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.

@ememem84 good approach there may copy that one!

I'd hate this, if I was forced into a team I'd be saying I couldn't get the step counter to work on my phone.

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

@actanonverba22
Yes, you made yourself abundantly clear.

If you are a manager, you need to brush up on the law.

Making promotion dependent on participation in activities that are harder for people with protected characteristics, or outright impossible for those people, is discriminatory.

Should employers be permitted to promote or overlook for promotion based on whether they can do 'team building' activities featuring weekends away from home, rock climbing, sea kayaking, 5k runs, or enthusiastic engagement in trips to strip clubs?

This may help!

@MixedUpFiles

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.

No you are right. i don't know that other staff cannot move without pain. Just like they don't know that i struggle some days typing without pain because my arthritis flares up in my wrists and fingers. Like today. Given that my job is desk based and involved a lot of typing etc, it causes me a lot of stress somedays. i've tried today to do as much as i can by phone.

Agree with others - it’s discriminatory and they can’t make you do it in your unpaid break.
You’ll also presumably be expected to cover the work of the team rewarded with the half day off. I’d be refusing to take part and also refusing to cover the extra leave.

So...

They are trying to make it compulsory

They have not considered an individual's possible mobility issues

They assume they can dictate what you do in your unpaid time

They further assume to dictate some parenting tasks

They use emotional blackmail - don't let your team down

And they discriminate against anyone, and their team, who cannot meet their demands due to any one of a wide variety of issues, many of which are legally protected characteristics.

And some here think that because their employer did similar on a voluntary basis it's fine to mandate this?

Pshaw!

@mathanxiety

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.

no. my caring responsibilities are only going to affect me.

if they were going to affect other people, ie if we were being put in teams i'd opt out because i couldn't always guarantee to do the 10,000 steps that we as an office aim for every day.

if it was, as in the op 1000 steps then i think this is achievable. i did this before 9 am this morning just getting the kids ready for nursery and breakfast and tidying up. although i appreciate that doing this before work will not be achievable for everyone. throughout the whole day though probably achievable.

Your job is one thing, @ememem84 - you are paid to do it, and your time while working is not your own, but asking for participation in painful or very difficult activity outside of work, with employees divided into teams and rewards depending on everyone's participation is completely different.

Given that my job is desk based and involved a lot of typing etc, it causes me a lot of stress somedays. i've tried today to do as much as i can by phone.

So if your boss said that they wanted everyone to improve their typing speed by spend half an hour every evening in their own time, doing a speed typing course, and the reward would be a day off for everyone who doubled their speed - you'd be ok with that?

The compulsory aspect to this would really hack me off.

If it was completely voluntary, and employees had to opt in, then fine. Not a problem.

But dictating that employees should spend their lunch break doing 1000 steps regardless of disabilities, health issues, personal circumstances etc? Particularly if these 1000 steps have to be done within a particular 1 hour window.

There’s going to be employees who struggle with this for whatever reason, and if their “failure” to do enough steps is perceived as costing their team a half day off, then it’s got huge potential to cause problems with colleagues.

No way can they legally enforce this and this is discriminatory.
Just because it doesn't sound like a lot of steps doesn't make it ok.
No one knows what other people deal with at home, how well they have slept if they have an injury or a health condition that may cause pain on some days.

I wouldn't be able to get out each day i my lunch out as my 12yo has online classes that clash with my lunch time while wfh. Would I be expected to pull her out of class for a walk? She's also diagnosed with ASD so just leaving the house some days is a nightmare and can take 3 hours of persuasion - a very real issue when attending school daily before they were closed.
And to top it off I'm pregnant and having hip issues that cause a lot of pain, it shouldn't be an ongoing health issue but atm just walking round the house is agony.

Why should I have to justify having a rest or using my lunch to cook for my children or help with school work? It's my time

If you carry your phone on a pocket you’ll easy clock up 1000 steps just walking to kitchen, loo etc. Can’t you just screenshot that?
I normally do 4800 to 6000 steps indoors doing hardly anything.

