Employee Wellbeing Month Participants Take 1,000 Times More Steps than Wimbledon Players

Virgin Pulse, the habits focused well-being company, announced more than 250 companies participated in Employee Wellbeing Month, the 7th annual event celebrating the workplace’s role in helping to create healthy employees.

Nearly 45,000 individuals competed in a month-long step challenge, demonstrating a commitment to healthy, sustainable habits.

Combined, participants took more than 8 billion steps, averaging more than 9,000 steps per day – more than 1,000 times the total steps that will be taken by players during the Wimbledon tennis tournament this month.

This year’s challenge encouraged a sense of healthy competition among participating companies across the world, pitting organizations against each other in the spirit of wellbeing to see whose employees could take the most steps.

Congratulations to this year’s winners: Fyda Freightliners in the Wellness Warriors division, Harvey Building Products in the Health Stars division and Nottinghamshire Health Informatics Service in the Active Aces division! Each company will receive a donation to the charity of their choice.

“Our employees are our most critical resource, and we are committed to creating an environment where they can be their best selves. It’s especially exciting to focus on employee wellness in June,” said Patty DePaola, controller of Fyda Freightliners. “We are a competitive group and it takes extra effort from everyone to achieve these results. We have won this challenge in the past and are excited to bring the victory back to Fyda this year!”

“What an impressive performance by this year’s Employee Wellbeing Month participants! Congratulations to the step challenge winners and all the participants for embracing the spirit of wellbeing. I never cease to be amazed and inspired by the enthusiasm of individuals and organizations who bring healthy workplace culture to life,” said Chris Boyce, CEO of Virgin Pulse, headquartered in Framingham.

“We spend a huge amount of time at work, so it’s critical that employers help their people build healthy habits that matter. That’s why Employee Wellbeing Month is so important to me, and each year I’m thrilled to see so many organizations take this opportunity to re-ignite their commitment to the health and wellbeing of their employees. People are every company’s number one asset so taking care of employees is not only the right thing to do, it’s also good business,“ said Boyce.

Launched as National Employee Wellness Month in 2009 by Virgin Pulse, in partnership with the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance, Employee Wellbeing Month is sponsored by these organizations, the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, and WorldatWork.

The initiative helps business leaders learn how to engage employees in healthy habits and lifestyles.

In conjunction with Employee Wellbeing Month, employees and HR leaders completed a survey examining how employees are engaging with wellbeing programs and the impact these programs have on workplace culture.