Workplace Wellbeing Case Study:
How London School of Economics Increased Workforce Engagement Across a Busy Academic Environment
A workplace wellbeing initiative designed to make daily movement achievable across busy academic schedules, teaching responsibilities, and desk-based work.
Maintaining engagement in wellbeing initiatives can be difficult in academic environments where workloads are high, schedules are unpredictable, and work is largely desk-based.LSE implemented the 15 Minute Exercise Challenge to make daily movement simple, achievable, and sustainable within real working days.
80%
completed the full 6-week program
96%
met WHO physical activity guidelines
91%
would recommend the challenge
63%
intended to make long-term lifestyle changes
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Organisation Overview
Industry: Higher Education
Workforce: 4,850 Employees Across Academic & Administrative Staff
Location: United Kingdom
Program: 15 Minute Exercise Challenge
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The opportunity
Maintaining engagement in wellbeing initiatives can be difficult within academic environments.
Work is often desk-based, schedules are unpredictable, and workloads are heavily focused on teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities.
For many employees, wellbeing can easily become deprioritised within busy academic working days.
LSE wanted an approach that could:
Fit into busy and variable working days
Support sustainable daily movement without adding pressure
Work across academic, professional, and administrative roles
Make exercise achievable within real working conditions
The approach
Designed to make daily movement achievable within busy academic schedules.
LSE implemented the 15 Minute Exercise Challenge as a six-week, team-based program designed to support sustainable daily movement within real working days.
Rather than focusing on intensity, the program focused on simple, achievable daily activity that employees could realistically maintain alongside teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities.
Participants:
Committed to 15 minutes of daily activity
Chose activities that fit their schedules and locations
Participated in small teams to build accountability and support
Tracked progress through a simple online platform
Teams were ranked on consistency, not intensity
The program was supported by regular communication and engagement prompts to help maintain momentum throughout the six weeks.
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Why it worked
The program succeeded because it made daily movement achievable within the realities of academic work.
Low daily commitment
A 15-minute daily target made movement realistic -
even alongside teaching, research, and administrative workloads.
even alongside teaching, research, and administrative workloads.
Flexible across roles and schedules
Employees could participate regardless of role, schedule,
or fitness level, making the program accessible across adiverse
academic workforce.
or fitness level, making the program accessible across adiverse
academic workforce.
Team-based accountability
Small teams helped create consistency, shared motivation,
and ongoing encouragement throughout the challenge.
and ongoing encouragement throughout the challenge.
Regular engagement support
Built-in reminders and communication helped maintain
momentum and reduce drop-off over time.
momentum and reduce drop-off over time.
By focusing on small, achievable daily actions, the program made it easier for employees to stay consistently engaged over time - despite the demands of academic work.
The results
Strong workforce engagement and measurable wellbeing outcomes across LSE’s academic environment.
Engagement & Activity Outcomes
80% completed the full 6-week program
91% exercised more than they otherwise would have
Strong engagement maintained across academic, professional,
and administrative teams
and administrative teams
Health & Wellbeing Outcomes
96% met or exceeded WHO physical activity guidelines
Participants reported improvements in Sleep, Energy, Mood, Fitness Level
and Overall Health
and Overall Health
Behaviour & Engagement Outcomes
91% would recommend the challenge
88% would participate again
88% reported improvements in overall health
63% intended to make long-term lifestyle changes
The program achieved strong engagement across a demanding academic workforce while remaining achievable within busy and unpredictable working schedules.
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Participant experience
Participants consistently described the challenge as achievable, motivating, and easy to maintain within busy schedules.
“This was a great challenge. I thought I already did as much exercise asI could squeeze into a busy week, but by upping my game very slightly to hit the challenge goals, I managed to fit in an extra hour in, and I’ve carried on ever since.”
“Having the structure of the 15 Minute Challenge and the accountability of not letting down my team mates really helped me to prioritise time to move in my day.”
“It was a reminder that every little session helps - just 15 minutes here and there can make a massive difference.”
“If your organisation is anywhere like ours - where you’re looking to reach as manypeople as possible and support incremental, achievable improvements that peoplecan build into their daily lives - I would absolutely recommend it. The program has minimal administration and really just runs itself."
London School of Economics
Kieran Darling, Senior HRPolicy Adviser