Ideas > Social Level: Being Active with Your Co-Workers

• Organize a launch event to create excitement about upcoming activities and to create a social climate that establishes being active as the norm.

• Organize and promote monthly or bi-monthly company events that are fun and active, e.g., picnics with physical games, staff tournaments and dragon boat racing. Encourage families to join in by including all-ages events such as relay races, soccer matches, bocce ball and baseball games.

• Start a swim club at a local pool. Invite groups of employees to swim the distance of a nearby lake. Convert kilometres to lengths and reward employees who complete the swim. Set up a challenge between employees and managers to see who covers the greatest distance.

• Post a sign-up board where staff can join a group or find a buddy to participate in activities of interest.

• Arrange a company badminton tournament that lasts several months, with each employee playing once a week. Post the results as the tournament progresses.

• Organize an office Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon or Masters Games. Invite teams to compete in several activities over a month. Reward everyone who participates.

• Develop a point system in which one minute of activity equals one point. Set a target, and post a chart where all employees can track their points. Reward the first group to reach that target.

• Co-ordinate a stair climb challenge. Post a chart at the top of the stairwell, and encourage employees to track the number of flights of stairs they climb each workday. Set up teams, and award a prize to the first team to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest.

• Post and promote a sign-up board for lunchtime walking groups.

• Organize a walk “across Canada.” Choose a route, figure out how many steps it would take to walk that distance and challenge employees to do it. Give or loan pedometers to employees, and ask them to record the number of steps they take. Or, if you cannot afford pedometers, track the minutes walked. Set up a challenge between employees and managers to see who can walk across Canada first.

• Co-ordinate a walk to work club. Acknowledge employees who either walk to work or walk to public transit.

• Have a volunteer group leader guide weekly lunchtime power walks.

• Coordinate a million-step challenge. Form groups, challenge each group to walk a combined total of a million steps and reward the winner. Departments or sites could compete with each other and with management.

• Challenge employees to walk 10,000 steps a day. Buy pedometers for all participating employees or, if you can’t afford that, make pedometers available at a reduced rate. Provide tips for increasing daily steps, and reward employees who succeed.

Find out More

• 10,000 Steps a Day: Information about ways to increase the number of steps you take every day.

• Alberta Centre for Active Living, Pedometer Information Sheet: Information about how to use pedometers.

• Stairway to Health: A fun way to encourage employees to use the stairs at work.

• Why 10,000 Steps a Day?: More information about the benefits of walking 10,000 steps a day and ways to increase the number of steps you take each day.