Category: Analysis

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Aviroop Biswas, Assistant professor, University of Toronto

We all know about the benefits of physical activity — not just to reduce the risks of chronic disease and physical injuries but also to improve mental health and productivity at work. But many people just don’t get as much physical activity as they should.

The World Health Organization’s physical activity guidelines recommend adults strive for 150 to 300 minutes of moderately intense aerobic physical activity every week, or 75 to 150 minutes if the physical activity is vigorous.

Given the amount of time many people spend working, getting more physical activity at work and/or during commutes to and from work might make these goals more feasible for working people.

Evidence-based strategies for employers

My research conducted with colleagues at the Institute for Work and Health, an independent non-profit research institute, illustrates the many ways employers can play a role to encourage this part of a healthy lifestyle. Even small changes, such as encouraging workers to move more than they currently do, can yield meaningful heart health benefits.

Offering a range of physical activity options, from structured programs to pleasant walking spaces, can be motivating for a wide range of employees. Even fostering an environment that helps employees mentally disconnect from work for a short time can make it easier for them to engage in healthy behaviours.

Below are strategies employers can use to promote physical activity among workers, based on IWH research studies.

1. Promoting physical activity throughout the day

Employers can encourage workers to make it part of their workday routine to head to the gym before going to work or go on a run during their lunch hour.

To reinforce that message, our research shows that workplaces can offer a range of programs and amenities. These include access to a pleasant place to walk, jog or bike; access to a field or open space for ball games or other sports; a nearby gym or fitness centre; organized fitness classes; organized recreational sports teams; showers and/or change rooms; and programs to improve health, fitness or nutrition.

In our large study based on data from about 60,000 people (a sample chosen to be representative of the makeup of the Canadian population), those who said that their workplaces offered all of the programs and amenities listed above were twice as likely to be active as those who were offered none. They were also 1.5 times as likely to be moderately active.

Although such a buffet of offerings may seem out of reach for employers, a large group of workers — 25 per cent of the study sample — reported having all these offerings at or near their workplaces. We also found that people were more likely to be physically active when they had access to any combination of the above, compared to having none of the above.

When highlighting the benefits of a rewards package to potential employees, workplaces might want to showcase environmental features such as nearby parks and gyms as well as programs and amenities. All have been found to promote physical activity.

2. Emphasizing that every bit of movement counts

Workplace wellness advocates know that some workers are already committed workout aficionados who need no convincing. In another study focused on how workers actually move throughout the day, we found that exercise buffs made up one in 10 workers in a sample of more than 8,000 individuals (a sample that was also representative of the Canadian working population).

As part of our research findings, compared to the sedentary workers who sit most of the day (and who make up about three in 10 Canadian workers), these exercisers have a 42 per cent lower risk of developing heart disease over 10 years.

But here’s the good news: we also found 50 per cent of the working population fall somewhere between these two extremes in how much they move throughout the workday.

Think of the sales associates who don’t sit still for long at work or the nurses who do a mix of desk duties and highly physical tasks. These workers all have lower heart disease risks compared to the deskbound workers.

We should note one important exception from our research study, which is the group of workers who do strenuous, physical work all through the workday — for example, construction workers. Workers in this group — about one in 10 of the labour force — have the same heart health risks as sedentary workers. That’s because heavy, continuous exertion can place stress on the body, potentially raising blood pressure and counteracting the typical benefits of physical activity.

But for everyone else, the message from our study is that every little bit of movement counts in terms of lowering workers’ odds of developing heart disease.

3. Tapping into internal champions

One of our ongoing studies at the Institute for Work and Health suggests that workplace wellness champions can be powerful motivators. These can be formally designated advocates like wellness leads or human resources staff, but they can also be informal proponents — individuals who are genuinely and spontaneously passionate about healthy living.

Our study suggests that the informal champions tend be more trusted by colleagues and therefore more effective as motivators, but because they typically do this champion work on the side, they can run the risk of burnout.

Our message to employers is they should identify and support champions within their organizations, both formal and informal, by recognizing the value they bring to building a healthier workplace and equipping them with resources they need.

The importance of upstream factors

No matter what or how many initiatives are put in place to promote wellness, employers also need to look beyond individual behaviour and motivation if they want to encourage a physically active lifestyle among their employees. They have to recognize that upstream factors play a role in shaping individuals’ exercise choices. These include factors related to people’s working conditions.

Employers need to ask themselves: do their employees feel they can disconnect from work for 20 minutes to go for a walk? Do only certain employees (for example, the managers and high-performers) have the flexibility to join the company ball team? If the organization highlights the gyms and fitness clubs in the neighbourhood as one of the appeals of working there, can everyone afford the membership fees?

In short, while everyone would agree a more physically active lifestyle is important, employers may need to take a hard look at how workload, work flexibility, supervisor support and other psychosocial work factors contribute to motivating or disincentivizing a physically active lifestyle among their employees.

