With an estimated 70% of adults not doing enough exercise to benefit their health and statistics showing that we jump in the car for over a fifth of journeys shorter than one mile, businesses and local councils are being urged to encourage their staff and businesses in their area to change their journey to work during National Walk to Work Week (27th April - 1st May.)

National charity Living Streets runs the Walking Works Campaign, which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and in London by Transport for London, to highlight the role that walking can play in bringing some much needed activity into the workplace.

During Walk to Work Week, we want you to ask your staff "how do you do it?" questioning how much walking they currently do, and challenging them to do more. We're asking everyone to think about how they can fit more walking into their average day by setting a series of five challenges, which the whole staff team can complete during Walk to Work Week.

5 Challenges:

1. Walk all or part of your way to work this week!
2. Take a "walking meeting"
3. Get out and enjoy your local area during your lunch hour this week.
4. Take a walk with a friend or colleague
5. Walk all or part of your journey home this week

Individuals, staff teams and even whole companies can compete against each other, pitting distances and time walked in an effort to be the most walking friendly workplace! The challenges are designed to be flexible enough to fit in with the average working week and people can choose which to undertake and when according to their individual schedules.

A range of resources are now on sale to help ensure your organisation gets the very best results from Walk to Work Week. Posters, banners, leaflets and a variety of promotional items such as umbrellas, frisbees, bags and pedometers are available at www.walkingworks.org.uk/walk-to-work-week-2009. Order your resources now by 6pm on 30 March 2009.

On the week itself we will be launching an online tool to allow individual employees, organisations and businesses to track their own progress throughout the week, including calories burned and carbon saved, compare themselves against others in the local area and find out how the nation is progressing as a whole.

More than 27 million adults in England are not getting enough exercise, but walking for just 30 minutes a day during the working week means meeting the governments recommended level of daily activity to transform your health.

Inactivity not only has a huge impact on individuals, it affects businesses to. Experts suggest that just 90 minutes if exercise a week can cut absenteeism by up to half. In 2007, the average worker took almost 7 days off work sick, losing 172 million working days and costing the economy a total of £13.2 billion. Improving the health of those working in your organisation is a real and worthwhile way to reduce this burden. Encouraging your staff to walk all or part of the commute is an excellent way to get some activity into their day, doing wonders for both mental and physical health.

Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive of Living Streets said:
"We're facing an obesity epidemic in this country, largely because very few people are actually exercising enough to get health benefits. As with any health issue, this has a bit impact on businesses, with sick days costing the economy £13.2 billion last year. But there's an easy way to work more exercise into your daily routine - make walking an attractive option.

"The benefits of walking more are huge, not only for health, but to give time to plan for the day ahead, or to unwind after it. Taking part in Walk to Work with, with our tongue-in-cheek resources, is a really simple and effective way to show your staff the benefits of walking."

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