Despite the thick of Sydney lockdown forcing employees out of the office, Veritas Technologies was able to skyrocket employee engagement with the help of Step Forward…
During the month of September, a group of employees from Veritas Technologies stepped up to the Step Forward challenge. Managing Director, Pete Murray, reached out to us wanting to host a private challenge for his incoming team to help better connect him and his colleagues through an employee engagement initiative.
At the time, Sydney was battling through 3-months of lockdown, meaning tight restrictions forced people out of the office and into the norms of work-from-home life. Pete wanted to share his passion for health and wellness with his new team while encouraging his people to take a step away from the screen. He quickly noticed a problem of employees spending too much time in front of their devices and wanted to help people to reprioritise their health and maintain a better work-life balance through exercise.
On top of this, Pete decided to dedicate their challenge to raising money for Taronga Zoo and the conservation of saltwater crocodiles. As Veritas is the current apex predator in the data protection industry, he wanted the challenge to serve as a reminder of this impressive achievement. So naturally, the fundraiser was dedicated to the apex predator in the Australian wild – the saltwater crocodile.
The boost in employee engagement was felt almost immediately once the challenge began. People were surprised about how much time they were spending on screens and felt for the first time in weeks a sense of normality back into their lives. Employees were encouraged to take walking meetings and step away from zoom wherever possible. Quickly, many participants became fully immersed in the challenge and were dedicated to achieving and surpassing their step goals every day. The competitive spirit between colleagues rapidly grew, with people wanting to maintain their spot on the leaderboard at all costs. So much so that some participants would specifically schedule walking time in their calendars every day! Regardless of fitness level, every participant pushed themselves to achieve their best.
At the conclusion of the challenge, employee engagement was stronger than ever. Through the challenge, employees became better connected to each other despite lockdown keeping everyone apart. People bonded over their achievements and felt a strong sense of team spirit through committing themselves as a group to reprioritising their health. From this simple act, many reported better mental health, improved productivity, increased engagement and overall strengthened physical health.
The key aspect people loved about the challenge was its accessibility. For most, walking is an easy to do task that can be done nearly anywhere. During a Step Forward challenge, all participants need to take part is a phone and a good pair of walking shoes. What’s more is that our app is compatible with both Android and iPhone, along with smart watch devices like Garmin, Fitbit, Google Fit and Apple Health. No matter where you are in Australia, or the world, you can still take part and stay connected with your fellow colleagues. With Veritas having offices both nationally and globally, their challenge was able to connect colleagues from an array of locations.
In just 30 days, a total of 8,645,683 steps were taken, that’s enough steps to travel from Sydney to Singapore! Just over $7,000 was raised for Taronga Zoo through peer to peer fundraising efforts by participants. With the huge success of the Veritas challenge, plans are underway to host another challenge post-lockdown where Pete hopes to host group walks with his colleagues when everyone returns to the office.
