Lisa Deleu: "Cycling Is One of My Greatest Hobbies"

Lisa Deleu, Fonds Verhelst Manager BNFL at AB InBev, spoke to myGWork about well-being in the workplace, how AB InBev involves employees in sports, and discusses one of her greatest hobbies – cycling!

Hi Lisa, thanks for chatting to us! Can you share a bit about yourself?

Hello, I am Lisa; I have been working for AB InBev for over five years. Almost two years ago, I joined the Fonds Verhelst team and took up the new role of Fonds Verhelst Manager in BNFL. The Verhelst Foundation was launched in 1949 by Léon Verhelst, the former president of the Stella Artois brewery in Leuven. For Léon, the well-being of the AB InBev employees and their families was this life project. At 76, he wanted to create something to support the workers long after his death.

Why are sports important to you?

Cycling takes up a great deal of my free time. It feels like therapy; it helps me to relax and triggers creativity. Also, the feeling after a long cycling ride is indescribable. When cycling is impossible, I try to move as much as possible. How a 30min walk in the morning or the evening can change your mood is incredible.

What are your favourite sports?

Running was my favourite sport, but I had to look for another fantastic sport because of joint pain. Very happy I discovered cycling a few years ago; it has a healing effect on my mind and body. In addition, cycling and seeing friends is a match made in heaven! I also enjoy hiking, certainly on holidays in the mountains.

How do you think sports and exercise affect mental health?

If you exercise regularly or when you move a lot (for example, by reaching a minimum of 7K steps a day), you will improve your sleep at night. This will make you automatically feel more active and energetic during the day. As a result, you make healthier food choices and so on. Moving makes us feel happy and will improve our mental health. Even small active breaks during the day can make a big difference in how you think.

What role does the workplace play in encouraging employees to participate in sports and exercise? How can they make sure this is done in a way that is inclusive to everyone?

Preventative healthcare is of utmost importance, and exercise can – next to sleep and nutrition- improve your health in the long term. It will help you to be a better version of yourself in your private life (with friends & family) and at work. Therefore I think inspiring and motivating workplace employees to exercise, practise sports, and be more active is essential. Sports and exercise increase social connection: employees go for a short walk during lunch, participate in sports events together and so on. AB InBev employees often discuss their next sportive challenge with each other; it creates enthusiasm and excitement amongst colleagues. By offering different services linked to physical well-being, we want to inspire and motivate the employees to integrate movement into their daily patterns – at their level and pace.

Share with us how sports can improve mental health. Feel free to include any personal examples or how this can be useful in the workplace.

Regular exercise is a source of well-being. The positive influences are numerous: it gives you energy, reduces fatigue, improves your performance, and boosts your immunity. Sports also make you master your stress level better, and it has a positive impact on your resilience. All these advantages are directly linked to your mental well-being. With Fonds Verhelst, we want to give the employees the right tools to improve their physical health with services like sports events, tools for online exercises and coaching sessions. We notice that, next to the physical and mental advantages, sports events also connect people. Employees from different locations and backgrounds come together with the same goal. Last year we also developed a Wellbeing Toolkit, one of the topics we covered was physical well-being.

Sports and the workplace – share a story of how your workplace has involved employees in sports. What were some of the highlights and benefits of this?

Physical well-being is one of the three pillars of Fonds Verhelst. We want to motivate people to exercise at their level and pace. Therefore, we foresee movement-related services, such as running/walking/cycling events or one-on-one coaching with a movement coach. We also did some step challenges last year. Not all employees are ambitious to run a marathon; therefore, we want to focus on movement in general. Offering these services to the employees inspires and motivates them to be more active, and it starts the conversation amongst colleagues: “what is your sportive challenge this year?”