Walk at Work Step
Count Challenge
Toolkit
Walk at Work Step Count Challenge Toolkit
This toolkit has been designed
to help you create a
pedometer challenge in your
workplace. A pedometer
challenge is a great way to get
staff more active, boost
morale and at the same time
benefit office productivity.
There are a few things to
consider when setting up a
challenge.
In this pack you’ll find:
• Key things to think about
when organising your
challenge
• A handy timeline
• Links to resources
• Information on pedometers
• Ideas for evaluation
Your Challenge
Before you get started you’ll need to decide a few things about how your
challenge will be run and organised.
How long will it last?
A 4 week challenge will be easier to run but may not have the lasting impact of an
8 week one. A longer challenge will need more time and you will have to think of
ways of keeping staff motivated to stay the course. However, a longer challenge
may have more of an impact on staff health and wellbeing. Our Walk at Work
Step Count Challenge lasts for 8 weeks.
Teams
Getting your staff to form teams and nominate a Team Captain is a good way of
organising participants. They can keep each other motivated and the team
captain can collate the team’s weekly step counts and return them to you. This
helps to share the workload. We suggest teams of 5, although this can be flexible
depending on the size of the organisation.
Theme
It’s good to have a theme or a goal for your challenge, something that participants
can aim for. This could be a virtual walk, charity fundraiser or a campaign around
active travel and walking to work. There is a section in this toolkit about creating a
virtual journey.
Numbers
You will need to think about how many people will be able to take part. It’s likely
this will be set by the number of pedometers you have. However, you should also
give some thought to the time needed to administer the challenge. Each week
you will need to collect step counts from your teams and send out reminder and
update emails to everyone taking part.
Promotion
Keep it simple, keep it positive. Use existing methods of communication such as
a staff newsletter or intranet. Create a flyer and short blurb about your challenge
that can be distributed electronically.
Administration
Think about how teams will sign up, you could create a booking form. You will
also need to think about how weekly step count totals will be returned to you.
Prizes
Will you award prizes at the end of the challenge? You may want to have a prize
draw rather than reward those that walk the most so as not to put less active
members of staff off.
Communication
Keeping staff motivated through the challenge is vital to its success. They will
need encouragement and support to see it through to the end. A weekly update
Step Count Challenge Organiser’s Timeline
Use this timeline to keep your challenge on track…
Before you get started
•
•
Decide on your challenge rules and theme (eg a virtual walk, charity
fundraiser, etc)
Source pedometers
8 weeks to go
•
•
Promote challenge to staff and distribute booking form
Enter participants on a spreadsheet and create a contact list of team
captains and team members
2 weeks to go
•
•
•
Send out a pre-challenge evaluation survey
Distribute pedometers and step count tally sheets
Send a introductory email to participants
1 week to go
•
Email participants with ideas on how to walk more and remind them about
challenge logistics and rules
Week 1
•
•
Email participants wishing them luck and perhaps give them tips on how to
increase their step counts
Send a reminder to Team Captains about returning their team’s totals
Week 2
•
•
Enter week 1 tally on spreadsheet
Update email to participants on how the challenge is going. Have you
reached any milestones? Share stories from participants, perhaps there
are some amusing team names. Ask for feedback.
REPEAT WEEK 2 FOR THE DURATION OF YOUR CHALLENGE
End of challenge
•
•
•
•
Send a congratulatory email. You may want to add up all the steps taken
and work out how far you have collectively walked.
Distribute any prizes and certificates
Circulate post challenge survey
Write a story for your staff newsletter, e-bulletin or even the local paper
Create a Virtual Journey
Turning your steps into miles and going on a virtual
journey is a great way to keep yourselves motivated and
gives you a target to work towards. Here are 5 steps to
creating your own virtual journey…
1. Decide how far you’re going to walk
You’ll need out to work a realistic target for the duration of your challenge. Use
your pedometer to work out roughly how far your team walks in a day (remember
you can also include weekends). To do this, record your step counts over 3 days.
Add the 3 numbers up and divide by 3 and round up to the nearest 500. For
example, if I walked 3,578 steps on Thursday, 4,527 on Friday and 9,872 on
Saturday my total would be 17,977 making my average daily step count 5,992
and rounded up to the nearest 500 this would be 6,000.
For the purposes of the challenge we’re saying that 1 mile is around 2,000 steps,
give or take. Working on the average of 6,000 steps a day I’d be walking
approximately 3 miles each day. Using this information you should be able to
work out how many miles each team member could cover over the duration of
your challenge. You might want to increase the target slightly to motivate you to
find ways of walking more, but keep it realistic!
