You found our guide how to do a step challenge at work.
How to do a step challenge at work involves organizing a competition where employees track their daily steps to promote health and wellness. For example, using pedometers, setting up leaderboards, and organizing walking meetings. The purpose of these challenges is to enhance physical activity, boost team morale, and improve overall employee health. These activities are also known as “indoor walking challenges,” group step challenges,” and “office step challenges.”
This activities are often part of employee wellness programs, and are similar to work competitions, outdoor team building, office scavenger hunts, and photo scavenger hunt.
This article covers:
- how to do a step challenge at work
- step challenge team names
- step challenge apps
- step challenge ideas
Let’s get to it!
How to do a step challenge at work
From setting clear goals to planning the next steps, here is our list of the best tips on how to do a corporate step challenge.
1. Set Clear Goals
Clear and achievable goals are necessary for a successful step challenge at work. Establishing specific objectives, such as daily or weekly step counts, provides participants with direction and motivation. Realistic targets help prevent frustration and burnout, encouraging engagement and dedication. Having clear goals creates a positive atmosphere for reaching health milestones as a team.
Here are SMART goals activities.
2. Choose a Tracker
Selecting the correct tracker for a step challenge is crucial for precise monitoring and encouragement. When picking an appropriate tracker device, consider aspects like battery duration, precision, simplicity, and connectivity with other devices. Or, select a step tracking app that is easy to use and is within your budget.
Investing in an excellent tracker will improve your challenge involvement by guaranteeing smooth tracking and constant inspiration to remain active.
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3. Form Teams
Forming teams for a step challenge at work promotes camaraderie, friendly competition, and motivation among colleagues. This collaborative strategy improves morale, well-being, and participation rates. Competing together as teams also strengthens workplace relationships, productivity, and employee health by offering support in reaching fitness goals together.
4. Create Rules
To ensure a successful step challenge at work, you must set clear guidelines. These guidelines will define what counts as valid steps, establish goals, track progress, and outline rewards for completion. Creating rules is essential to prevent misunderstandings and give the activity structure.
5. Plan Rewards
When organizing a team step challenge, you need a well-designed reward system to keep participants motivated. Rewards such as gift cards, time off, or public recognition can inspire employees to reach their goals. Or, get creative with prizes, like a private virtual dance class with a renowned choreographer, a bespoke video message from a local celebrity congratulating winners, or a gourmet picnic basket delivered with treats inspired by global walking trails.
By providing appealing incentives, employees are more likely to remain dedicated and involved during the challenge, encouraging teamwork and increasing morale.
Here are employee incentive ideas and raffle prize ideas.
6. Track Progress
Participants should log their daily step counts using trackers, apps, or a designated log to monitor progress in a work step challenge. Consistent tracking can help keep individuals motivated and accountable. Setting specific step goals can effectively track progress and adjust activity levels as needed. Friendly competition with colleagues can encourage tracking by sharing totals and forming teams for added fun and encouragement.
7. Engage Participants
To earn maximum participation for a step challenge at work, engage every employee by tailoring the event to diverse interests and fitness levels. For example, host kickoff meetings with motivational speakers or fitness experts and provide clear instructions for tracking steps and logging them. Consider creating teams to foster a sense of community and friendly competition. Also, use various communication platforms to send reminders and celebrate milestones to keep everyone motivated throughout the challenge.
8. Weekly Check-ins
Weekly check-ins play a vital role in tracking progress and motivating participants in a workplace step challenge. By reviewing step counts and discussing achievements, individuals can stay focused on their goals and remain accountable. These regular meetings also provide an opportunity to celebrate successes, offer support, and maintain engagement. Consistent monitoring ensures employees stay on track, fosters healthy competition, and promotes camaraderie among team members.
Learn more about check in questions.
9. Health Tips
Integrating health tips into your office step challenge can inspire participants and keep motivation levels high. Feel free to share bite-sized content with practical advice, like stretching routines to prevent soreness, hydration hacks for staying energized, and posture tips to maximize step efficiency.
You could send out weekly emails or post tips on your company’s Slack channel to keep the challenge front and center. Mix in fun facts about the benefits of walking, like how stepping regularly can boost creativity or reduce stress. These wellness nuggets encourage consistency and show your team that this challenge is a step toward healthier habits and stronger bonds.
10. Promote Events
To promote a work step challenge, you should create posters, send emails, use social media, engage with colleagues, and encourage friendly competition. Also be sure to create an event on a shared cloud calendar, and set reminders for check-ins. Effective promotion increases participation levels and motivates coworkers to participate in the fun challenge.
Learn more about team building events.
11. Share Successes
Celebrating collective and personal milestones boosts morale and keeps participants motivated. You can organize regular check-ins where everyone shares their progress. Reward achievements with small tokens like gift cards or an extra break. Highlighting these successes fosters a supportive environment while also encouraging a healthy dose of competition among coworkers, driving further engagement in the challenge.
12. Reflect and Learn
To help your team reflect effectively throughout the step challenge, guide them to analyze their progress, setbacks, and strategies. You can encourage participants to note what worked well for them and what could be improved. Also, have them track patterns in their activity levels to better understand their habits and gain insights into their fitness routines and motivation. You can suggest setting aside time at the end of each week for participants to set new goals based on their reflections. Be sure to remind employees that learning from past experiences can boost future success. This reflection process can lead to personal growth and improved wellness as team members adapt their approach for continuous improvement.
