Page 30 | Work forcing walks

CaramelCandle · 2021-02-24T13:08:31+00:00

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.

Sueq49 · 26/02/2021 10:16

I would tell them NO. even if you are in groups' they cannot force you to do anything you dont want to do(especially in your lunch time) I would go to my union over this. Your manager is coming across as a control freak' especially as he wants it recorded as well. What a idiot. Dont feel guilty for your team. You need to say no hun.

Abraxan · 26/02/2021 11:03

@Yogalola

Sounds like a great idea, 1000 steps is nothing and achievable for all. It will do you good and may even help you all lose a few pounds . An incentive of winning a half day is worth having, go for it and enjoy.

Achievable for all? What about someone who is disabled?

And it's irrelevant anyway. They cannot ask people to do things like this in their own unpaid time.

If it's important to the business they'd have it in paid work time.

Abraxan · 26/02/2021 11:08

The hundreds of people up in arms on this thread really need to take a look at their own health if they genuinely think this isn’t a good idea.

If I look at my own health - well some days my arthritis is so painful walking a dozen steps hurts enough to make me want to cry.

I look after my own health the best I can, but I've had arthritis for over 10 years and despite being in my 40s sometimes it can be really debilitating. I walk when it suits me. I exercise when it suits me and when my health allows for it.

I would not take kindly to being dictated too.

Interesting I spoke to me brother and mentioned this. He does it on man competitions and is exceptionally fit and exercises a lot daily, as does his partner. Both felt this was utter nonsense and they wouldn't go along with it, especially in unpaid time,

TheOrigRights · 26/02/2021 11:20

@Covidweddingday

This sounds brilliant and would get me motivated to get out and about. Those who cannot walk due to disability should be given some other challenge to be fair but a scheme like this that gets people moving is a brilliant idea. Too much sitting is really bad for you. The hundreds of people up in arms on this thread really need to take a look at their own health if they genuinely think this isn’t a good idea.

I am one of the 'up in arms' people.

I am responsible for my own health. I run 3 or 4 times a week, I cycle, I swim and do classes when they are open.
I am also very busy working and being a single mother so my sport fits in around my other responsibilities, NOT when my employer dictates.

My employer is hugely supportive of staff taking breaks and managing their own work/life balance. No one bats an eyelid if I go off to a class mid morning. All the work gets done - we are professional mature people.

Singlenotsingle · 26/02/2021 11:29

If this is your lunch hour, you decide what to do. If he wants you to go walking he will have to allocate a different hour for it. That's law.

PracticingPerson · 26/02/2021 11:36

The hundreds of people up in arms on this thread really need to take a look at their own health if they genuinely think this isn’t a good idea.

Exactly - people need to look at, and after, their own health.

I am pretty healthy thanks but I'm entitled to be unhealthy if I choose.

An employer controls my work, not my free time.

It is a simple matter of boundaries. An employer can't control my unpaid time except where I act in a way that causes them certain issues related to work or company reputation.

unmarkedbythat · 26/02/2021 11:44

The hundreds of people up in arms on this thread really need to take a look at their own health if they genuinely think this isn’t a good idea.

My employer does not have the right to direct how I use my non working time. It really is as simple as that. It's so sad that so many people think that because the employer's aim seems to be to encourage physical activity which is generally positive in terms of health, that there is absolutely no issue with how they have gone about it and the precedent it sets. And so childish to reduce it down to sniping about the health of those with concerns.

Thelnebriati · 26/02/2021 11:45

The people up in arms on this thread really need to take a look at disability and employment rights if they think this is a good idea.

FTFY.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 26/02/2021 11:56

The hundreds of people up in arms on this thread really need to take a look at their own health if they genuinely think this isn’t a good idea.

I do at least one form of exercise every single day, eat healthily and am a normal BMI. I STILL think managers a) telling people how to use their break time and b) enforcing exercise, especially through the medium of competitiveness and social pressure, is a spectacularly bad idea.

Fuckadoodledoooo · 26/02/2021 11:58

The hundreds of people up in arms on this thread really need to take a look at their own health if they genuinely think this isn’t a good idea.

No one has the right to tell me what to do with my free time.

Tartyflette · 26/02/2021 12:23

I don't know whether the OP is a union member or not, but I do know my own Union would back anyone refusing to carry out this unpaid, divisive, patronising and possibly illegal instruction to the hilt.

And HR would surely have a serious word with such a twat of a manger.

Brefugee · 26/02/2021 12:25

It worries me how accepting so many people on this thread are of employers dictating what people do outside their contracted hours.

can't agree more. PP mentioned the "pretty strong employment rights" you have in the UK. Hmmm well, you opted out of the European Working Time Directive and your government wants to relax the rules some more so remember that. And join a union before you need one. And if you don't like how the reps work? become a rep yourself.

All the "just do it or don't do it, whatevs, shrug" answerers: would you tell your manager that you are currently in the dangerous learly stages of a risky pregnancy and have been advised not to walk? that is between you and HR at most. How would you tell the keener members of the team you've been shoved in, that you potentially don't even know? Not to mention any other reasons you don't want to/can't take part in this idea on your own unpaid time

I used to be in the Army. Was compelled, on occasion, to schlepp my sorry backside out of bed at Oh My God It's Early time and run, in boots, with full pack, carrying a log with 5 other people. I used to get paid to do that (and in retrospect a lot of the time it was fun) and it was part of my job, so no issue. Now I am not in the army and anyone who tries to make me move my backside on my own time is likely to get a Strongly Worded Reply.

