Walking Friends
4 min read
Living Streets’ unique initiative that enables businesses to tackle social isolation through improving the lives of older adults in their local communities.
Walking Friends helps businesses meet corporate social responsibility targets while upskilling and engaging staff and supporting the communities they operate within.
There are over 10.8 million people over 65 in the UK, 3.8 million of whom live alone.
Research from Age UK found that one million older people say they always, or often, feel lonely, and nearly one in five see their family, friends or neighbours less than weekly.
Living Streets has years of experience working with workplaces, and supporting communities, to increase walking at all levels.
Whether you’re a small or large business, or based in an urban or rural landscape, we have the tools you’ll need to enjoy the benefits of a walking community.
Want to know more?
Get in touch
Contact Alex McHardy on alex.mchardy@livingstreets.org.uk
How it works
Walking Friends is a bespoke package, fitted to your company and staff needs, and will include activities that will not only meet your corporate responsibility objectives but also enable staff to support isolated older adults in the communities you work within.
Training
Living Streets-led training will equip your staff with the knowledge and confidence to deliver led walks for older adults.
Brokering relationships
We will support the approach and relationship between your organisation/volunteers and local care homes.
Media
We will provide PR/media support to promote our partnership.
Communications
We will supply branded promotional materials to engage staff and raise awareness of our partnership.
Evaluation
We will create an evaluation report outlining the difference your support has made.
Account management
We will provide a dedicated account manager throughout.
What are the benefits of Walking Friends?
Reduce social isolation
Supporting people aged 65+ within their community by engaging them in walking activities, getting out and about and encouraging new friendships.
Support physical and mental health for staff and older people
Walking helps prevent long-term conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and depression. Being engaged in meaningful activities at work/in the community is an important part of good mental health.
Improve performance
Regular exercise causes an overall work performance boost of about 15%.
Boost morale and job satisfaction
Upskilling staff and supporting the communities they operate within, demonstrating that you care about staff health and wellbeing. Investing in walking activities will make them feel valued and proud of their workplace.
Reduction of absenteeism
Walking schemes can reduce the amount of sick days taken by staff, leading to lower absenteeism costs for the business.
Return on investment
A highly engaged workforce can improve operating income by 19.2%.
Walking Friends in action
Phoenix Group, one of Living Streets’ corporate partners, has sponsored Walking Friends for years and truly believe in walking for health and wellbeing purposes.
Paul Offer, a Phoenix Group volunteer said: “To see the impact a short, local walk has on people’s lives is quite humbling. To any other organisation that’s considering doing something similar to Walking Friends, I’d say ‘stop considering and do it’. It’s the best piece of community work that you probably could ever do.”
Get involved
Get in touch
If your business is interested in tackling social isolation in your community, why not set up a Walking Friends initiative with Living Streets?
We can deliver packages for any sized business to include walk leader training, community outreach, and advice on safeguarding frameworks.
Contact Alex McHardy on alex.mchardy@livingstreets.org.uk