our physical and mental health and we know it could go on for many weeks or months. So, we thought we’d do our bit to help.

“We know from our work that staff who are more active in mind and body are more motivated and more productive. We also know from our school work that is true for children too.

“So, keeping active is vital. We can all go out and exercise once a day and it is important we do that. But we can also try ways of keeping active indoors and in the garden if you have one. That’s why we’ve created a series of videos to give people ideas of activities they could do and are also asking businesses to set challenges for each other."

He added: “It might be creating an obstacle course to get round or playing hide and seek with the kids or the dog; anything that stretches the imagination.”

Darren was head of PE at the Barnsley comprehensive where the film Kes was set, before he moved into the development of active lives for children in schools and then set up Team+ in 2011. Initially the company worked only with schools, before moving into working with businesses in 2014.

Team+, which is based in the Leeming Building in Vicar Lane in Leeds, and has an office in Barnsley, creates bespoke programmes for businesses from customer care workshops to adventure activity days.

“We know that it isn’t just children that benefit from play, adults do too. We need to keep our workers fit and healthy and motivated through all this,” said Darren.

Darren is asking people to keep the activities safe and film them to share online.

For more information go to http://tiny.cc/playathome or contact Darren on email at: [email protected]*************

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