2. “To infinity, and beyond!”
The destination is up to you. It might be work related, if your company is national
you may want to work out a route that stops off at a number of office locations.
You might want to go international and visit some tourist hotspots. You might
want to have a topical theme such as the Commonwealth or Olympic Games.
Walk Glasgow have developed a 4 week long West Highland Way Challenge
which can be downloaded here:
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,335/
task,doc_details/
3. Map Your Route
There are a number of websites you can use to work out distances. Here are a
few links:
www.bikehike.co.uk
www.mapmywalk.com
4. Chart Your Progress
Think about how you could chart your progress. You could pin a route map to the
office notice board or send your team a short email update each week. This is a
good way to keep staff motivated and to spur them on to keep walking.
5. Celebrate Milestones
Celebrate reaching significant milestones, like reaching 100 miles, or a particular
destination. You could buy some little prizes, or perhaps have a nice lunch. You
could write something for your staff newsletter or even send an article in to your
local paper.
Rules
The rules for the Walk at Work Step Count Challenge were simple and could
be summed up as follows:
Ten Golden Rules
1. Let’s keep it simple
2. Teams must consist of 5 people
3. Each team must nominate a Team Captain
4. You must record your daily step count using the Step Count Record Sheet.
This should include walking in your own time.
5. Individual step counts should be given to your Team Captain every Monday
6. The Team Captain will email us their team’s step count total each Tuesday
by 5pm
7. If a team member drops out or leaves the organisation they can be
replaced by another member of staff
8. If your pedometer breaks, your battery runs out or you are off sick, an
average step count can be taken for that day
9. Prizes will be given for taking part rather than who walks the most
10. It’s the journey that counts
Evaluation
All participants in the Walk at Work Step Count Challenge are asked to
complete a short online questionnaire at the beginning and end of the
challenge. The survey is done online and we used the Survey Monkey
website, although a paper form would be just as good.
The questions are kept short and to the point and focus on age, gender,
reasons for taking part and physical activity levels. The questions are
repeated at the end of the challenge. The only difference is that we ask about
perceived benefits rather than the reasons for taking part. We also leave an
open field for any other comments and feedback.
Have a look at our Summary Report for the 2011 Step Count Challenge to see
the sort of information we collected. There is a link to the report in the
Resources section of this toolkit.
See following page for a copy of the questionnaire.
Walk at Work Step Count Challenge survey
Thank you for taking the time to fill in this questionnaire. Your
information will help us to measure the impact of the Step Count
Challenge. There are 5 questions and it should only take you 5 minutes
to complete. Easy peasy!
1. Are you
Male
Female
2. Which age group do you belong to?
16-25
26-35
36-45
46-55
56-65
Over 65
4. What is your main reason for taking part in the step count challenge?
To get to know my colleagues better
To loose some weight
To get fitter
For fun
To relieve stress
Other (free text field if possible)
5. Do you take part in regular physical activity?
Physical activity includes activities such as walking briskly, jogging, cycling,
swimming, gardening or any other activity that makes you breathe harder and
feel warmer.
For an activity to be regular, it must add up to a total of 30 minutes or more
per day and be done on at least 5 days of the week. The 30 minutes could be
one 30-minute walk or three 10-minute walks for a daily total of 30 minutes.
I currently engage in regular physical activity
Yes
No
I have been regularly physically active for the past six months
Yes No
Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Good luck
with the challenge!
Measuring Steps
There are lots of options. Pedometers are probably the cheapest and most
convenient choice, but there are other options. The following page contains just a
few of the ways your teams can measure their steps.
Pedometers
Pedometers are probably the most commonly used tool for measuring steps.
Inside the pedometer is a small pendulum that tilts each time you take a step. As
your leg moves, the pedometer records your steps. Pedometers aren’t perfect.
They don’t always record your every step and take a bit of playing around with
initially. Batteries may also need to be changed during the challenge. We’ve also
found that cheaper pedometers tend to be more unreliable.
There are many pedometers on the market. The most basic is a step counter,
others measure distance travelled and calories burned. For the Walk at Work
Step Count Challenge a simple step counter is fine. We use Silva step counters
which retail for about £10.
Mobile technology
Many mobile phones, mp3 players and other mobile devices come with built in
pedometers. Others have pedometers that are available as apps. This may be
more convenient for your walkers than a traditional pedometer.
There are also a number of personal fitness packages for games consoles that
come with pedometers and have interactive software.
