Great place to work Europe’s best take Watch Us Get Fit

A Merseyside housing association has teamed up with former Liverpool FC player Jamie Carragher to encourage staff to keep fit.

The Sovini Group has formed a partnership with Carragher’s Watch us Get Fit, with employees across the organisation signing up to the initiative. Those taking part will earn rewards for their efforts as they work towards their fitness goals.

Watch us Get Fit originally launched for children, with Sovini providing the funding to kickstart the project’s roll-out across 10 primary school in the Liverpool City Region. It has since expanded into other regions, encouraging children to be active regardless of their ability.

“The project has been really successful engaging primary school children and encouraging them to be active,” Carragher said. “Having a high-profile employer like The Sovini Group on board highlights the potential of the project and shows anyone can improve their health, regardless of age or ability.”

Roy Williams, Sovini Group’s chief executive, said: “We are recognised as one of the UK’s best workplaces and we believe this unique partnership with Watch us Get Fit will only enhance our employee offer. We place great importance on the health and wellbeing of our employees, and I think they will get a lot out of the project.”

Employees will receive a free Garmin fitness tracker that will monitor things like step count, calories burned, distance covered, active minutes and more. They will be able to access their own personal dashboard to monitor progress, set goals and keep track of their reward points.

The group is the first major employer to launch the scheme.

“The Sovini Group helped bring the initiative into schools and we’ve had a fantastic response from the pupils engaged with the programme,” said James Olsen, director of Watch us Get Fit. “We’re delighted to have an organisation like The Sovini Group introduce Watch us Get Fit to the workplace. There’s a lot of excitement around the project. The buy-in from staff has been fantastic already.”