Impressive increase in sustainable and wellbeing behaviours at University of Strathclyde

30th August 2018

After a successful pilot, the University of Strathclyde is rolling out its sustainability and wellbeing engagement programme to all of its employees this October.

The programme, known as JUMP, was launched in February 2018 to a pilot audience of 250 employees at the University. JUMP is an interactive programme that uses rewards to encourage employees to act more sustainably and take actions to improve their wellbeing. This initiative complements the University’s existing sustainability activities and commitment to creating an environmentally friendly and inclusive campus.  

JUMP is operated by a specialist reward scheme provider Green Rewards. The programme engages employees by providing a web-based programme and complementary app, allowing them to track their sustainable actions and be awarded for doing so. Ongoing communications also help to engage employees with the environmental implications of their actions.

The behaviours encouraged through the programme centre around sustainability and wellbeing activities, such as ‘Get Fit at Work’, ‘Sustainable Commute’ and ‘Report your Recycling’. Employees are rewarded with ‘Green Points’ for completing these activities and participate in friendly competition to earn the most points and win individual voucher prizes and team charity donations.

The end of pilot survey data shows that 96% of JUMP participants at the University have learned more about sustainability and 92% have succeeded in improving their sustainable behaviours.

The environmental and social wellbeing benefits of the programme are shown by the impressive impact data. Employees at the University have saved 2,939 disposable cups from entering landfill, the equivalent to avoiding 30kg of waste, as well as avoiding 15,000kg of CO2 emissions for choosing sustainable modes of transport for their daily commutes. Employees have also taken considerable steps to improve their wellbeing, including taking part in 1,500 hours of exercise in total. 

At the end of the five month pilot, 12 employees have each earned themselves a £10 voucher for earning the most points. The top performing team, RaKET, also earned a £130 donation for local charity Refuweegee, which was set up to ensure that all refugees arriving in Glasgow are welcomed to the city and receive the help they need.

Spela Raposa, Environmental Resources Manager at the University, is encouraged by the outcome of the pilot “JUMP is facilitating positive changes on campus, it is exciting to see employees engaged and helping to achieve the University’s environmental goals.” 

Graham Simmonds, Managing Director at Green Rewards is also delighted with the results “Our innovative platform and use of gamification positively enforces environmental behaviour change. It is great to see this reflected in the impressive results the University has achieved in just a five month period. We are confident these accomplishments will continue to rise when the programme is rolled out to all employees.”

The University of Strathclyde is the 8th university in the UK to launch the programme, joining Reading University, Bournemouth University, Bristol University, Chichester University, Swansea University, Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Winchester. Following the success of our other university programmes we have high hopes for the future of JUMP at the University of Strathclyde.