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.

A lot of people don't seem to understand what team spirit is.

I am not a big fan of lying, but this proves there are some cases....

@1FootInTheRave

I actually think any managers attempting to enforce joint activities/wellbeing bullshit/team building bullshit should be shot at dawn.

More so if it's expected in your own time. That should warrant an actual firing squad.

I'm reminded of a previous manager who was ex army and ridiculously fit. He decided that everyone in the department should be involved in a walking event as a team building exercise.

His choice was a 100k in 24 hours walk over a particular weekend. Those that went along with this were in such rough shape the following Monday that a lot of them called in sick. Those of us that didn't come along were all written up on our work reviews as not being team players and therefore not deserving raises/bonuses/promotions.

I quite soon afterwards after raising a complaint to HR.

@AccidentallyOnPurpose

A lot of people don't seem to understand what team spirit is.

The OP has a disability that would make this "team spirit" event not possible for her, or do you think that disabled people should just try harder and make more effort, stop malingering maybe?

@Dontbeme maybe you should read my other comments on this thread for context.

Yes , my comment was full of disdain and snark... for the people that seem to think team spirit means put up,shut up and do what you're told when you're told .

Better that sodding lunch and learn meetings.
TBF, I complained a few times and said that a responsible employer should be encouraging WFH employees to take a screen break and they banned them, and instigated a protected "meeting free" break period.

Just send a screen shot of whatever steps you've accumulated going to the loo/kitchen. And complain to HR.

what happens for anyone that's advised to shield?

They can’t force you but I easily do 1500 steps a day just going to the loo, getting a cuppa etc. I only live in a 3 bed semi so not a mansion. I’d definitely be up for it if it was a half day off 🎉

@BigPaperBag

They can’t force you but I easily do 1500 steps a day just going to the loo, getting a cuppa etc. I only live in a 3 bed semi so not a mansion. I’d definitely be up for it if it was a half day off 🎉

It’s not for half a day off. It’s for a chance for half a day off if your team wins. It has to be done at lunchtime. How would you feel if your team included John who’s in a wheelchair, Louise who cares for her elderly mother at lunchtime, Sarah who will have to bring her toddler twins with her, Peter who refuses to do it at all, etc?

1000 steps is nothing, your work are trying to support your physical and mental healt building team spirit, I would love this to come in to force widely. Shame you see it as a negative

1000 steps is nothing, your work are trying to support your physical and mental healt building team spirit, I would love this to come in to force widely. Shame you see it as a negative

Shame you didn't read OP has a disability & would find it difficult.

@bjjgirl

1000 steps is nothing, your work are trying to support your physical and mental healt building team spirit, I would love this to come in to force widely. Shame you see it as a negative

Noo, really? You're the first poster to ever suggest this,while ignoring everything else including that OP has health issues.

Thank you for enlightening us and settling once and for all.

Or even better, spend the time you didn't on RTFT to go for a walk if you're so eager about it.

@bjjgirl

1000 steps is nothing, your work are trying to support your physical and mental healt building team spirit, I would love this to come in to force widely. Shame you see it as a negative

It should be opt in, not mandated. I have MS. As it does not affect my work (desk job) and I don’t currently need any modifications, I have not disclosed my illness at work, nor am I required to by law. I do, however use my lunch breaks to sleep on tough days. And that’s no one’s business. A company has no right to ‘out’ me in the name of ‘health’ and ‘team-spirit’. By all means incentivise physical and mental well-being, but it must be voluntary.

I only live in a 3 bed semi so not a mansion.

Oh come on. Ignoring the ableism of your post, let's not pretend a three-bedroom house isn't enormous.

I live in a studio flat, I literally do not know a single person who doesn't live in a small flat. In my world, a 2-bed flat is considered huge and people who have more than one bedroom are regarded as privileged.

Obviously this is all relative, but saying you "just" live in a three bedroom house is pretty tone deaf. To me that is a mansion!

A lot of people don't seem to understand what team spirit is.

And it seems there are some who do not understand how the loaded concept of 'team spirit' can be used as a weapon in the workplace, usually to the detriment of people who do not have a fleet of support people at home enabling them to jump all the workplace hurdles on the path to recognition as a 'team player'.

What 'team spirit' means in practice is that those who do not have to shoulder carer roles in their homes or in their wider family get ahead in the workplace, while those who participate fully in the team event called life are overlooked for promotion.