The payoff is worth it. Active workers are less likely to develop chronic diseases, are more resilient to stress and more engaged in their work. This translates into fewer absences, better performance and higher job satisfaction. By making it easier for employees to move during the day, employers can support a healthier workforce.

Aviroop Biswas receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. The Institute for Work & Health is supported in part through funding from the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. He is also the President of the Canadian Association for Research on Work & Health.

– ref. How employers can promote physical activity among workers: 3 messages based on research – https://theconversation.com/how-employers-can-promote-physical-activity-among-workers-3-messages-based-on-research-259897

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Xi Chen, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Guelph

As Canada navigates an ongoing tariff dispute with the United States, small businesses and startups are emerging as a source of economic growth that could help Canada assert greater independence from its largest trading partner.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has warned that Canada cannot rely on the U.S. any longer and must instead achieve “economic autonomy.” Ottawa’s efforts to remove internal trade barriers and expand infrastructure projects are central to this objective, paving the foundation to revitalize the Canadian economy.

Another key part of this agenda is fostering entrepreneurship — the engine for new opportunities and economic growth.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the Canadian economy. As of December 2023, small businesses made up 98.1 per cent of all employer businesses in Canada, accounted for 63.7 per cent of the private labour force and 48 per cent of Canada’s GDP (gross domestic product) over the 2017-21 period. They also represented 38.2 per cent of the total value of exported goods.

Although exporting has traditionally been dominated by larger, innovation-intensive SMEs — particularly those with significant intellectual property — recent data shows an increase in exports from smaller, service-oriented firms, many of them immigrant-led.

These businesses are playing an increasingly important role in diversifying Canada’s export base and reducing dependence on any single market — particularly the U.S.

The lean startup model

For many aspiring entrepreneurs, one of the most popular frameworks for launching a business is the lean startup method, developed by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Eric Ries and expanded on in his 2011 book, The Lean Startup.

This practice has been widely adopted by incubators and accelerators, some of which require new ventures to meet hundreds of mentors and potential customers for consultation.

The Lean Startup provides a recipe for starting businesses with minimal cost, fast iteration and higher success rate. The philosophy behind it is for entrepreneurs to validate their market before investing tons of resources into building a product.

Since its publication, The Lean Startup has been used by millions of entrepreneurs around the world. The book advises entrepreneurs to “get out of the building” and talk to potential customers, but it doesn’t specify how much effort entrepreneurs should invest in market validation — how many people to consult or how often to do so.

Market validation is the process of testing a product or service idea with its target market to confirm if there’s real demand for it and whether it is viable for success. Although it’s central to the lean startup approach, many entrepreneurs shy away from it for different reasons.

Some entrepreneurs want to protect their business ideas from being stolen by others. In addition, new ventures have scarce resources that need to be allocated to multiple tasks, and market validation competes for the limited attention and resources of entrepreneurs.

The ‘sweet spot’ for market validation

In a recent study, my co-author Stephen X. Zhang and I set out to understand which entrepreneurs are more likely to invest in market validation, and how much investment is optimal for new venture performance. We conducted a three-wave survey with 210 entrepreneurs and their co-founders from Canada, Chile and China.

We measured the self-efficacy of entrepreneurs — how confident they felt about market and entrepreneurial success — and asked co-founders to report their ventures’ market validation frequency and hours. We found that entrepreneurs with moderate levels of confidence invested most resources into market validation. They sought feedback more frequently and invested more time in understanding potential customers.

Entrepreneurs with low confidence either didn’t think market validation was worthwhile or they found it too intimidating. Those with high confidence didn’t think it was necessary to validate their market because they were already convinced of their success.

More importantly, we found that a moderate level of market validation led to the strongest new venture performance. Checking in with about four to five people monthly was the most efficient. Interestingly, this number coincides with the most efficient size of social network, as well as the number needed for user testing.

The results suggest that effective market validation is more about quality and consistency than quantity. Talking to a small, diverse group of knowledgeable contacts on a regular basis is optimal for enhancing new venture performance.

Yet there is a precaution: we did not study the quality of informants. Five people may be enough for qualitative methods such as interviews, but it may not be enough for quantitative methods such as surveys.

What this means for new entrepreneurs

Our findings can make the task starting a new business less daunting for entrepreneurs. Instead of trying to interview hundreds of customers or skipping validation entirely, early-stage entrepreneurs can start small.

If you have an idea, find five people that are most knowledgeable and relevant for the idea, and ask their opinions about the product or service you envisioned. If they like the idea, develop a minimum viable product to test it out. If not, revise your idea or try a different one.

In addition, understanding the way confidence has an impact on how entrepreneurs seek feedback can help organizations and mentors improve their coaching methods.

Entrepreneurs with low confidence may benefit from support that builds self-efficacy through vicarious learning, such as observing and simulation, to make feedback less intimidating. Those with excessive confidence may need to be challenged to provide evidence for their assumptions and reminded of the value of customer feedback in challenging even deeply held convictions.

