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Corporate wellness programs in the workplace can take plenty of forms, from taking a trip to a destination that has everyone geared up and excited to taking a day off to do something in your office building. Even better, however, are online challenges that draw in everyone in the office without disrupting workflow or requiring great expense. The benefits of using corporate social fitness challenges for team building are enormous.
Setting up a challenge online is far less expensive than setting up a team-building retreat, whether it's a single day away from the office or a week-long effort to bring your team members together. Not only will you spend less to set it up, to begin with, but you'll also lose fewer hours that your employees have actually spent working.
You can set up a new online challenge whenever you like. There's no need to wait for the next time the schedule permits a little leeway. Not only that, online challenges can run continuously, so you're always bringing in the new members of the team and making them feel like part of the "family." Online challenges also don't require your team members to set aside time in their already-busy schedules to be part of something new or something that has no interest to them. After-work parties, visits to the local bar, or events are great, but they require employees to participate in work events when they're not actually at work--and that's not always the best way to build a feeling of community. Online challenges also offer you the ability to build community between different offices in a wide geographic area. Whether you're across town or across the world, you can set up a challenge and let everyone join in!
If you want to see competitive natures appear right and left, there's nothing like offering your employees a challenge. From seeing who can take the most steps over the course of several days or weeks to seeing who can burn the most calories or lose the most weight, a competitive fitness challenge can substantially impact employees' health. Just having the incentive to keep going is enough to kick many employees out of their unhealthy fast food rut and back to a lifestyle that will keep them healthier - which means fewer sick days, fewer sick employees who are dragging around the office, and more energy across the entire staff.
You don't have to make your fitness challenge about an individual's progress. Instead, try making it about a team! Randomly assigned teams or pairs across the department can keep things interesting while creating a company-wide challenge that averages the scores of each member of the department to come up with the final score will encourage everyone to participate. Have one teammate who is particularly reluctant? There's probably someone waiting in the wings to encourage them, lift them up, and convince them to get it in gear. This team building challenge will also encourage each member of the staff to give their all--because no one wants to be the reason their team lost!
You'll learn a lot about many of your employees by taking them out of the "work" setting and placing them in an online challenge together. Some employees will chug along throughout the challenge, never truly excel, but always accomplish their daily goals. Others will hit it hard at the beginning, but find themselves falling off toward the end. Still, others may prefer to take their time in the early stages but will come from behind to score huge points for their team as they near the end of the challenge. Observing these patterns will teach you a great deal about your employees and how they will react to challenges in the workplace.
Corporate social fitness challenges are the ideal way to bring people together for a common goal. They'll help build effective teams filled with people who are ready to work together to accomplish anything you set in front of them. By running social fitness challenges, you're not just encouraging healthier people within the office. You're encouraging employees who are ready to go the extra mile to succeed.
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