As it's only for a month could you make packed lunches in the morning then take the children out for a walk at lunchtime? A bit of fresh air for everyone? If you have a dog you could even attach the phone to their harness and sit on the bench while you thow a tennis ball a few times ;-)

I was once in the pub with a group of friends and one persons neighbour came in to give her back her fitbit. Turns out she was part of one of these challenges at work and had her neighbours and her husband and all sorts wearing her fitbit when they took their dogs out for walks. She said her team were always winning because they were all doing it.
It's stupid. It divides teams because some people can't, some people don't want to, some people cheat and then the over competitive get annoyed.

@CaramelCandle

Lunches are unpaid. People with kids have been told to take the kids with them and we've been told to go in all weathers. I think it's fine for those who want to do it and understand it could be fun for some but those who don't want to are being made to feel bad about it which kind of goes against the whole promoting mental health thing. I've got kids I'm homeschooling and have health issues as well as other responsibilities. I'm more than happy not going out at all some days. It feels like another plate to spin really and not one I want to take on.

Has anyone run this idea past HR?

Hopefully many will refuse.

You only need one person in each team to do the walk once a day. You just all give your phones to the walking person each lunch time.

Draw straws, volunteer, whatever. Only need 5 people to do one walk each per week.

@NeedToGetOuttaHere

If you carry your phone on a pocket you’ll easy clock up 1000 steps just walking to kitchen, loo etc. Can’t you just screenshot that? I normally do 4800 to 6000 steps indoors doing hardly anything.

OP said it needs doing during the lunch hour.

They have a minimum amount of steps in a set one hour time . Which is also their lunch.

Whatever app you use to log it, can’t you just have it on as you potter round the house? Popping to the toilet, going to flick the kettle on, moving to the printer or whatever? By lunch time you should easily be at 1000 ready to send the screen shot over!

It should be optional, great idea for the half a day off incentive to those who WANT to do it, but unfair to those who or incapable or simply don’t want to.

@BarbaraofSeville

Is that a typo? 1000 steps is nothing, it must be a 5-10 minute walk at most.

Even if it's 10000 steps, I think it's a good thing. Lots of people are suffering from mental health issues and lack of activity due to barely leaving the house and a decent walk each lunchtime will do a great deal to help with both. Plus by being a work thing it legitimises being unavailable for a good hour or two in the middle of the day.

I think the issue is that it is in their personal time, not the company's. If it is a company directive, let is happen during the working day, not employees personal time (which is unpaid, mine certainly is not paid).

That’s discrimination and needs to be challenged. It’s discriminatory against people with disabilities or other health conditions that restrict how far they can walk. Your employer can not offer a “prize” of time off work which disabled people have less chance of winning. I think you need to make a formal complaint.

@thenightsky

You only need one person in each team to do the walk once a day. You just all give your phones to the walking person each lunch time.

Draw straws, volunteer, whatever. Only need 5 people to do one walk each per week.

They're all working from home.

I can't believe 25% think this is a reasonable demand from an employer.

@titchy

Given that my job is desk based and involved a lot of typing etc, it causes me a lot of stress somedays. i've tried today to do as much as i can by phone.

So if your boss said that they wanted everyone to improve their typing speed by spend half an hour every evening in their own time, doing a speed typing course, and the reward would be a day off for everyone who doubled their speed - you'd be ok with that?

if it was mandatory no, i probably wouldn't be ok with it. but if it was voluntary then yeah i'd be ok with it. i'd just opt out. i certainly wouldn't be starting that it's disablist.

the op has the option to opt out of the challenge. teams could in theory be rejigged so they don't have to worry about letting anyone down.

i went into the office yesterday and actually struggled using my proper keyboard and mouse and desk set up. in the wfh period i've obviously gotten used to my laptop set up at home. so i think this has potentially exacerbated today's flare up.

@LunaHeather

I can't believe 25% think this is a reasonable demand from an employer.

Must be the "oh I do 5k steps before I even brush my teeth "brigade.