Accelerometers
An accelerometer is similar to a pedometer, but doesn’t use a pendulum to
measure steps. As result accelerometers tend to be more accurate, but come
with a higher price tag.
Websites
There are a number of websites you can access for free to measure the distance
of your walk to work, lunchtime stroll, or walk with the dog.
Map My Walk lets you plot out routes using Google Maps. You can see how far
you’ve walked and how many calories you’ve burned. There are also lots of
routes mapped out by members and you can build up a profile of your activity.
www.mapmywalk.com
Walkit.com lets you plan walks round a number of towns across the country. You
can plot a route and get information on distance covered, calories burned and
how much CO you’ve saved by walking. At the moment, Walkit.com covers
2
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Aberdeen. www.walkit.com
A Word on Pedometers
We use Silva Ex Step pedometers.
Inside each pedometer is a pendulum that measures the number of steps you
take. You may hear this clicking when in use.
Pedometers aren’t 100% accurate and won’t measure every step you take.
We have noticed that they can be less reliable walking uphill.
Resetting your pedometer
To reset your pedometer to zero simply hold down both buttons at the same
time. Remember to do this at the start of each day!
Placement of Pedometer
Attach the pedometer to your waistband. It should be horizontal, not tilting. It
may take a bit of practice and patience to get the pedometer in the right
position for you.
There is a security leash with each pedometer that can be clipped to belts,
pockets, etc.
Filter function
The pedometer uses a filter to prevent involuntary movements being
registered as steps. Six steps in a row need to be taken for the pedometer to
keep counting.
Batteries
You will more than likely need to replace your battery during the challenge.
We will supply a spare battery with each pedometer, but you may want to
have some extras to hand as well. The Silva Ex Step uses a widely available
LR43 button battery. Should your battery run out without you noticing you can
take an average of your daily step counts for that day.
Recording Step Counts
Participants will have to record their daily step counts using a
record card. The following page contains an example of the Walk
at Work Step Count Challenge record card. Feel free to use and
adapt this in your challenge.
A master spreadsheet for totalling your teams’ step counts is also
available on request.
Name:
Week
Step
Goal
Monday
Tuesday
Team:
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Weekly
Total
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Work out a baseline
Try setting a goal at the start of each week. It’s good to work from a baseline for this, all you have to do is: take the number of steps
from 3 typical days, add these together and divide by three. Round the number to the nearest 500.
Set some goals
Goal 1 = baseline step count ________ + 1,500 steps = ________ on 3 days of the week
Goal 2 = baseline step count ________ + 1,500 steps = ________ on 5 days of the week
Goal 3 = baseline step count ________ + 3,000 steps = ________ on 3 days of the week
Goal 4 = baseline step count ________ + 3,000 steps = ________ on 5 days of the week
Enter your Step Goal at the start of each week. When you have hit your goal move onto the next one. You should spend 1-3 weeks
on each goal.
Resources
Here are some links to useful online resources when setting up your challenge.
Feel free to use and amend our resources.
Walk at Work Step Count Challenge Flyer
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,422/
task,doc_details/
Walk at Work Step Count Challenge Booking Form
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,425/
task,doc_details/
Walk at Work Step Count Challenge Coordinator Information Pack
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,423/
task,doc_details/
Walk at Work Step Count Challenge Participant Information Pack
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,424/
task,doc_details/
Walk at Work Step Count Challenge blog with stories and case studies
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/pfa/step-count-challenge-blog/
2011 Walk at Work Step Count Challenge Summary Report
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,343/
task,doc_details/
Walk Glasgow West Highland Way Pedometer Challenge Toolkit
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,335/
task,doc_details/
Walk Glasgow West Highland Way Spreadsheet for counting steps and
converting to miles
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,336/
task,doc_details/
Pedometer Walking Games
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,84/t
ask,doc_details/
A Report on the use of pedometers in the workplace and primary care settings,
including some case studies
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,366/
task,doc_details/
Paths for All Merchandise Order Form
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_rsform/Itemid,341/
Paths for All Pedometer Packs http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/pfa/walk-atwork/walk-at-work-pedometer-pack.html
Paths for All Grants http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/pfa/support/walk-at-work1.html
Further information on pedometers http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/pfa/healthwalks/pedometers.html
Centre for Healthy Working Lives Stair Climbing Posters
http://www.pathsforall.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,166/gid,315/
task,doc_details/
‘23 and ½ Hours’ YouTube video on the health benefits of walking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo&feature=player_embedded