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.

My work is doing similar. It must be some HR initiative or a government 'get fit' thing. I really resent the fact that we're expected to do it in our own time so I'll do it when it suits me and not when it doesn't.

@TheyIsMyFamily

"Happy to walk 1000 steps during my work day, but my lunch hour is mine and I won't be dictated to as how I'll spend it. Unless you're paying me now for my lunch break, and then I''ll think about it."

Roughly

Saw this on the first page of posts and came on to say (if you haven't already replied about the 1000 steps to your manager/team leader) that the above is perfect and needs no other comment added.

Now, I'll go back and read more of the thread as I can see it has moved on quite a bit since the above post.

That's bollocks. So, in my experience there will a team or even a person who is competitive and a runner.
I wouldn't even bother starting.

AccidentallyOnPurpose

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.

this did make me laugh!! Must have a lot of sleep walkers on here, everyone seems to do 1000 steps by the time they have even woke by the looks of it

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.

@ememem84 Did you see the bit where people were put in teams anyway?

So there's no "opting out" in the eyes of the employer. That's the point. It's being made compulsory in their own time...

Accidentally no, I am a very passionate exerciser.

But that has nothing to do with this.

Over the years, the insidious creep of employer power just gets worse and worse. People should stand against that. No one should be pressured to do anything in their free time, be it walking, drinking in the pub, team days out, book club (which one friend's company has started "voluntarily" but the managers are all telling staff they must join).

Employers should be stopped from dictating this stuff.

I wouldn't appreciate being told what to do in my lunch break.

I love this idea, being outside in the rest air is good for your mental health and I'd enjoy an excuse to be away from my computer whilst I completed it.

Fair enough it's unfair for those with a genuine reason to why they can't, but it's a bit of fun and for a half day I'd do it!

@LunaHeather

Accidentally no, I am a very passionate exerciser.

But that has nothing to do with this.

Over the years, the insidious creep of employer power just gets worse and worse. People should stand against that. No one should be pressured to do anything in their free time, be it walking, drinking in the pub, team days out, book club (which one friend's company has started "voluntarily" but the managers are all telling staff they must join).

Employers should be stopped from dictating this stuff.

It was a sarcastic response based on other walking threads.

I agree with everything else you said .

It's not even the amount of steps or activity. It's enforcing something on your employees during their unpaid time. Which should no be allowed to happen.

It's most likely a well meaning idea that hasn't been entirely thought through.

There is nothing wrong with an employer encouraging their staff to get out for 10 minutes at lunchtime in principle.

@DorotheaDiamond

See if waving your phone backwards and forwards counts it as steps...

I was just about to say this. You can have a doughnut at the same time.

I'm aghast that so many people are happy to have employers dictating how they spend their free time, tbh.

@2bazookas

They're testing how good you are at corporate lying.

It would be different if they were suggesting it as an extra ten minutes to your lunchbreak

@UrAWizHarry

It's most likely a well meaning idea that hasn't been entirely thought through.

There is nothing wrong with an employer encouraging their staff to get out for 10 minutes at lunchtime in principle.

They're not encouraging. It's not even voluntary. Every one has been put in a team regardless if they want to do it or not. Then you have the emotional blackmail of competitiveness and "don't let the team down ".

There are many many things wrong with that.

It's depressing how little appreciation there is for people with disabilities

Like I said then, an ok idea in principle that has been implemented poorly.

Yes, it should be voluntary but in principle I have no issue with an employer encouraging people to get away from their desks, and if the reward for getting out for literally 5 minutes, which is all 1000 steps is, is a half day off that seems like not a bad deal to me.

Ridiculous. Id be sitting feet up and lying!

Im not anti excercise but I am anti being told what to do in my lunch hour

And yes, of course there needs to be some sort of adjustment for any disabled members of staff.

Put your phone in a sock and bounce it up and down or alternatively you can buy a phone swing from Amazon which racks up steps for you. I have this one

www.amazon.co.uk/NEWZEROL-Accessories-Compatible-Installation-Device-Black/dp/B07W1ZY6QQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&crid=3KF5M7DZK3AX&keywords=phone+swinger+pokemon+go&sprefix=phone+swing%2Caps%2C165&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1614184669&sr=8-1

No is a complete sentence.

I think it's probably just a bit of fun and friendly competition between teams to encourage wellness and exercise.

Unclench

It sounds a bit "enforced fun" and they can't force you.
But 1000 steps in lunch is pretty basic self care. You can't be sedentary for 7hrs a day.
I wall / run before work, in my lunch and after work. I'm totally bored with it but just want to get through this in one piece.

So much ignorance. It's probably a misguided bit of good will but is just wrong.

Shake your phone around a bit?