Work forcing walks

[CaramelCandle]

My whole team is wfh. The manager has decided that everyone needs to walk 1000 steps a day on their lunch hour for the next month. We've been put into teams and have to record the steps and the team with the most will win a half day off. There were a few people not keen to take part but everyone has been put into a team anyway. AIBU to think this is stupid? I understand the idea is to get people away from their desk etc but it's the way it's been done so that you're letting your team down if you don't take part that I think is unfair. Surely it would be better to give people a choice without the guilt.

@Yerra

just don't participate if you don't want to. I think it is a great idea though - only a bit of fun. Crikey some get worked up about it and that it your personal time and not been paid - isn't it great that they want to encourage people to get outside. plenty not going outside the door from 1 end of the week to the next. Lighten up people.

It's not a bit of fun though is people are being put into teams against their will and despite disabilities - is it?

@Fuckadoodledoooo from the description that person would definitely be promoted but likely wouldn’t make it into senior management. If you had to choose between two candidates, both excellent at work but one contributed to team development and the other didn’t who would you promote?

[quote actanonverba22]@Fuckadoodledoooo from the description that person would definitely be promoted but likely wouldn’t make it into senior management. If you had to choose between two candidates, both excellent at work but one contributed to team development and the other didn’t who would you promote?[/quote]
The one who did the job the best and who was best with clients.

Not the one who was the most sociable or jointed in with extra work activities the most.

I was once told I wasn't a team player because I didn't go for drinks every Friday Eve and compete to be the last one standing. I had more important issues things in my personal life.

[quote Lemonsyellow]@ememem84
How do you know there are no staff with any physical or mental issues?[/quote]
i know that there are no staff who are physically unable to walk. because when in the office i see them every day (aside from fridays because i don't work fridays).

Other physical issues - i don't know.

mental health issues - i don't know apart from myself. its not something that is widely talked about.

the office downstairs from us had issues a while back when they were accused of being disablist, because a passer by couldn't get to the first floor of the building. because its a listed building and no lifts are allowed. the first floor is a private firm, where there is no need for a passing member of the public to access. if said member of the public had a reason to be in there, they would have made an appointment, and could have been accommodated.

@actanonverba22

If you struggle to be assigned to a group at work then hopefully you’ve got a job that relies solely on yourself

If you get put into a group at work that involves a task (that you can’t do because you are disabled, ill, having caring responsibilities or the likes) being demanded from you in your own time then hopefully your colleagues have more intelligence and empathy than you.

Didn't mean that I didn't do an excellent job though. So it's very unfair.

@Lunde agreed no-one, absolutely no one, should be discriminated against. I meant in a wider context than the thread.

[quote actanonverba22]@Fuckadoodledoooo from the description that person would definitely be promoted but likely wouldn’t make it into senior management. If you had to choose between two candidates, both excellent at work but one contributed to team development and the other didn’t who would you promote?[/quote]
So you would discriminate against your disabled/pregnant/carer employee for "not being a team player" when unable to walk?

You are going to cost your employer a fortune in discrimination settlements.

@Fuckadoodledoooo agree with you there, you’d promote the person would move the team forward and I don’t mean in a drinking capacity. When I say engagement and continual development I don’t mean socially

Of course everyone is entitled to check in and out each day and not engage.
No they are not.
They are on teams, and the success of the team in reaching the carrot that is being held out depends on each individual doing their 1000 steps. This is manipulative, and causes resentment of those unable to participate because of disability or responsibilities in the home or issues related to biological sex (pregnancy, for instance, or endometriosis, or PMS, or breastfeeding/needing to pump at lunchtime).

Engagement, continual development for yourself and the team is essential to succeed.
This is a proposition. It's not a given.
Your definitions of 'continual development', 'self', and 'team' need to be examined and your premise articulated and defended.

Are you trying to say you can have something akin to an ‘I’m alright Jack’ mentality and be promoted?
I am saying that performance in the role for which you are hired is the only real means of judging anyone's contribution. Anything else tends to reward those who are, essentially, physically fit, relatively young, and let's face it, male.