Xi Chen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Small sample, big impact: How talking to just 5 people can improve startup success – https://theconversation.com/small-sample-big-impact-how-talking-to-just-5-people-can-improve-startup-success-266661

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Xi Chen, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, University of Guelph

As Canada navigates an ongoing tariff dispute with the United States, small businesses and startups are emerging as a source of economic growth that could help Canada assert greater independence from its largest trading partner.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has warned that Canada cannot rely on the U.S. any longer and must instead achieve “economic autonomy.” Ottawa’s efforts to remove internal trade barriers and expand infrastructure projects are central to this objective, paving the foundation to revitalize the Canadian economy.

Another key part of this agenda is fostering entrepreneurship — the engine for new opportunities and economic growth.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the Canadian economy. As of December 2023, small businesses made up 98.1 per cent of all employer businesses in Canada, accounted for 63.7 per cent of the private labour force and 48 per cent of Canada’s GDP (gross domestic product) over the 2017-21 period. They also represented 38.2 per cent of the total value of exported goods.

Although exporting has traditionally been dominated by larger, innovation-intensive SMEs — particularly those with significant intellectual property — recent data shows an increase in exports from smaller, service-oriented firms, many of them immigrant-led.

These businesses are playing an increasingly important role in diversifying Canada’s export base and reducing dependence on any single market — particularly the U.S.

The lean startup model

For many aspiring entrepreneurs, one of the most popular frameworks for launching a business is the lean startup method, developed by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Eric Ries and expanded on in his 2011 book, The Lean Startup.

This practice has been widely adopted by incubators and accelerators, some of which require new ventures to meet hundreds of mentors and potential customers for consultation.

The Lean Startup provides a recipe for starting businesses with minimal cost, fast iteration and higher success rate. The philosophy behind it is for entrepreneurs to validate their market before investing tons of resources into building a product.

Since its publication, The Lean Startup has been used by millions of entrepreneurs around the world. The book advises entrepreneurs to “get out of the building” and talk to potential customers, but it doesn’t specify how much effort entrepreneurs should invest in market validation — how many people to consult or how often to do so.

Market validation is the process of testing a product or service idea with its target market to confirm if there’s real demand for it and whether it is viable for success. Although it’s central to the lean startup approach, many entrepreneurs shy away from it for different reasons.

Some entrepreneurs want to protect their business ideas from being stolen by others. In addition, new ventures have scarce resources that need to be allocated to multiple tasks, and market validation competes for the limited attention and resources of entrepreneurs.

The ‘sweet spot’ for market validation

In a recent study, my co-author Stephen X. Zhang and I set out to understand which entrepreneurs are more likely to invest in market validation, and how much investment is optimal for new venture performance. We conducted a three-wave survey with 210 entrepreneurs and their co-founders from Canada, Chile and China.

We measured the self-efficacy of entrepreneurs — how confident they felt about market and entrepreneurial success — and asked co-founders to report their ventures’ market validation frequency and hours. We found that entrepreneurs with moderate levels of confidence invested most resources into market validation. They sought feedback more frequently and invested more time in understanding potential customers.

Entrepreneurs with low confidence either didn’t think market validation was worthwhile or they found it too intimidating. Those with high confidence didn’t think it was necessary to validate their market because they were already convinced of their success.

More importantly, we found that a moderate level of market validation led to the strongest new venture performance. Checking in with about four to five people monthly was the most efficient. Interestingly, this number coincides with the most efficient size of social network, as well as the number needed for user testing.

The results suggest that effective market validation is more about quality and consistency than quantity. Talking to a small, diverse group of knowledgeable contacts on a regular basis is optimal for enhancing new venture performance.

Yet there is a precaution: we did not study the quality of informants. Five people may be enough for qualitative methods such as interviews, but it may not be enough for quantitative methods such as surveys.

What this means for new entrepreneurs

Our findings can make the task starting a new business less daunting for entrepreneurs. Instead of trying to interview hundreds of customers or skipping validation entirely, early-stage entrepreneurs can start small.

If you have an idea, find five people that are most knowledgeable and relevant for the idea, and ask their opinions about the product or service you envisioned. If they like the idea, develop a minimum viable product to test it out. If not, revise your idea or try a different one.

In addition, understanding the way confidence has an impact on how entrepreneurs seek feedback can help organizations and mentors improve their coaching methods.

Entrepreneurs with low confidence may benefit from support that builds self-efficacy through vicarious learning, such as observing and simulation, to make feedback less intimidating. Those with excessive confidence may need to be challenged to provide evidence for their assumptions and reminded of the value of customer feedback in challenging even deeply held convictions.

Xi Chen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Small sample, big impact: How talking to just five people can improve startup success – https://theconversation.com/small-sample-big-impact-how-talking-to-just-five-people-can-improve-startup-success-266661