Dizzybet74 · 26/02/2021 12:41

I personally think it's a nice idea. As others have said, it's hardly any steps at all and the business is probably trying to keep everyone feeling like they're still part of something by creating the teams. I'm sure quite a lot of thought has gone into it and they'll feel really quite disappointed when people start moaning.

Lemonsyellow · 26/02/2021 12:51

@Dizzybet74

I personally think it's a nice idea. As others have said, it's hardly any steps at all and the business is probably trying to keep everyone feeling like they're still part of something by creating the teams. I'm sure quite a lot of thought has gone into it and they'll feel really quite disappointed when people start moaning.

It’s not a nice idea. It’s the idea of an incompetent and ignorant manager who shouldn’t be in their job if they have so little idea of employment law or how to manage staff. Yet again, it is not “hardly any steps at all”. Even one step in your free time is too much. And again with the bullying comment, “people start moaning”. There are better, legal, non-disablist, anti-discriminatory ways to get staff bonding - in company time.

bumblingbovine49 · 26/02/2021 13:02

I go back to my previous answer on this. I'd just lie about it and say I was doing it whether I was or not. I might do it if I felt like it but would feel no guilt whatsoever about saying I'd done the walk even if I hadn't

This is the sort of thing that falls within the range of not being worth actually standing up and getting into a disagreement about but also not something I'm happy being dictated to about . Lying about going for the walk seems the best solution to a very small issue to me.

Holyjinglebells · 26/02/2021 13:12

Surely it's just a bit of fun.... Could you be taking it a bit too seriously?

TheSmallAssassin · 26/02/2021 13:13

I'm pretty sure that little to no thought has gone into this, @Dizzybet74, anybody who had spent 5 minutes thinking about it would see it's not nice to dictate what people should do in their break from work, or put them under pressure to do something they are disinclined to do.

I manage to keep my team "feeling like they're part of something" by us all working together towards a common work related goal, making sure we have time to chat with each other at the beginning of meetings and other keeping in touch stuff DURING WORK TIME - we've got a really good team spirit despite half of us not having met each other in real life and despite not introducing false competitiveness which I know, given the personalities in my team would actually demotivate some of them.

As @MsMarch (I think) said earlier in the thread, nobody has actually thought about what they are trying to achieve with this stupid exercise, and whether this actually does it (we have evidence here that, for at least one member of the team, OP, it doesn't)

Abraxan · 26/02/2021 13:15

@Dizzybet74

I personally think it's a nice idea. As others have said, it's hardly any steps at all and the business is probably trying to keep everyone feeling like they're still part of something by creating the teams. I'm sure quite a lot of thought has gone into it and they'll feel really quite disappointed when people start moaning.

Did that 'quite a lot of thought' take into account disabilities, including hidden disabilities? Or that other people have caring responsibilities or other things that need to be done in their unpaid lunch time?

I actually suspect very little thought went into it tbh.

Lemonsyellow · 26/02/2021 13:46

@Holyjinglebells

Surely it's just a bit of fun.... Could you be taking it a bit too seriously?

Exactly how is it fun if you are disabled? If you have small children at home you are meant to be homeschooling and their lunch break doesn’t coincide with yours? If you have mental health issues and a forced team game fills you with dread? If your idea of fun in your own free time does not include physical competitive games with your colleagues? If the losers in this competition (the disabled, women with children, those with health issues) actually have to work harder to make up for the time the winners get off as their prize?

unmarkedbythat · 26/02/2021 13:57

@Dizzybet74

I personally think it's a nice idea. As others have said, it's hardly any steps at all and the business is probably trying to keep everyone feeling like they're still part of something by creating the teams. I'm sure quite a lot of thought has gone into it and they'll feel really quite disappointed when people start moaning.

The business is so hard of thinking that it cannot come up with any way of supporting its staff to feel part of something that they can do in their working hours? There is zero evidence that any real thought has gone into it. I hope they do feel disappointed, in themselves for being so stupid and exposing themselves as such fools.

Stifledlife · 26/02/2021 14:01

I do over 1000 steps just around the house in the course of a normal day easily.

Seriously. It is literally 10 minutes walk, or hoovering the house, or making dinner and putting away a bit of washing.

I think you are catastophising a bit..

JustLyra · 26/02/2021 14:03

@Stifledlife

I do over 1000 steps just around the house in the course of a normal day easily.

Seriously. It is literally 10 minutes walk, or hoovering the house, or making dinner and putting away a bit of washing.

I think you are catastophising a bit..

Ah yes, those pesky people with disabilities and their catastrophising...

Did you even bother to read the OP’s posts?

TheSmallAssassin · 26/02/2021 14:17

Can you not see, @Stifledlife, even if we ignore the disability considerations, it's not about the number of steps? It's about the slippery slope of "oh, it's only just..." and our working life creeping inexorably into our personal lives? It's bad enough that our homes have had to become our offices, now you want us to relinquish our precious "free" time to our employers too?

TheSmallAssassin · 26/02/2021 14:20

What depresses me is how many people are telling OP and others who agree with her that we should just put up and shut up and put a smile on our faces, because it's such a "nice thing" to demand. Raise your bloody bar and have more respect for yourselves!

Nith · 26/02/2021 14:20

@Stifledlife

I do over 1000 steps just around the house in the course of a normal day easily.

Seriously. It is literally 10 minutes walk, or hoovering the house, or making dinner and putting away a bit of washing.

I think you are catastophising a bit..

They're not being asked to do it over the course of a day, they're being asked to do it in their lunch hour, and to show proof. Not quite the same thing.