How To Organize a Stair Climbing Challenge At Work?

How often do we mindlessly reach for the elevator button during a workday and simply ignore the stairs? The truth is our busy schedules often lead us to prioritize speed over physical activity.

The outcome is more and more busy professionals are getting diagnosed with chronic illness.

So, the need to practice moderate exercises regularly is the need of the hour. While there are multiple forms of exercise that employees can try, stair climbing is an activity that can make a big difference.

A study cites stair-climbing may improve the cardiovascular system and lower body muscular endurance. Another research report in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise mentions that a minimum of three 60-second bouts of stair climbing daily improved the participants' heart health.

This is something to consider as prolonged sitting (which most employees do) can weaken the lower body muscles eventually.

Are you worried about the same for your employees? Or are you interested in organizing stair-climbing challenges at work?

If so, then this blog will come in handy for you. We have curated everything you need to know about organizing stair climbing challenges at work.

The Benefits of Stair Climbing for Physical Fitness

In research, Dr. Sophie Paddock from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust found stair climbing can significantly improve heart health. It can be said that stair climbing is one of the most underrated and effective ways for busy professionals to stay fit.

Here are some more health benefits of taking the stairs:

• It strengthens your cardiovascular system.
• It improves leg and core muscle strength.
• It helps burn calories.

Moreover, going to work means carrying at least one bag. So, with that, climbing stairs turns out to be a "weighted step-up" workout. In a way, taking the stairs will help build strength, especially in the lower body.

Simply put, frequently taking a flight of stairs is a bonus to maintaining good health.

Let's look into the ways you can host stair-climbing challenge at work with a zing!

Steps To Organize a Stair Climbing Challenge at Work

Organizing stair-climbing challenges in the workplace requires the following steps:

1. Set the goal:

Goal setting is the foremost step while organizing any wellness challenge.

Consider your ultimate goal of organizing such a corporate wellness challenge. It should align with your company's core values and KPIs. The typical goals focus on health, engagement, productivity, and even company culture.

2. Set the duration:

The duration for which a challenge runs is a key factor in determining its success. The success of such a challenge may lead to a lasting habit change. Challenges with a longer duration have a higher chance of positive results compared to those with a shorter duration.

It is also worth mentioning that short-duration challenges have the power to garner more excitement and engagement. Shorter duration brings about a sense of urgency, which helps invite more engagement as well as participation rate.

In case of long-term challenges, participants may drift away from their primary goal. This occurs as the initial charm of the challenge wears off over time, leading to a decline in interest and engagement.

Recommended duration for a stair climbing challenge:

• 1 Month: Perfect for a quick burst of energy and spirit. It's easier to maintain excitement and focus during this time frame.

• 3 Months: It is an optimal duration that is enough for employees to form a habit. Moreover, longer challenges allow HR to integrate other wellness initiatives and rewards.

3. Set the ground rules and create teams

Positive synergy enables team members to be their full selves at work—with their unique life experiences, perspectives, talents, and communication styles. In fact, each individual’s unique perspective is exactly what enables a team to get their best work done. By leaning into each team member’s strengths—while also giving them opportunities to learn from one another—your team can achieve much more together than they would be able to do on their own. - Julia Martins.

Although you can organize the stair climbing challenge on an individual level, partcipants will compete and engage better as a team. The power of synergy never goes out of style!

Here's how you can structure teams:

• Departmental Teams: Divide employees by department (e.g., HR, Marketing, etc.). It is a great way to nurture healthy competition within the department.

• Random Teams: Pick employees from every department and team them up. Randomizing the teams encourages cross-department collaboration and builds connections across the organization.

• Individual Participation: Allow employees to participate individually. There may be some who prefer a solo approach.

4. Track the progress:

Once the goal is set, you must decide how to keep track of the participants' progress. For this, you can introduce fitness tracking apps such as Vantage Fit, which comes with an added fun element of incentivization.

Vantage Fit automatically syncs all participants' progress. With that, participants can track their own progress and that of other teams on the app. Not only this, but HRs get in-depth access to a dashboard with all the real-time data of the challenge and more.

If not a fitness app, you can create an Excel sheet and share it with the participants, allowing them to update their progress.

5. Provide proper guidelines:

For the challenge to run smoothly, communicate the instructions clearly to the participants.

Here is some key information to include:

• If you're using a fitness app, consider offering an introductory session that covers topics such as registration and app usage.

• Offer insights and motivational quotes on how to set daily or weekly goals for individuals and teams.

• Explain the benefits of synergy and how to maximize engagement within teams.

6. Set clear rules and motivation boosters

It is human nature to become easily bored. Hence, adding some variety to the challenge will keep employees motivated. For example, you can add bonus challenges or milestones that employees can achieve.

Sample Challenge Rules:

• Step Goals: Encourage participants to complete a certain number of steps daily or weekly.

• Bonus Challenges: For example, "Bonus Points for Climbing Stairs During Lunch Break" or "Double Points for Climbing the Stairs in the Morning."

• Milestone Rewards: Offer rewards or recognition at key milestones (e.g., 10,000 steps, 50,000 steps).

7. Incentives and rewards

Incentives are a great way to maintain motivation in wellness challenges. Offering prizes or recognition can create a sense of accomplishment and encourage further engagement.

Here are some effective reward ideas:

• Trophies or Certificates for top teams or individuals.
• Gift cards or fitness gadgets like fitness trackers, wireless earphones, or water bottles.
• Health-related prizes such as free gym memberships, yoga classes, or spa vouchers.
• Public recognition through internal newsletters or on the company's social media platforms.

8. Promote the challenge effectively

Effective communication and promotion can make or break a challenge. To ensure that employees are aware of the event, it's crucial to launch a multi-channel communication strategy.