13. Next Steps
While the immediate goal of a company step challenge is to get employees to be more active during that month, the longterm goal is to help employees be healthier overall. Establishing new goals and systems for keeping up motivation are crucial to help some employees maintain the habits after the challenge ends. For example, encourage participants to raise their daily step count or explore different activities, for example walking the distance between your city to other cities. You can offer rewards and incentives for participants who extend the challenge, for example a gift card for big step milestones reached before the end of year, or paying for another month of a paid tracker app if they meet the previous month’s step goals.
Step challenge team names
Here are some fun and motivational team names for an office step challenge.
- Sole Mates
- The Pace Makers
- Step It Up
- Sole Survivors
- Fast Feet Crew
- Striders United
- Mission Slimpossible
- Walkaholics
- Stride Squad
- Hustle & Muscle
- Fit Feet Fellowship
- The Tread Troop
- Legends in Legwork
- Stepping Stars
- Marching Mavericks
- Miles & Smiles
- Step Warriors
- Blister Sisters
- Footloose Force
- Goal Getters
- Quantum Leaps
- Step Raiders
- Rhythm & Shoes
- The Galloping Gazelles
- Ascend Alliance
- Stride Symphony
- The Foot Clan
- Soul Strollers
- Trailblazin’ Titans
- VertiGo Getters
- The Upbeats & Move Makers
- Pedal Pushers United
- Hopscotch Heroes
- Step Strategists
- The Ambulators
- Marchitects
- Stride & Conquer
- Lace-Up Legends
- Infinite Mileage Club
- Pavement Commanders
Step challenge apps
Here is a short list of popular step challenge apps
1. Pacer for Teams
Pacer for Teams is designed for group step challenges, allowing users to create and join teams, set step goals, and track progress. It features real-time leaderboards and integrates well with fitness trackers and mobile devices.
2. MoveSpring
MoveSpring offers customizable step challenges with different game modes like leaderboard, race, and target challenges. It supports integration with multiple devices and provides in-depth analytics for teams.
3. Walker Tracker
Walker Tracker is known for its flexibility in setting up various walking challenges, from step counts to distance and activity minutes. It supports team competitions, personal goals, and integrates with multiple fitness trackers.
4. Stridekick
Stridekick allows users to join or create step challenges with friends, family, or colleagues. It works across multiple fitness device brands, making it inclusive for groups with different trackers.
5. Wellness Challenges by Wellable
Wellable provides comprehensive wellness challenges, including step challenges, that can be tailored for workplaces. It also includes gamification features and integrates various health data points.
Step challenge ideas
Here’s a list of unique and exciting step challenge ideas to energize your workplace.
1. Global Trek Adventure
You can turn your step challenge into a virtual journey around the world by assigning step goals that represent distances between famous landmarks. For example, walking from the Eiffel Tower to the Colosseum. Teams can unlock fun facts and cultural trivia at each milestone.
2. Mystery Destination Hunt
Consider creating a step challenge where teams receive clues after reaching step milestones. The clues reveal pieces of a larger puzzle that points to a secret destination or reward. This approach adds an element of problem-solving to each stride.
3. Office Tour de Floors
If you have a multi-level office, then organize a “Tour de Floors” challenge. Employees get points for taking the stairs to different floors, with themed surprises or mini-challenges on certain levels, like trivia stations or quick mini-games.
4. Fitness Scavenger Hunt
You can combine walking with discovery by setting up a scavenger hunt that can only be completed by hitting step goals. Place QR codes or fun tokens around the building or outdoor space that teams must find and scan to earn bonus points.
5. Step and Story Relay
Participants form teams and create a progressive story, with each chapter unlocked after a collective step milestone is hit. This encourages friendly competition and creativity as the story evolves, with each team adding new twists to the tale.
6. Charity Step Challenge
You can tie steps to a charitable cause. For every set amount of collective steps, the company donates a small amount to charity. This tactic adds a feel-good, purpose-driven element to the challenge that motivates participants to contribute more.
7. Virtual City Tour Guide
Assign different teams famous cities to represent, and their goal is to collectively “walk” the distance that matches the perimeter of that city. Teams can prepare a short virtual presentation about the city once their goal is completed, highlighting interesting cultural points.
Check out virtual tours.
8. Reverse Treasure Hunt
Start with a “treasure” placed at a high step count, and participants must meet step quotas to gain clues about its location. Each milestone reached allows them to ask questions or receive hints, building suspense and engagement.
Check out more treasure hunt ideas.
9. Office Olympics Marathon
Create an Olympic-themed step challenge where each day represents a different “event,” such as sprints, long-distance, uphill climbs represented by stair goals. Be sure to award “medals” for top performers and creative efforts like team chants or costumes.
Read about Office Olympics.
10. Midday Micro-Hikes
You can encourage short team walks during lunch breaks with themes like “Mystery History Walk,” where one team member shares a story from a famous place each day. These walks count toward steps and spark new conversations and bonding moments.
11. Step Art Contest
Turn your walking paths into art! Participants use step-tracking apps that display routes to create interesting shapes or messages when viewed on the map. Host a mini-gallery viewing of the coolest “step art” at the end.
Final Thoughts
Implementing a step challenge can significantly benefit workplace dynamics by fostering teamwork and promoting health. The initiative encourages employees to engage in physical activity while adding an element of fun through competition. Properly planned rewards and inclusive activities ensure every team members feels motivated regardless of their physical abilities or locations. Reflecting on the outcomes helps in fine-tuning future challenges for even greater success.
Next, check out our posts on the human knot, office challenge ideas, amazing race games, and team building challenges.