Team spirit too often means 'privileged or ruthless enough to ignore your responsibilities at home and let someone else pick up the slack while you devote your energy to licking the arse of the boss'.

@mathanxiety

A lot of people don't seem to understand what team spirit is. And it seems there are some who do not understand how the loaded concept of 'team spirit' can be used as a weapon in the workplace, usually to the detriment of people who do not have a fleet of support people at home enabling them to jump all the workplace hurdles on the path to recognition as a 'team player'.

What 'team spirit' means in practice is that those who do not have to shoulder carer roles in their homes or in their wider family get ahead in the workplace, while those who participate fully in the team event called life are overlooked for promotion.

Team spirit too often means 'privileged or ruthless enough to ignore your responsibilities at home and let someone else pick up the slack while you devote your energy to licking the arse of the boss'.

• @Dontbeme maybe you should read my other comments on this thread for context.

Yes , my comment was full of disdain and snark... for the people that seem to think team spirit means put up,shut up and do what you're told when you're told .*

My reply to the other poster that took my post the wrong way.

I would pretend "politely" that I didn't understand.

e.g. Jeanne, have you uploaded your steps?

• Sorry, you've lost me. Which client/project are we talking about here?
• No, it's the enforced fun initiative.
• Oh, I don't think I've heard about that one.
• We have to go for enforced fun walks.
• Yes, I went for a walk the other day. Jolly good. So, about client/project X...

If you keep breezily/cheerfully misunderstanding, they'll give up.

1000 steps is nothing, your work are trying to support your physical and mental health building team spirit, I would love this to come in to force widely. Shame you see it as a negative

There are none so blind eh.

Have a think about the single parent with small children or reluctant tweens or elderly parents to look after. Think about me with my disabled brother and all the shit I end up doing for him in my own time including the many phone calls I make in my lunchtime. Think about those with disabilities that make 10 steps impossible. Can you see how snotty your being by not thinking about others, only well if you can do it anyone can. It's a shitty mentality. And this precise reason is why lesser abled are just shit on. Cos literally no one thinks about them.

@bjjgirl

1000 steps is nothing, your work are trying to support your physical and mental healt building team spirit, I would love this to come in to force widely. Shame you see it as a negative

Do you also think we should all have an exercise session each morning before work like in Japan?

@Floatyboat

Pathetic comments on this thread makes me feel justified in valuing evidence of team spirit through university sports team / drinking society membership on a CV when recruiting. What a bunch of bores you all are!

And you're a recruiter? Just wow.

What you just said is disgustingly ableist and discriminatory.

@AccidentallyOnPurpose

A lot of people don't seem to understand what team spirit is.

A lot of people don't seem to have RTFT. Or maybe they've just had an empathy bypass.

Damn... should've made the sarcasm more evident i guess.

Apologies to anyone getting upset at what they perceive as another twattish ,disablist post.

One of the many problems with 'team spirit' is that creating it or acknowledging it becomes an end in itself. The 'team spirit' police make sure it develops a life of its own regardless of whether it really moves the mission of the organisation forward or stalls it. As seen here, even questioning the utility of 'team spirit' is enough to make people seem suspect.

The 'team spirit' requirement sets up a hierarchy within a workplace. Those deemed lacking in team spirit end up being thought of as people who do not have the interests of the organisation close to their hearts. Showing team spirit becomes an inside track to job security and even promotion even when job performance might not indicate this. It becomes a factor predicting of success in an organisation, a factor which favours those able to present themselves as 'one of us'.

The fear of an accusation of 'lacking team spirit' is the cold dead hand that stifles constructive criticism which might make an organisation stronger or more effective. It also stifles criticism of the contribution of someone who has ticked all the boxes.

@mathanxiety is right. It all contributes to unconscious, or even conscious, bias, which companies should be on the lookout for.

I’d like to hope the recruiter upthread was tongue in cheek with their reference to sports teams and drinking societies - the latter of course discriminates against some religious faiths, itself illegal. Sadly, I suspect not.

@AccidentallyOnPurpose

Damn... should've made the sarcasm more evident i guess.

Apologies to anyone getting upset at what they perceive as another twattish ,disablist post.

Sorry @AccidentallyOnPurpose I was one of the posters that misread your post, I am obviously hard of thinking on a Sunday and shouldn't be let loose on t'internet without engaging my brain fully. It's a sore spot for me SIL is in a wheelchair and has encountered people who think she should try "harder" in some aspects of life, as if the wheelchair was a fashion accessory. Sorry for the pile on.