Here's how you can promote the stair climbing challenge:

• Email Campaigns: Send out teaser emails a month prior to the challenge, followed by regular reminders and progress updates. Highlight teams and individuals who have conquered the challenge every week or month.

• Internal group: Create a dedicated page or newsfeed to provide ongoing updates and inspiration.

• Posters: Physical posters in common areas can serve as a constant reminder for employees.

9. Track progress and share results

If you want the stair climbing challenge at work to be a hit, you must track the progress.

Progress Update tips:

• Weekly Updates: Post regular updates on the performance of all teams. Highlighting top-performing participants and teams.

• Leaderboard: Share a leaderboard to increase competition and motivate employees to climb more stairs.

• Spotlights: Feature employee success stories and shout-outs on social media.

10. Post-Challenge reflection and feedback

Once the challenge ends, it's crucial to collect feedback to assess the event's success and identify areas for improvement.

How to gather feedback:

• Surveys: Create a post-challenge survey to measure employee satisfaction, perceived benefits, and suggestions for future events.

• Employee Testimonials: Gather testimonials about how the challenge affected their well-being and what could be improved.

• Results Review: Share the overall success metrics such as total steps climbed, health improvements, or engagement increases.

Suggested reading: How To Set Up A Successful Step Challenge At Work?

Ideas for stair-climbing challenge to increase employee participation at work

1. Stair Climbing Journey Challenge:

Start a "Famous landmark" stair-climbing challenge. In this challenge, teams or individual participants compete to reach iconic landmarks – all from the comfort of the office stairs!

For this challenge, include famous landmarks like Eiffel tower, Empire State Building, Great wall of China, Mount Kilimanjaro. Set a desirable number of steps for the landmarks that participants must complete during the challenge.

For instance, Eiffel tower = 1660 stairs to climb

Empire State Building = 3200 stairs to climb

How to begin with the challenge:

For a group challenge, you can make groups of at least six participants. If not a group, you can also run the challenge at an individual level. The duration for the same can be 4, 8, or 12 weeks. Here's a sample that you can apply:

2. Stairwell Takeovers:

Decorate stairwells with motivational quotes, facts about stair climbing benefits, or even team cheers. This brings a fun element to the initiative and encourages more stair use.

3. "Caught Climbing" Moments:

Have "spotters" hand out small prizes or healthy bites to employees caught climbing the stairs. The small prize can include coupons for healthy food joints or gym memberships.

4. "Master of the Stairs" Event:

Organize occasional lunchtime or after-work events where employees climb stairs together for a set period. Play upbeat music and offer healthy refreshments to create a fun atmosphere.

5. Social media shoutouts:

Encourage participants to share updates on social media. Create a dedicated hashtag for them to use along with the update. This creates a sense of community, which further helps with team collaboration at work.

Social Media Hashtag Ideas For Stair Climbing Challenge

Additional Incentive ideas:

Healthy Habit Integration: Offer rewards for participants who log healthy meals, participate in walking meetings, or complete a short office yoga routine while the challenge continues.

To keep track of such healthy habits, integrating wellness platforms like Vantage Fit will simplify the management's work.

Give away badges: In times when everything is digital, go "old school" and get physical badges, which employees can show off at work. Gift achievement badges to participants who achieve milestones. Badges are a fun and playful way to keep the participation spirits high.

Tips for Increasing Stair Climbing Endurance

Physically inactive individuals may struggle to take the stairs. They may feel breathless or tired quickly. Speaking from personal experience, there was a time when I used to get breathless after taking three flights of stairs. The reason for this was that I was physically inactive and led a sedentary lifestyle.

I somehow decided to join the CrossFit community, and within just a few weeks, I realized the breathlessness was gone.

P.S. If you have the same experience, it's time to take up an active lifestyle.

Until then, to participate in a stair climbing challenge, follow these tricks below:

• The first trick to increase endurance for stair climbing is taking the steps at a slow pace.
• Controlling the breathing rhythm while climbing will make the process a bit easier for the participant.
• Take a brief break in between the climbing if you feel too uneasy.
• Participants should wear comfortable shoes supporting their feet during the challenge. It will help prevent injuries from taking the stairs to complete the target.

The Environmental Impact of the Stair Climbing Challenge

Taking the stairs at work or anywhere else, without any doubt, has health benefits. This activity also contributes to a greener and more sustainable future. As part of the challenge, participants will be ditching elevators and taking the stairs to hit the goal.

As a result, the use of elevators is minimized, which means less electricity consumption. Now, this is something worth thinking about, isn't it? Also, given the current global warming concerns, the number of organizations embracing the green office concept is growing for the right reasons.

So, this is also a pointer that you can highlight among the participants to motivate their participation in the challenge.

Final Words

Incorporating wellness initiatives like stair climbing challenges at work may initially seem overwhelming for the management. But it's not impossible. For a grand success, add the elements of fun and motivation boosters, as mentioned above.

And there's this classic way of motivation wherein the seniors from the management equally join in the challenge. After all, the leaders lead the way in all cases!

And, if you wish to add more zing to the challenge, join hands with a wellness platform.

Wellness platforms like Vantage Fit have the feature of running virtual wellness challenges for users. These come packed with activity-tracking features, allowing the user to monitor their progress. Also, such platforms offer admins the liberty to customize the challenges as required.

Further, employers can view the ongoing progress of the participants and make use of this data to understand the current well-being status of their employees. Such data reports can help assist H.R.s and leaders in enforcing changes in the workplace for the better.

Want to level up the wellness game for your employees? Then, talk to our experts here and get a sneak peek of the platform.