Caring for You Campaign
Walk at Work
Pedometer Challenge
18th April – 2nd May 2017
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www.rcm.org.uk/caringforyou
Walk at Work Pedometer Challenge
2 | Caring for You Campaign
18th April – 2nd May 2017
Pedometer Challenge
From 18th April – 2nd May 2017 we are asking maternity staff from
around the UK to take part in the RCM’s Caring for You Walk at Work
Pedometer Challenge.
This information 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 help everyone get
involved with the Caring for You Campaign.
The RCM Campaign was launched in May 2016 with the aim of improving RCM members’ health,
safety and wellbeing at work so they are able to provide high quality maternity care for women
and their families. Over 50% of NHS organisations have already signed our campaign charter and
are working on action plans locally.
Ask your local RCM representatives how you can get involved in the Caring for You campaign or
if your organisation hasn’t signed up yet why not sign up to the campaign now and get members
involved by doing the pedometer challenge? The £100 prize money will be paid into the RCM
branch Unity bank account and members can decide how it is spent.
We have included in this quick start guide:
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Information on getting started
Tips on keeping staff motivated
Links to resources
Record Sheet
Rules
You can order your pedometers from your RCM Workplace Representative who has direct access to RCM
materials on our website https://www.rcm.org.uk/reps-and-branches/ordering-marketing-materials
The Royal College of Midwives | www.rcm.org.uk | 3
Walk at Work Pedometer Challenge
18th April – 2nd May 2017
Getting started
How long will it last?
This 2 week challenge will run from 18th April – 2nd May 2017.
Teams
Getting members to form teams and nominating a Team Captain is a good way of organising
participants. The team captain can collate the team’s daily step count and submit this at the end
of the challenge to [email protected] We suggest teams of 6, although you can have
more than one team per workplace.
Theme
It’s good to have a theme or a goal for your challenges, something that participants can aim for. This
could be a virtual walk; you will find more information about creating a virtual journey overleaf.
Administration
Teams can sign up to the Pedometer Challenge by emailing [email protected] with the
following information;
• Team Captain – email address and contact telephone number
• Team Name
• Workplace and NHS Trust/Health Board
Team Captains will find a record sheet to assist with recording steps from team members.
4 | Caring for You Campaign
Creating 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 a few steps to creating your virtual journey.
• Decide how far you’re going to walk
You’ll need to work out a realistic target for the duration of the challenge. Use your
pedometer to work out roughly how many steps each team member walks in a day. To do
this, record your step count over 3 days prior to the challenge commencing, add up the 3
numbers and divide by 3 and then round up to the nearest 500.
For this challenge, we are saying that 1 mile equals 2,000 steps, give or take. 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 remember to keep it realistic!
• Your destination
The destination is up to you. You might want to go international and visit some tourist
hotspots. Or perhaps virtually walk to as many maternity units around the UK as possible?
• Map your route
There are a number of website you can use to work our distances. Here are a few;
www.bikehike.co.uk
www.mapmywalk.com
• Chart your progress
Think about how you could chart your progress, you could pin a route map to a notice
board? This is a good way to keep everyone motivated and to spur them to keep walking.
The Royal College of Midwives | www.rcm.org.uk | 5
Walk at Work Pedometer Challenge
18th April – 2nd May 2017
Rules
The rules for the Caring for You pedometer challenge are simple and
easy to follow;
1. The challenge must take part between 18th April – 2nd May 2017
2. Teams must consist of 6 people
3. Each team must nominate a team captain
4. You must record your daily step count using the 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 teams step count at the end of the challenge via
[email protected] no later than Monday 8th May
7. If a team member drops out 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. Keep your pedometers safe as we will have another challenge later in the year with
another prize or you can just carry on to your next destination!
Prize
We will award £100 to the RCM branch who walks the most steps
during the challenge which will be paid directly into the Branches
Unity Bank account.
6 | Caring for You Campaign
The Royal College of Midwives | www.rcm.org.uk | 7
www.rcm.org.uk/caringforyou