Having recently published our very own workplace wellbeing policy as well as featured on the Living Wage Foundation’s blog as an example of sustainable employers, we’ve now taken workplace wellbeing up a notch and begun the Kaido Challenge. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a little healthy office competition and we really do mean healthy competition, as the challenge is designed to help your team become fitter and healthier.
 
As a team, we’re walking the Great Wall of China – virtually, of course, or this would be one very expensive team outing! How do we progress along the wall, we hear you ask? We do it quite simply by keeping track of our physical activity, as well as sleep and nutrition, for which points are awarded. Bonus points can be earned for taking part in further ‘mini challenges’ such as practising meditation, cooking healthy recipes or following the ‘healthy habits series’. Some of our extremely dedicated team members even brought fitness trackers – not that you need them as everything can be tracked through your phone or even manually, meaning everyone can get involved.

The Kaido Challenge, unlike some of other wellbeing challenges we’ve seen, doesn’t just focus on how much exercise you do. Instead it looks at your overall wellbeing, incorporating mental health too. The challenge is broken down into cycles, giving you the opportunity to jump in and out as you please. For example, our account manager Alex is really into the physical side of the challenge rather than the mental.
 
As we’ve already found out, it’s not always the office fitness enthusiasts who come out on top. David, our head of training, who spends most of his evenings sitting in his armchair with his best friend Jack Daniels, was sitting pretty at the top of our leader board for weeks. Although, we did hear something about him training for a half-marathon once or twice… Fortunately, for us he’s now been surpassed by Nora. We say fortunately as we’ll never hear the end of it if he wins!
 
Since starting the challenge, we’ve already noticed such a difference in the team. It has reminded us how important it is to look after your physical and mental wellbeing, something which we often forget. It’s also shown us the competitive sides of some people (mentioning no names) and checking the leader board each morning is now part of our routine. We’ve even added a section into our Monday morning meetings about it!
 
Keep your eyes peeled and watch this space to see which of our team reigns victorious!