You absolutely do not understand what you are saying, @actanonverba22, if you juxtaposed those two thoughts and can't see how one cancels the other out.

Not going to lie enjoying my comments being taken out of context

[quote mathanxiety]@ememem84

Are the employees divided into teams?

Are employees who cannot participate or do their quota every day because of protected characteristics deemed to be 'not team players'?[/quote]
No. its just individual people. some days i do less than 10,000 others i do way more. it depends on the day.

yesterday i was practically chained to the laptop so didnt get many steps in today ive had calls so have been walking about the house while on calls.

if i have seminars to listen to/attend i do so with my headphones in and walk about the house/garden if its dry.

i don't think i'm going to win this month. i have at least 60,000 steps to do to reach the minimum. and not enough time to get them in. unless i do a massive walk at the weekend. but with two dc under 4 its unlikely to happen. a short walk around local bike track with ds on his balance bike might be the most we do. or maybe a trip to the zoo.

Your definitions of engagement, 'continual development', 'self', and 'team' need to be examined and your premise articulated and defended.

You used to be able to fool pedometers by sticking them on top of a rumbly washing machine or tumble dryer. Might work on phone apps...

You can see exactly why disablism is still a massive issue in workplaces just from this thread.

[quote actanonverba22]@mathanxiety glad to know I don’t understand what I’ve written. Of course everyone is entitled to check in and out each day and not engage. Engagement, continual development for yourself and the team is essential to succeed. Are you trying to say you can have something akin to an ‘I’m alright Jack’ mentality and be promoted?[/quote]
Not everyone wants to get promoted. I do my job. I get paid for that. Everything else can go hang.

You sound like you've swallowed the Big Book of Business Bullshit and are just regurgitating random rubbish.

@littlefireseverywhere

I actually think it's a really good idea, encouraging people to move. Perhaps they could encourage you to do it during the working day but as they're giving the winning team time off, I'd make sure I was doing all I could to get my team high numbers. There are some really creative ways above to do those if you're not interested. Of course, those who have mobility or mental health issues that may prevent it need to be excluded but the idea in principle is a sound one.

someone on my team used to go the long way to the toilet - so they'd go out one door, go to the toilet, then all the way down the back stairs to the ground floor and back up the front stairs through the front door of the office and back to their desks.

i never thought of that...

i know that there are no staff who are physically unable to walk. because when in the office i see them every day (aside from fridays because i don't work fridays).

This means staff can physically walk, it doesn’t mean they walk without pain. I’ve been on the office and dreading every step I have to make because my sciatica is flaring up and I don’t want to share that Information with my coworkers. So I try to move minimally, use lifts when others take the stairs, forget something so I don’t have to walk with the group since I can’t keep up with their speed.

Wow I hate the idea of earning a half a day off and the competitiveness element of it.

@mathanxiety sorry for striking a nerve and obviously a thesaurus....

My comments have gone beyond the 1000 steps activity if that’s helps you to contextualise my posts, try not to confuse yourself

just lie

I go for a walk nearly every lunchtime. Sometimes I'm too busy, or poorly or the weather is awful, but overall it's most days.

I'd stop if I was told to, because no one gets to tell me what to do with my unpaid time. Particularly not mandatory teamwork/wellbeing shite that is a box ticking exercise for the higher ups to feel good about themselves and their "initiative". Fuck that shit.

Not rtft so apologies if this has been said but 10 minutes of your own time every day for a month is 300 minutes / 5 hours. So you'd be spending 5 hours to get half a day off.

Nah

@FleshLiabilities that’s also fair enough everyone has a role

i have at least 60,000 steps to do to reach the minimum. and not enough time to get them in. unless i do a massive walk at the weekend. but with two dc under 4 its unlikely to happen.

So you are not letting a team of people down if you don't get your steps in.

Your caring responsibilities are not going to contribute to a situation where a team of people, some with caring responsibilities/ disabilities/ sex based issues and some without, are going to lose a reward unless everyone gets their steps in.