To combat the strains of working from home and to maintain levels of teamwork and overall wellbeing, the social committee at Leicestershire Cares have set up a Strava activity challenge for staff.
The wellbeing challenge was set up in March 2021 with the aim that staff plan extra activity into their day such as a lunch time stroll or a morning run in the wonderful green spaces that we are so privileged to have in Leicester and Leicestershire. To add a competitive element to the challenge, and to strengthen teamwork, staff are split into 2 teams who record their distances (km) on the Strava app each day to help their team to reach virtual destinations. Staff are able to give each other ‘Kudos’ for their achievement to help boost morale and keep their team members motivated.
An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David Thoreau
Both teams are now on the home stretch after walking, running or cycling the distances to the North East coast, on to Liverpool and down to Cornwall. By the time they reach their home destination of Leicester each team will have completed just over 1390 kms and weather permitting, a wellbeing picnic is planned on return to get the whole team back together after a long period of working from home.
Staff comments
‘I have to say a big thank you to Leicestershire cares social committee for setting this challenge up. I ran my first 5k in years (too many!) this morning and it’s all thanks to using Strava and actually measuring how far I’m going. I never would have pushed myself to go that bit further without this challenge.’
‘The walking challenge has been a great initiative and the competitive element has been a great motivator especially for the more competitive staff members. My daily walk/ run is definitely a habit I’ll be keeping long after the challenge has finished’.