STEP UP PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN YOUR WORKPLACE - HERE'S HOW

We’ve seen lots of success over the years in supporting workplaces to step up (i.e increase) their daily physical activity by literally just taking more steps. Through weekly education and accountability paired with daily tracking, we’ve watched thousands of people boost health and happiness simply by stepping more. This is were “keeping it super simple” works REALLY well.

Sadly, some employees who consider themselves “professional sitters” report logging very few steps (less than 5,000) each day - and that was BEFORE COVID-19. Work from home norms have many people stepping even LESS. Employees are now sitting more, eating more, and feeling the effects physically, mentally and emotionally MORE.

Whether walking, hiking, running or stair climbing, there’s an option for just about every fitness level. As the workday continues to stay so very virtual, consider a campaign to get families outdoors and away from their screens. From friendly competitions to virtual 5Ks – the options are endless and we’re here to help you identify the most effective ways to engage your teams.

In fact, I’m planning my very first virtual 5K (alongside my family and amazing committee of volunteers) to remember and recognize my father who had a lifelong commitment to education and staying healthy. He was THE role model for walking and running. When he passed unexpectedly last year, I knew his life mission needed to live on. A 5K in his name was born (The Dr. Tombaugh Dash Family 5K & Fun Run) and this year we had to shift unexpectedly to a virtual event. All proceeds are donated a to local nonprofit funding educational projects.

I invite you to look for ways to create more win-wins across your organization. How can you pair physical activity, team building and fundraising so that everyone feels good, connected and inspired? The silver lining of social distancing and work from home is that everyone is getting much more comfortable connecting virtually. And when we’re virtual, we have more geographical reach.

To recap, we can use creative virtual programming to create some much needed structure, accountability and FUN and then your employees and their families can have some freedom and autonomy to participate in their own time.

I look forward to hearing how your workplace chooses to step it up! ;)

Author: Katy Tombaugh